I just did a Google search for "median new car price 1999 dodge pickup", and here's a a partial screenshot of the results:
Note the original prices were $22,590 (top of page) and $21,795 (bottom of page).
I'm only theorizing here, but perhaps the "sticker shock" is because most of us (heck, most people in general?) are aware of/keep up with new vehicle prices on a day-to-day/year to year basis, while no one pays attention to A/C prices until their system goes down.