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1952 Coldspot - Needs some TLC

ThinkandDrive

New in Town
Messages
18
Location
Baltimore, MD
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Hiding in the corner. I'll look for more pics later. All the purple, blue and orange are gone. I'm going to go for a more British Gentleman's den or library look soon. (Full gallery of the house remodel here)

Anyhow, does anyone have any resources or experience in restoring old fridges?

I have my wife's grandfather's 1952 Coldspot fridge. Whe we cleared out his house, he said I could haul it away. I had alays admired it. He had it in the basement with what I could only assume was decades old veggies in the bottom bin and at least that much ice buildup. He'd painted it with house paint multiple times, but it still ran! They even found the original sales slip and warranty card in some papers. The coldspot company was eventually bought by Sunbeam, who was later bought by Kenmore. I wonder if the Warranty is still good and if they'll fix it. :)

It does needs LOTS of TLC, however. The wire shelved are missing and there are rust holes on the bottom and outside of the body. But it still runs. Or at least did. When I unplugged it, the insulation on the cord disintegrated in my hand. It's a good thing it didn't do that while it was still plugged in.

We hauled it home and I attempted (poorly) to clean it up and paint it with some Rustoleum to stem the rusting problem. I've never worked with metal before. So I got a little hand sander/grinder and tried to get all the paint off down to bare metal. I then masked what I could and sprayed it with rustoleum professional primer. In a fit of stupidity, I then painted it with that hammered metal look, thinking that would cover up the pitting.

Now I think it's time to really restore it. Or at least, this spring. I'll probably have to resand it and get it professionally dealt with. Has anyone done this before?
 

ThinkandDrive

New in Town
Messages
18
Location
Baltimore, MD
Haha, yeah. I have been busy. I've been immersed in the new job and all the remodeling.

It was hard to paint over those bright colors. But we thought we might be selling and needed to neutralize them a bit. We decided not to move into the city. We do like the more "easy" color scheme, however. I guess everyone goes through the crazy color phase in their 20's. :p

You know, I had some better pics of the fridge, but I think they got lost in a powerbook meltdown a while back. :( They were the original, rusted ones.

I really think I need to find a pro to recondition the fridge. Just don't know of an antique appliance place around here.
 

BegintheBeguine

My Mail is Forwarded Here
I WISH I still had the Frigidaire or whatever it was we got rid of in the 70s. It was nice and small and we could fit an Astro kitchen table and chairs set, a tv and an easy chair in the kitchen. Yes, I know, hillbillies with the recliner and tv in the kitchen. Now I have a 90s Kenmore fridge and it is so big the Astro set had to get shoved against the wall. Hmph.
 

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