Question about the old models,

Nope. Thank goodness, I can't imagine trying to maintain one of those things. Its odd, but none of us ever died of hideous lung infections after years of driving those old cars... nor did the cars turn into swarming cesspools of bacteria and fungus. I've pulled a LOT of old air boxes apart in junkyards and never found anything big fungus deposits. In fact, the air that blows out of the AC on my '66 Dodge smells much less funky than on any rental car with a cabin air filter that I've ever driven.

IMO, cabin air filters are just another big profit margin gew-gaw that gets tacked on modern cars.

I agree. I never heard about fungus problems until Chrysler introduced the LH cars back in the early 1990's. This NG was full of *smelly A/C* posts. Later, they added a *service port* to facilitate injecting the solution to kill the fungus. GM offered a kit that would run after the A/C was turned off in an attempt to dry out the evaporator.

-KM