awdinut

Several years ago I wanted a cool box to mount in my rear seat ski bag pass through space. A cool box (so called because it is a Peltier Effect device and not a true refridgerator) was offered as an option in Europe, but mot here in the US. There were a number of 12V plug-in type cool boxes available that were meant to sit on the floor or seat in a van or car, but I wanted to have something like the Audi Euro option that would be built-in and therefore out of the way and unseen.

I had seen photos here on the forum of various attempts to mount an off the shelf unit in the car, but the problem was that any coolbox with a door small enough to fit the ski sack opening had a very small volume to the inside of the box and would not serve its intended purpose of holding drinks and food on a trip.

So I decided to combine parts from two units to make what I needed...much like Dr. Frankenstein did with his creation, and the "Frankenfridge' was born. I bought two coolbox units: one because the door was the right size, and one because it had a large volume.

I removed the door and adapted it to the larger box after cutting down the volume to fit the installation space on the backside of the trunk bulkhead. The thing was engineered to have the mounting surface angle match that of the bulkhead so it is a perfect fit and the door to the "fridge" is correctly positioned inside the cabin. I also built a surround box covered with A8 trunk liner to integrate the device into the trunk, such as the gas charged refridgerators in the D3s have.

The door is covered in Alcantara and plastic parts were painted to match (and easy to paint to match your car)the interior plastic trim. I even installed a light and a thermometer. Interior dimensions are 12"L x 6.5"W x 9"H. A Peltier Efect device can only cool to 40 degrees cooler than ambient temp, but by placing a piece of blue ice inside to help I found that drinks stayed cold and food was kept cool. And the interior of my A8 was spared from having an unsightly cooler sitting around on trips.

I upgraded to a D3 refridgeration unit while I still had the D2, so that was installed inplace of the Frankenfridge. When I sold the D2 and bought my D3 two years ago I transferred the D3 refridgerator and re-installed the ski sack. "Frankie" has since been languishing in my basement and its time to find him a new home.

The physical and electrical installs are easy to do. It took a couple hundred bucks and A LOT of time to create the creature,but $50 will make it yours. awdinut@hotmail.com