I don’t get “meat locker” temps on mine either but it does get cold. Sometimes even too cold.
I think there was an evaporator blower motor cover update (year 2000+) that improved air flow. Also, check the exterior air flap in the evaporator bay. You may be mixing in too much outside air.
The heater core valves seem to be binary on/off only. You can actually hear them engage. So, when you call for less heat, it just turns off the flow to the heat exchanger for a while. Same thing happens when you are on A/C but want it a bit warmer. It just turns on the heat for a while. In both cases, temps fluctuate quite a bit. I think, this is just how our version of OTR behaves. Newer versions may have more continuous, car-like mixing.
Gerald