The award honours industry members who have contributed to the development of technology that provides occupants of a moving vehicle with air-conditioned comfort – taken for granted today but impossible without the early efforts of people like Mr Pickering.
Mr Pickering was presented with the Pioneer Award at the Wire & Gas 2022 Gala Dinner, with VASA stating that “Rick was a dominant personality in Australia’s frenetic air conditioning installation era, and for his contribution to the industry, he deserves this honour”.
In VASA’s tribute, it said that: “As a young man, fresh out of his apprenticeship as a telecommunications technician with the old PMG, Rick had found the little shop in Kings Cross where George Jackson had a display of evaporators from the famous John E Mitchell factory in Dallas, Texas.
“From this chance meeting, Rick ended up spending several months in the John E Mitchell factory, unpaid, where he soaked up valuable knowledge from their production line.
“Back in Australia in 1968, he walked straight into the new Mark IV operation as general manager in a small warehouse in the backyard of a house at Kogarah that George Jackson had set up.
“George and Rick knocked on the doors of the local Holden and Ford dealerships, offering to install air-conditioning into their next new model, at no charge.
“They suggested the dealerships just loan them a car from each new model release and the Mark IV team would handle the development work, write the specifications and instructions for the vehicle and install the system at their warehouse.”
Mr Pickering took over as managing director in 1970 after Mr Jackson left the business. He moved it into bigger premises and grew the Mark IV business quickly so it became the dominant player in the Australian car air-conditioning market.
The success was attributed to the Mark IV product’s quality and first-rate service and warranty support.
VASA said that “around 1974, when Mark IV’s American owners started having financial problems, they sold off the Australian company to Bennett & Wood, a Honda distributor.
“The distributor knew nothing about air-conditioning, so it was inevitable that Rick would reluctantly leave the company that he had helped to build, and start his own company in opposition.”
This became AMC, which became a significant OEM supplier to car brands including British Leyland and provided air-conditioning systems for models such as the Range Rover.
“It was a highly successful business until the car companies began taking air-conditioning installation in-house with factory air,” said VASA.
“Rick saw that coming too, and sold the business, devoting the rest of his working life to managing a chemical company,”
VASA is a non-profit organisation representing the technicians, professional service centres, suppliers and original equipment manufacturers of the automotive air conditioning, electrical and thermal management industry in Australia and New Zealand.
By Neil Dowling
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