Art & Inspiration OT buying a 50's Refrigerator to stick in the shop....

well I have been looking for a working vintage fridge to two tone and hold the beer and I finally found the prefect fridge

I think im going to paint the fridge itself candy apple red and the small portion around the handle cream
anyone else have a tricked out beer cooler

 

You realize that your vintage fridge will probably cost more to run than your new welder right?

Our local REC had some stats on the cost to run those old tanks vs new equipment. It was staggering

 

My new place had one in the garage when we moved in! However, as soon as I plugged it in, it blew the breaker. Soooo.... I filled it with parts instead!

 

naaa

 

Probably true but the Grin Factor outweighs the $$$$$.

 

I like it and I have seen some cool painted ones on here somewhere.
I have a old 7up drink box in my garage,It doesnt work but it sure is cool to look at

 

I tossed a side by side, in favor of a Vintage fridge and my monthly bill went down noticeably. And i hadnt changed anything else so i know it was the fridge that made the difference. May not always be the case, but it was in mine!

 

That's cool. I have a vintage cold spot, and I painted it 64 Ford Turquoise.

 

I've had a few old ones in my time, but I'm spoiled by the newer frost free ones. Defrosting a fridge is a PIA!
I do like their looks, but sometimes you can take retro too far IMO.

 

Im not going to retro out I just wanted something to go with all the old tin in my shop....had a newer fridge and in the midst of all the vintage stuff it looked out of place

 

most data fond on that stuff goes back to the early 70s,,, go back when the were useing real copper.. the efficency was not that much greater....the high eff motors of today are not really better than the early ones.... about2.5 to 3 amps running

 

I have 3 in my hanger, ones a keg-o-racer and the other holds Shiner longnecks.
The other one is inop for now.

 

I have a vintage fridge in the shop full of pop. It is a very early 50's General Electric. Still works like a CHAMP!

My wife was convinced it was costing us $75 a month to run the thing so I invested in a "Kill-a-Watt" power meter. You plug it into the wall and then plug the device into that and leave it overnight or so. It will provide power consumption and cost.

I did that on both my 60 year old fridge and also our 10 year old standard kitchen refrigerator.

IT COST ALMOST TWICE AS MUCH TO RUN THE NEWER ONE!!!

I am sure a brand spankin' new one is better yet, and maybe I am real lucky with the vintage fridge I use, but it doesn't appear to be quite the panic that the green police have maybe led us to believe...

 

I have 2 GE ones, a 1952 & a '53...The '52 is in the kitchen...for 'drinks' the new modern one sits near it...

The '53 needs a little TLC but runs & stays cold.

As others said, no real noticeable extra electric costs, and they look so much better!!

 

I know people give them custom paint jobs to make them look cool, but does anybody ever modify old refrigerators by adding upgraded insulation and such to make them perform better?

 

I had a 57 Fridgadaire painted plumb crazy purple but the compressor bearings went bad. When it cycled on the lights would dim. The replacement is a International Harverster from 1950. Have not painted it yet. When it runs it sips the juice. Runs cheaper but it has less chrome on it. I will have to do something about that.

Fritz

 

I do not think the old ones ... need to perform better,,,just my 2 cents,,,built way heavier than a new one more insulation on both the refer unit wireing and so on..the only issue I had was the seal around the door.....that was easy...

 

I was wondering the same thing......may get bold and find one in so so condition and tear into it

 

35Ron, I agree with you. I did update the seal around the door with closed cell black square foam from the local home depot. Used it double wide all the way around and it shuts nice and tight now and creates very little frost.

 

A buddy gave me mine for zip! It had been in his family for years. It was his grandparents wedding gift when his grandfather returned from WWII. Its an "apartment" size G.E. and it works like a charm!
He was moving and his wife said it couldnt go with him...
OH WELL!!

 

wow it always confused me about how the new stuff is "more energy efficient and the green thing to do" but the average life on these new ones is what 5 to 10yrs how many of these you gonna go through in your life and then you see these old beasts that still havent given up the ghost.Now which ones gonna be more enviormental friendly? Man marketing is everything to get you to spend your hard earned cash.

 

did anyone see the new show "american restoration" last night... it's a new show, with the restorer that does alot of the "pawn stars" restorations.. anyway last night they restored an 50's fridge, turned out way cool..

 

My round top is now a keg-orator I will go take pics. I plan on painting it the same as my 49 ford.... that is when I finally paint my 49ford

 

btw my electric bill went up 10 dollars a month.

 

I have been using my 1952 GE in my house since 2003:

 

IM about to put a 1950 GE in my house. Im leaving it stock, not even pinstriping it.

 

And a Prius will get better mileage than my '58.

What's your point?

 

gsport- thanks for the tip; just set my DVR! This looks great!!!

 

Drive Em, you just gave me some excellent inspiration for my kitchen, now that I'm a bachelor again...

 

The newer ones might consume more elec. because good chance they get opened and closed a lot more per day and they also have the defrosting which is actually a heater mode to melt the ice.

The old ones sure are cool looking and I would guess if you have one in good shape with a good seal and don';t open it every 1/2 hour, it probably isn't that bad on elec. I like that idea of testing it out with the wattage tracker. Keep it out in the cold shop in winter and you might not use much elec. at all, at least in the winter.