The first two photos show people gathered around a Mills 47-N, manufactured between 1939 and 1945. These machines are located in workplaces for the use of the employees. In the first instance, there are bus drivers taking a break, and the second photo appears to be taken inside a beauty salon. (Note the vintage Coca-Cola advertising on the wall behind the soda machine.)

The next two photos are of the Mills 47-A, manufactured between 1938 and 1940. The first location appears to be a school and the second is most likely an office break area. From the looks on the faces of the people in the pictures, it appears that the Coca-Cola Company was able to find an abundance of willing subjects to be photographed using their Mills vending machines for promotional advertising.

The “All-Syze” was available in the Model 80 with an 80-bottle capacity and the Model 128 with a 128-bottle capacity as well as space for 100 lbs. of ice. The display rack was able to accommodate 72 bottles. Both models came with a blue porcelain top and gray enamel body. All were equipped with mechanical refrigeration. Casters were standard equipment, as well as the cap catcher on the front of the cooler.

Manufactured by:
S & S Products Co.
123 W. Hee Street
Lima, Ohio

Note the stainless steel delivery tray that comes with an optional “Sanitary Lift Cover”. This plastic cover was an available option to keep candy clean until it was removed from the delivery tray.

The final photo is of an illustration of the Univendor Junior on a stand. This machine with the stand measures 71 inches tall x 24 inches wide x 13 inches deep and weighs 185 lbs.

Manufactured by:
Stoner Mfg. Corp.
Aurora, Illinois

It’s very interesting to note the original selling prices for these Coca-Cola coolers. The prices ranged from $6.50 for the Counter cooler to $155.00 for the DeLuxe Frigidaire Complete cooler, (the first mechanical Glascock chest cooler). All Glascock coolers had replaceable side panels to display the Coca-Cola logo. And all were painted the classic Coca-Cola red and Moroccan green.

Produced: Late 1920s to Early 1930s

Manufactured by:
Glascock Bros. Manufacturing Co.
Muncie, Indiana

True Manufacturing Company has been building all kinds of merchandising coolers since 1945. True manufactured coolers that have been used for all kinds of food and drink, flowers and even live fishing bait. Shown here are ads for soft drink merchandising coolers. They are referred to as “merchandising” because the glass doors allow for the 6-packs to be displayed as well as to be easily located in the store by the customers. The branding on the cardboard carriers can be read through the doors and catch the customer’s eye as they walk by.

These ads are from the 1960s, although the look of these coolers hasn’t changed all that much over the years. The machines featured here are branded for 7Up soda. The green ad for the True GDM 30-20 and 20-15 shows a machine that could hold 15 cases of bottles in 6-packs. The orange ad for the GDM40-30 features a machine that could hold 30 cases of soda. These two vintage ads are the type of ads that were handed out to store owners by salesman for the True Manufacturing Company to promote sales of their machines.

These two photos are from a vintage brochure that features machines made for the Coca-Cola Company. The photos show the Mills 120-B and the Mills 120-B2. These machines had the capacity to vend 120 8-ounce bottles and pre-cool 58. The Mills 120 machines were very heavy for their size, weighing 550 lbs., so they’re not all that popular with collectors today.

Dimensions: 80 1/4”H x 26 3/8”W x 27 3/4”D

Manufactured by:
Mills Industries, Inc.
4100 Fullerton Ave.
Chicago, Illinois

These items are not for sale. We show restored items and vintage advertising in this blog to encourage discussion, prompt questions and further the hobby of collecting and restoration. We also enjoy sharing the photos of the many items we have restored over the years.

The Harris Automatic Coin Changer was designed to operate on all kinds of vending machines including soda, cigarette and candy vendors. It could be modified to return change in many different combinations, as needed. An important feature at the time was the ability to prevent “jackpotting”, or releasing a gush of coins all at once.

The introduction of the automatic coin changer was announced in the August 1946 issue of “Billboard” magazine, with a projected release date of three months later. The device was named after Charles F. Harris, the inventor. According to a 1947 article in “Popular Science”, Harris got the idea for the machine years prior while he was working as an executive of a railroad. He was attending a murder trial at a courthouse on a very hot day when he tried to get a cold soda from a vending machine. He didn’t have the proper change and had to go a number of blocks to find a store where he was able to get a nickel. This frustrated Harris enough that he set about inventing a coin changer to be installed in the vending machines. Harris later served as head of the research and development department at Johnson Fare Box Company where they manufactured his coin changer.

The Johnson Fare Box Company was a manufacturer of fare boxes for trolleys, cable cars and later, buses. They developed the very first fare box around 1905. In 1955 the company was acquired by Keene Corporation, and in turn General Fare Industries bought them in 1980. They still operate today as GFI Genfare.

Manufactured by:
Johnson Fare Box Company
A Subsidiary of Bowser, Inc.
Chicago, Illinois

These items are not for sale. We show restored items in this blog to encourage discussion, prompt questions and further the hobby of collecting and restoration. We also enjoy sharing the photos of the many items we have restored over the years.

There were a huge variety of can and bottle openers made by Vaughan. They stamped their products with a brand name or advertisement to personalize them for a their customers. The openers were given interesting names too, like “Nifty”, “Dainty”, “Opens-All” and “Never Chip”. Vaughan was in business until 1984 and their products are very collectible today.

The second photo shows an ad for bottle openers made by Walden Inc. of Cambridge, MA. I was unable to find any history about this manufacturer but found some interesting information about bottle openers in general. The necessity for bottle openers followed the invention of the first successful bottle cap (or crown) design that was put into use in 1894. The first opener was made of cast iron by William Painter of Baltimore, Maryland. It was developed as a necessity while he was trying to make a better bottle crown.

We have some great vintage photos of Vendos that we wanted to share with you. The photos vary in subject from production lines to staged publicity shots, but we thought they were interesting and that you might enjoy them. The following two photos were taken in a Vendo soda machine factory.

And then we have the assorted “chatting around the Vendo 83” photos. These illustrate the Vendo 83 in different environments such as the workplace and a grocery store.

The next two photos are of models posing with a bottle of Coca-Cola and a Vendo 83. Those are followed by a man dressed as a Vendo soda machine serviceman beside and open Vendo 83. He is pointing to the loading instructions inside the door of the machine.

This last photo is interesting in that it shows a Vendo 83 embossed in Spanish. Rather than “Drink Coca-Cola”, it says “Tome Coca-Cola” and instead of “Ice Cold”, it says “Bien Helada”. Vendo evidently built this machine for the booming Coca-Cola market in Mexico. We hope you enjoy all of these vintage Vendo 83 photos and we will continue to post more like these in the future.

Dimensions: 63”H x 32 1/2”W x 18”D
Vending capacity: 83
Precools: 75
Weight: 450 lbs.
Manufactured: 1946 to 1957

Manufactured by:
The Vendo Company

The Walrus Manufacturing Company of Decatur, Illinois was one of the many manufacturers that tried to cash-in on the ongoing soft drink craze in the early 1900s. This advertisement is from the “National Bottlers Gazette”. Walrus, like other manufacturers, was marketing their product directly to bottlers in the hope that they could become their cooler supplier. These two models are the Walrus Blizzard Beverage Cooler (top) and the Walrus Beverage Cooler. They were produced in the late 1920s to early 1930s.

Both of these models were self-serve, and used the honor system, where the customer would pull out a bottle of soda and then pay the storeowner. They have openers and cups attached for discarded bottle crowns. There is also a cup to hold straws. Both coolers were manufactured of painted metal and were available with either turquoise blue or tan paint finishes.

The Blizzard was the smaller of the two models. It cooled 36 bottles and the display held 44 additional bottles to be rotated into the ice. It took 35 lbs. of ice to cool the bottles in the Blizzard. The dimensions were 39”W x 27”D x 36 ½”H and it weighed 130 lbs. The larger cooler held 64 bottles and displayed 112. It held 75 lbs. of ice and the dimensions were 45”W x 28”D x 68”H.

These two machines are very rare, and we’d love to hear if you’ve ever seen one. Blog-in if you have any additional information to share.

Based on these advertisements, Arnold manufactured a range of soda bottle coolers in metal and wood. The liners were galvanized iron. The Arnold Junior Cooler also had a galvanized iron exterior.

The Club House Box was made with a wooden exterior with a mahogany finish. These were generic chest coolers that storeowners could hammer a tin sign onto featuring a particular soda brand.

This Quick Cooling Chest is also wooden and very similar to the Club House Box, except that it could be ordered in 6 different lengths, ranging from 3 feet to 8 feet. It was available with a ground cork insulation.

Pictured here is another Arnold’s Quick Cooling Chest that was being offered by the Frank F. Pasch Co. of Wisconsin. Frank Pasch was a German immigrant that settled in Milwaukee and was involved in several different businesses, one which evidently included the distribution of Arnold cooler chests.

Manufactured by:

G. J. Arnold Bottlers’ Supplies Co.
1131 South Broadway
St. Louis, MO

This brochure illustrates the Lyon 500 Coca-Cola cup vending machine. It was built in the early 1950s by the Worthington Pump & Machinery Corp. It was marketed by Lyon Industries of New York City, who partnered with Worthington in order to sell and distribute soda vending machines.

The Model 500, with its unique art deco styling, could vend 500 cups of pre-mixed Coca-Cola. It was a relatively small machine, at 60 inches high, and collectors today regard it as a rare machine.

Manufactured by:

Worthington Pump & Machinery Corp.
Harrison, New Jersey

Here are some interesting photos of a unique looking soda vending machine. These are of the American Vendor model 120 that was built from the mid to late 1940s. What makes this vendor different is its rounded shape. A stainless steel drinking fountain was optional, as were steel or rubber casters. It could vend 62 bottles as well as pre-cool 62 bottles. The machine measured 39 inches high by 32 inches in diameter and weighed 325 lbs.

At first the machines were built to be completely round. Later models, like the 1949 pictured here, were given a new design with a flat front. Also in the photos you can see both a woman and a man getting a soda bottles out of the vendors. These machines had decals applied for multiple soda manufacturers and could vend up to 62 different flavors, according to the brochure.

Manufactured by:

General American Transportation Corp.
Los Angeles, California

This is an eye-catching cooler manufactured for dispensing and promoting the sales of Coca-Cola in bottles and cans. It was manufactured in the 1960s by the Beverage-Air Company of South Carolina. It has a very large capacity, with 12 display racks. There are two glass doors that open to provide access to the cold the Coca-Cola. These large glass panels also keep the product visible, making it easy for the customer to find what they’re looking for. There is plenty of space for Coca-Cola in 6-packs and cans, as well as other Coke products such as Tab and Sprite.

The signage is illuminated and, combined with the clearly marked six-packs within, make this refrigerated cabinet a clever merchandising tool. As this ad states, “Every inch of width is equal to one cubic foot of effective signage and display space”.

Manufactured by:

Beverage-Air Company
Spartanburg, S. Carolina

This is a Vendo Model 123, or Junior. The cabinets were manufactured by Westinghouse and purchased by Vendo, who added the coin-operated top. They are referred to as “spin top” vendors because of how the coin-operated top vends. After the coin is inserted, the top is turned to access the next available bottle of Coca-Cola. This machine can vend 23 bottles and precool 9. They were produced from the late 1930s into the early 1940s. The earlier coolers were ice cooled, but later versions were refrigerated with electricity.

The brochure illustrates the other spin top models available in the Vendo series. They range in size from the 23-bottle Junior to a 59-bottle Master.

Dimensions: 42 5/8”H x 28”W x 17 1/8”D

Manufactured by:

The Vendo Company
Kansas City, Missouri

This item is not for sale. We show restored items in this blog to encourage discussion, prompt questions and further the hobby of collecting and restoration. We also enjoy sharing the photos of the many items we have restored over the years.

We have already written a blog on the very rare Vendo Decapper soda machine, but I came across this photo and wanted to post it. It shows a production line full of Decapper soda machines. This is a rare photo, given that very few of these machines were manufactured and very few survived.

To learn more about this machine check out our previous blog: http://www.vintagevending.com/vendo-coca-cola-bottle-decapper

Here is a brochure for a Dr. Pepper Guiberson Double-Quick Vendor, Model GCD-144. The machine has an interesting design. It’s clean and simple—almost clinical, with just a small Dr. Pepper script sign and painted the standard Dr. Pepper green.

The Guiberson Corporation was located in Dallas, as was Dr. Pepper. I am not sure what their business arrangement was, but the majority of Guibersons you see are Dr. Pepper machines.

This is most likely a 1960’s machine with a capacity of 144 bottles. It was available with an optional coin changer. Someone has written the pricing on the front of the brochure, $505.00 w/o coin changer, $560.00 with coin changer.

We have never owned one of these and I have never seen one. If you own one, please send in some photos no matter what the condition. We’d love to see them and share them with visitors to our website.

Dimensions: 72H x 40W x 22D
Weight: 500 lbs

This is a brochure for a Squirt advertising scale from the 1940s. The scale was manufactured by Hamilton Scales and would have made for great point-of-purchase advertising. In addition, the storeowner displaying one of these would be making profits from the coin-operated scale.

If you have additional info on this unique item, please blog-in. Let us know if you’ve ever seen one of these.

This item is not for sale. We show restored items in this blog to encourage discussion, prompt questions and further the hobby of collecting and restoration. We also enjoy sharing the photos of the many items we have restored over the years.

These photos are of two models of water cooler manufactured by the Westinghouse Electric Company some time in the 1940s. These are not simply water bubblers, like those commonly seen in public places. These models were designed to be used in a different setting, such as an office. They both have a freezer compartment for ice cube trays, as well as a refrigeration compartment to accommodate bottled soft drinks, with enough room to store bag lunches. One model even comes equipped with a bottle cap catcher. The design of these is very practical and machines like these must have appeared in many workplaces across the US.

Produced: 1940s
Manufactured by: Westinghouse Electric Company

This item is not for sale. We show restored items in this blog to encourage discussion, prompt questions and further the hobby of collecting and restoration. We also enjoy sharing the photos of the many items we have restored over the years.

These are a series of brochures for Pelco chest coolers made in the 1950s. They are to promote their electric chest coolers as low-price, yet high quality. These ads are targeted at soft drink bottlers in the hope they will buy these coolers for placement in stores and other establishments in order to sell their bottled soda. One brochure shows a series of different colored coolers with embossing from different soft drink manufacturers.

By the time these brochures were distributed in the 1950s, it states that the manufacturer of Pelco coolers already had 50 years of manufacturing experience. They must have gone out of business some time ago, as there isn’t much information available on them today.

Manufactured by:
Portable Elevator Mfg. Co.
Bloomington, Illinois

This item is not for sale. We show restored items in this blog to encourage discussion, prompt questions and further the hobby of collecting and restoration. We also enjoy sharing the photos of the many items we have restored over the years.

Here is a cool little upright candy machine that used to be manufactured in Haverhill, MA—practically in our own backyard. It is the DuGrenier Candy Man Candy Bar Machine, and at the time, it sold for $41.50. The machine held 72 bars and displayed up to 12 different brands. The optional stand for $6.00 could be locked and was a good place to store extra candy. Loading and servicing was performed through the sides of the machine. Although we owned several of these over the years, we never restored one.

Manufactured by:
A.H. DuGrenier, Inc.
15 Hale Street
Haverhill, MA

I love these photos. These appear to be promotional photos distributed by the Vendorlator/VMC Manufacturing Company and they’re most likely from the 1950’s.

Photo number one is of the VMC 88, which is basically the same thing as two VMC 44’s built side-by-side. Although it’s rare, it’s not the most desirable machine. Yet it does have a great embossed Pepsi logo.

Photo number two is of the classic VMC Pepsi 81. Besides the Jacob’s 56 Light-Up, it’s probably the most sought-after and collectible Pepsi soda machine that was made.

Photo number three is of a VMC Pepsi 302. As we have said in the past, the model number of a machine indicates how many bottles it is capable of holding. This machine is a monster, especially for its time. Look how small the young lady looks standing next to it. This machine is not the least bit desirable to collectors. However, the plastic Pepsi disc on the front of the machine is pretty cool and does light up.

The last photo is of a VMC 72 Coca-Cola machine. It has been said that this machine has the largest embossed logo of any other Coca-Cola vending machine ever produced. I also believe it was the smallest dual chute machine ever manufactured.

To learn more about the Vendorlator Manufacturing Company check out our previous blog.
http://www.vintagevending.com/the-vendorlator-manufacturing-co-a-soda-machine-company

The Victor Products Corporation started out as a commercial refrigeration manufacturer in the 1920s. They became well known for producing their uniquely styled, yet functional counter coolers. Victor built a series of counter coolers for the Coca-Cola Company that included one-, two-, three- and four-door styles, in addition to the very rare Victor Kooler Grill.

The C-31 was a 3-door counter cooler. It had a large capacity, able to hold 756 bottles of chilled Coca-Cola. The bottles were placed in the cooler horizontally, positioned on top of each other in alternating directions, to fit together like a puzzle. The doors on the cooler were roll-top style so they could be pushed up out of the way to access the soda bottles. The cooler was available with an optional black laminate countertop. It extended the length of the cooler and served as a sales and lunch counter. There were two built-in bottle openers with cap catchers and all four sides were embossed with Coca-Cola logos.

A restored Victor cooler such as this one would make a terrific retro style bar in a home or business and would also make a great addition to a gameroom or home theater.

Capacity: 756 bottles
Dimensions: 40”H x 75 1/2”W x 29”D
Weight: 605 lbs.
Produced: Early to mid-1950s

Manufactured by:
Victor Products Corporation
Hagerstown, Maryland

This item is not for sale. We show restored items in this blog to encourage discussion, prompt questions and further the hobby of collecting and restoration. We also enjoy sharing the photos of the many items we have restored over the years.

The Royal Crown Company had marketing pros that understood the value of advertising and product promotion. With the help of their marketing agency, BBD&O, Royal Crown Cola experienced incredible growth through the 1940s.

Starting in 1939, RC Cola became the sponsor for the CBS radio program “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not” with Robert Ripley. The show was broadcast every Friday evening and both the program and the RC Cola commercials were heard from coast to coast.

Another major component of RC Cola advertising was their print advertising. Starting in 1940 they had color inserts placed into magazines such as “The Saturday Evening Post” and “Good Housekeeping”. They also had ads printed in nearly 600 daily newspapers across the U.S.

Beginning in 1946 they used celebrity likenesses as well as endorsements. The advertisements featured famous movie stars like Lucille Ball, Loretta Young and Joan Crawford. Other stars in their ads were Lauren Bacall, Gary Cooper, Shirley Temple, Bob Hope, Gene Tierney, Barbara Stanwyck, Bing Crosby and Jerry Lewis. 1947 RC Cola ads featured the glamorous Hollywood actress Hedy Lamarr. A nationwide campaign was begun to promote RC Cola as the best of all available colas, proven in independent taste tests. They started using the slogan, “Best By Taste Test” and the stars appeared in their ads declaring, “RC tastes best!” Unlike RC’s main soft drink competition, Coca-Cola and Pepsi, the people at Royal Crown liked the idea of linking their cola to movie stars.

Other forms of advertising were billboards, point-of-purchase displays, metal signs, no-drip paper bottle protectors and bottle openers. Nancy Sinatra did two RC Cola commercials during her one-hour television special, “Movin’ with Nancy”, in 1967. In the mid-1970s Kelly Moran, sister of Erin Moran, was in an RC Cola commercial riding a skateboard while delivering pizza. This was part of the RC Cola ad series titled “Me and My RC”.

The Royal Crown Cola Company commemorated its 100th Anniversary in 2005. They are now owned by Cadbury Schweppes and continue to be very successful all over the world.

The Hupp Console-Cup Cold Drink Machine was an automatic drink vendor that was marketed for use in all types of locations. These 1949 ads show them placed in a bowling alley, gas station, bus station, theater, supermarket, company lunchroom and on a factory floor. Although it may not have been a very attractive machine, they were touted as being economical to operate and having an innovative design.

The Hupp Corporation is not usually associated with vending machines, but rather, with the automobile industry. They started in Detroit in 1908 as a manufacturer of the Hupmobile car. The company was formed by Robert C. Hupp and named the Hupp Motor Car Company. They moved to Cleveland in 1928 where they manufactured a less expensive Hupmobile model as well as automobile parts. Automobile production was halted in July 1940 as Detroit struggled to recover from the Depression. During WWII they manufactured munitions for the U.S. Government and following the war, they made parts for other automobile manufacturers. Hupp returned to Cleveland in 1946 and began making appliances, including the Hupp Console-Cup Cold Drink Machine we see pictured here.

The company was bought by John O. Ekblom in 1955 and he combined Hupp with several other companies he had acquired. Hupp diversified into several manufacturing areas including air-conditioning, heating, appliances and aviation. About 35% of the overall business was made up of appliance manufacturing. Hupp was sold three more times and declared bankruptcy in 1991.

The unique-looking Hupp Console-Cup Cold Drink Machine was manufactured for several soft drink companies, including Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, Hires and Royal Crown. It vended the soft drink into a cup, as well as ice. These are rare machines and we’d love to hear if you’ve come across one.

Dimensions: 36”H x 32”W x 27”D
Weight: 400 lbs.
Produced: Late 1940s

Manufactured by:
Hupp Corporation
Cleveland, Ohio

This item is not for sale. We show restored items in this blog to encourage discussion, prompt questions and further the hobby of collecting and restoration. We also enjoy sharing the photos of the many items we have restored over the years.

These are a series of brochures for some vinyl Coca-Cola picnic coolers with dates ranging from about 1939 to 1957. The dates are determined by the slogans used. “Whoever you are, whatever you do…” was used by the Coca-Cola Company beginning in 1939 until about 1942. “Sign of good taste” was slogan used in 1957.

These coolers were made of plastic, or what we refer to now as vinyl. Some of the brand names of these products are “Ideal”, “Werner-Freeman” and “Nappy”. These must have made super picnic coolers, since they were insulated to keep food and drinks cool and the waterproof plastic could easily be wiped clean. The Coca-Cola Company promoted these coolers in order to make it more convenient to have cold Coke on hand, no matter where you happened to be going. These also served as an additional mode of advertising for their soft drink. All the coolers look as if they were made to accommodate two six-packs of Coca-Cola bottles: either side-by-side or with them stacked one over the other.

This item is not for sale. We show restored items in this blog to encourage discussion, prompt questions and further the hobby of collecting and restoration. We also enjoy sharing the photos of the many items we have restored over the years.

The pages pictured here are from an old Coca-Cola Company equipment brochure, describing some of the equipment available for use by the vendors of Coca-Cola soft drinks. These are mobile, or stadium cup vendors that could be utilized at various events, such as sports, fairs or others gatherings. These appear to be manufactured by the same company as a stadium cup vendor we already blogged—the Glasco Corporation. They were all produced in the 1950s.

The first vendor featured on these pages is the 400-drink mobile dispenser. This vendor was designed as a pushcart and had space for four soda tanks and ice to keep the drinks cold. In addition to the Coca-Cola tanks, it would have also been necessary to add a cylinder of carbon dioxide for carbonation. The cold Coca-Cola was dispensed into the paper cups that were stored on the cart.

The 100-drink mobile vendor was a smaller version of the Coca-Cola pushcart. It could carry 1 tank of soft drink in an insulated compartment. There wasn’t any room for ice on this one, so the tanks had to be pre-cooled (for approximately 8 hours) before the vendor set off.

The last vendor is a carry pack. It was able to dispense 50 drinks from a pre-cooled tank that was inserted into an insulated compartment. This carry pack was equipped with a heavy-duty strap so it could be worn over the shoulder. The pack also had a compartment for paper cups as well as a small platform for the cup to sit on while the Coke was dispensed into it.

These are all clever designs, and The Coca-Cola Company appears to have gone to great lengths to get their product out to where people were seeking relaxation and entertainment—and getting thirsty. We believe these would not have been manufactured in very large numbers. If you have more information about vendors like these, please blog-in and share your thoughts.

Here are some photos of a great Gulf Oil display we once owned. We really did not do much to it as far as restoration goes besides giving it a good cleaning. This is an unusual piece and I would guess it could have been found in the corporate offices of a refinery or maybe given as an award to certain dealers? If you have any information please blog-in and let us know. We do not own this anymore but had the photos and wanted to share them.

This Vendo ice cream vending machine was a very challenging restoration. The exterior was pretty straightforward but the vending component was difficult to get right. If you attempt this restoration, make sure you document the process of taking the machine apart with photos and notes. Also, the machine should be complete, as parts cannot be found for it unless you buy another machine for spares.

I wish I could give you some more specific tips, but this restoration was done many years ago and our notes have been lost. Besides, we only restored one of these and we would have never done another.

All the graphics on the finished machine were custom, this machine was not originally painted like this. They were usually found painted light blue like the Vendo milk machine and the upright Vendo ice cream vendor.

Dimensions: 34 ¾”W x 29 ½”D x 36 ¼” H
Produced: 1950s

Manufactured by:
The Vendo Company
Kansas City, Missouri

The Cornelius Deluxe Draft Arms was the name for a compact pre-mix soft drink dispenser, designed for use in upscale bars and restaurants. They were produced exclusively for the Coca-Cola Company in the late 1950s. The dispenser was available as a single draft arm, two-, three- or a four-draft arms unit. It was designed to be elegant “to harmonize with the finest stainless or chrome fixtures in the best establishments”. The draft arms had a slim design to use a minimum of counter space. The melamine valve handles had large labels to promote Coke sales and to identify the product easily. One of the arms would naturally be reserved for dispensing Coca-Cola while the others were most likely used for mixers. This dispenser came with a drip tray and mounting base that could easily clamp onto counters and bars. It was a remote soft drink dispenser since the product was fed to the valves through refrigerated product lines from the canisters like the “Remote Super-Serve 200”.

Manufactured by:
The Cornelius Company
2727 North Ferry Street
Anoka, MN 55303

This item is not for sale. We show restored items in this blog to encourage discussion, prompt questions and further the hobby of collecting and restoration. We also enjoy sharing the photos of the many items we have restored over the years.

This is a Glasco GBV-50 Starlet Soda Machine we restored. It was restored to original condition, but without the Glasco logo and we painted the cap catcher black, rather than red. We have replicated the classic Coca-Cola “fishtail” logo used from 1958 to 1965. Please note we are no longer in the restoration business.

Glasco actually began as the Glascock Brothers Manufacturing Company, a company that was founded in 1892 to build washing machines. In 1929 they produced their first Coca-Cola cooler. It was a cooler that held 72 bottles of Coke that was cooled with ice. It had space below to hold 3 additional cases of soda. The Standard, as it was called, was the first mass-produced Coca-Cola cooler. Because of this, Glascock is often referred to as the “grandfather” of all Coca-Cola vending machines. The company name was changed to the Glasco Corporation in the 1930s. Through the early 1960s, Glasco only made soda vending machines for the Coca-Cola Company. The Universal Match Company acquired Glasco in the 1960s.

The GBV-50 was a very significant vending machine for the Glasco Corporation. It marked their re-entry into the bottle vending business after dedicating several years to producing vendors that dispensed pre-mixed Coca-Cola into cups. The Glasco 50 was manufactured from the late 1950s to the early 1960s.

We’d also like to share these 1960 brochures we have for the Glasco GBV-50 Starlet. The Glasco 50 was built for dispensing bottles of Coca-Cola. This machine operated manually by opening the lid and sliding the bottle to the opening in order to remove it. The bottle was released once the coin was deposited into the coin box. This is a slider-style chest cooler that had the capacity to dispense 50 bottles and pre-cool 25. It was a dry cooler that used a compressor to cool the drinks. It was intended to hold a fair amount of product without taking up a lot of floor space as you can see in the brochure page. It was touted as being both compact and counter-high. It was also promoted as a soda vendor that could hold up to five different products. The slider had 5 rows that could each be filled with a different drink selection. It could hold regular or king-size bottles.

A very similar looking slider vendor had been introduced a few years earlier by the Ideal Dispenser Company. Where Glasco manufactured soda vendors exclusively for Coca-Cola, Ideal made machines for all the other soda manufacturers except Coca-Cola, with an exception. Ideal manufactured an Ideal 55 slider embossed with “Drink Coca-Cola in Bottles” in the late 1950s. It was the only machine they made for Coca-Cola, and therefore, is very rare. The Coca-Cola coolers were not embossed, while the Ideal 55B coolers were.

Dimensions: 37”W x 20”D x 41”H
Weight: 230 lbs.

Manufactured by:
Glasco
Muncie, Indiana

This item is not for sale. We show restored items in this blog to encourage discussion, prompt questions and further the hobby of collecting and restoration. We also enjoy sharing the photos of the many items we have restored over the years.

The Coca-Cola Company certainly made an effort to get their name out wherever they could, as evidenced by these brochure pages for a Coca-Cola school zone sign. On this page dating to 1966, the sign was categorized as “outside advertising” and was probably suggested safety and marketing equipment directed at storeowners in the vicinity of schools. These signs would not have been used by the local highway department. The text says they were “redesigned to conform with city and state regulations, which prohibit the use of signs similar to official regulatory signs”. They were an opportunity to advertise while also projecting a “good neighbor” image.
The sign itself was constructed of half-inch plywood with a laminated surface sheet, with a front and a back as you can see here. The sign bolts onto a rust proofed base designed to make the sign stable. The graphics are reflective and, interestingly, the copy says that if the sign is accidentally left out at night it will provide “additional advertising value”.

We restored the base of this Coca-Cola school zone sign. The plywood placard was in nice shape already.

Dimensions: 16”W x 50”H
Base diameter: 24”

This is a 1960 Coca-Cola tire rack and 2-sided metal sign combination. Never missing an opportunity to advertise, this clever solution was designed for filling stations that also sold Coca-Cola. It was made of tin with a carry handle on top. It’s a very clever design solution since the inclusion of the tire will also promote tire sales for the filling station owner as well. As the text states, “It helps the dealer by suggesting a check of tires and possible sale, and also suggests that the motorist ‘Enjoy Coca-Cola’”. They’re pretty rare and one of these in very good shape recently went for $2,600 at auction.

Dimensions: 17”W x 32”H

We blogged recently about a Coca-Cola VMC 27 we restored and that blog can be read here: http://www.vintagevending.com/the-vendorlator-27.

We have since come across these original ads for the machine and wanted to share them. One of the ads shows the Kay Display base we reference in the first blog. The Vendorlator 27 is a neat little machine and can still be found in nice shape, given they were almost always kept inside because of its smaller size.

I think this little picnic cooler is great. It is a vinyl-clad picnic cooler that is from the early 60’s. I have seen it in two different sizes and have also seen it in white vinyl. I believe the white versions are rare. Usually these are not in great shape as the vinyl tended to crack and peel over the years. You really cannot restore a cooler like this except to maybe clean the vinyl and polish up the stainless accent pieces. As with any of these old picnic coolers, if you have the original box it is much more valuable.

Manufactured by Royal-Mieco Inc.
135 East Frisco Ave.
Clinton, Oklahoma

Now this is an Orange Crush Dispenser! This is an ad from a 1959 Diner Drive-In Magazine. Great eye-catching display, Orange Crush fountain with a huge cup on top. This really must have sold a lot of Crush. I do not believe Crush was carbonated back then, which made it possible to have these kinds of dispensers. If I have that wrong, please blog in and let us know.

Here is an interesting brochure we came across featuring the V-17 “Office Vendo Top”.

I have never seen one of these and I doubt it was ever manufactured, given this is just a drawing. What’s interesting is that the Vend Top is on what is clearly a Cavalier Office Cooler, but the top appears to be from Vendo given it’s name of “V-17 Office Vendo Top”. Vendo always named its models by how many bottles they would vend, preceded by a “V”. For example, Vendo-81, Vendo 110, Vendo 39 and so on.

If anyone has any information on this, please blog-in and let us know. If it does exist, some photos would be great.

In the 1950’s we entered the Jet Age and America was very excited about it. So why not design your products to take advantage of that excitement, even if it’s just a trash can? The Deluxe Jet by Superior is one cool-looking trash can. Looks like you could just hang it under a wing and off you would go.

Made by Superior Manufacturing St Paul, MN

This brochure features another soda cooler designed especially for locations with limited floor space. It is the Westinghouse R-1 Coolerette, made for “home, office and store”. Introduced in 1957, the R-1 is essentially a small refrigerator. It has a 12-bottle capacity and came with a tray for making ice. These were made for the Coca-Cola Company and were usually all white.

Dimensions:

33¼” high x 14¼” wide x 17½” deep

Manufactured by:

Westinghouse Electric Corporation

Pittsburgh, PA

These were the first of the mini-fridges and are pretty rare today. Do you happen to have one? Blog-in and let us know.

A Coca-Cola Large Capacity Pre-Mix Soda Fountain Dispenser

The 1965 Cornelius Universal 400 soft drink dispenser was designed as a high-capacity, low-cost machine. Its intended use was at places that attracted big crowds like drive-ins, restaurants and bars, and even the beach. There was an optional wheel kit available to make the unit portable. It could also be used with 6-inch brushed chrome legs as a freestanding unit, or without the legs to fit under a counter.

The dispenser featured a prominently placed, illuminated panel printed with the Coca-Cola slogan of “Things go better with Coke”. There were 4 valves, allowing up to 4 products to be dispensed. The soft drinks were premixed and cooled and this dispenser could serve 400 cold drinks, figuring on 8 drinks dispensed per minute. There was a cooling recovery rate of 3 drinks per minute.

Manufactured by:
The Cornelius Company
2727 North Ferry Street
Anoka, MN 55303

Weight: 138 lbs.
Dimensions: 38”H x 16 3/8”W x 16”D (without legs)
44”H x 16 3/8”W x 16”D (with legs)

Also known as the “Spin Top”, the Vendo 23 vended 23 bottles and pre-cooled 7. Introduced in 1949, it was a smaller cooler, made specifically to fit into smaller spaces. It was intended as an alternative to the bulkier upright vendors available at the time.

Behind the large pullout door there was storage for empties or additional bottles of Coca-Cola. It had an all-steel construction with a baked enamel finish and featured automatic defrost.

This machine was designed to accept 5 cents, 6 cents, or 10 cents and was unable to make change. The vending was done manually, by rotating the handle and lifting the lid to remove a soda.

Dimensions: 20”D x 24”W x 36”H
Weight: 156 lbs.

Manufactured by:
The Vendo Company
Kansas City, Missouri

Pictured here is an assortment of vintage sales and promotional literature for different models of the Westinghouse WC-42T. There are also two mailers die cut to resemble the shape of the machines.

Today the WC-42T soda vending machine is the most commonly found and popular of the Westinghouse upright machines. Although it is the smallest of the Westinghouse upright vendors, it is heavy for its size. The WC-42Ts were manufactured from the early to mid-1950s. The earlier models were painted solid red and had “Ice Cold” embossed on the door and “Here’s a Coke For You” embossed on the sides. We believe this is the only upright soda vending machine to have had this side embossing.

Beginning in 1956 when Coca-Cola changed its paint schemes, the new 42s were painted in a two-tone scheme. The body of the machine was red with a white top. In addition, the door embossing was eliminated and the Coke slogan on the side was no longer embossed but painted.

All models of the 42 have the distinctive Westinghouse “ribs”, or horizontal embossing added purely for aesthetic purposes. The WC-42T vends 42 bottles and has space to pre-cool 10. It is a single selection machine that was designed to vend 6 ½ ounce bottles of Coca-Cola. We have never restored one.

The Cornelius Slim-Lite Ambassador was the same machine as the Cornelius Ambassador. The only difference being that it had a smaller lighted top. It was offered along side of the Ambassador, for anyone who may have required a smaller machine with “just the right amount of point-of-sale display”.

Manufactured by:
The Cornelius Company
2727 North Ferry Street
Anoka, MN 55303

Weight: 21 lbs.
Dimensions: 17 3/4”H x 11”W x 9”D

In the 1960s Coca-Cola and other soft drink manufacturers put a lot of emphasis on making their beverage available at popular venues like bowling alleys, restaurants and drive-ins. Soft drinks were now dispensed premixed and cold as a result of advances in technology.

The Cornelius Co. has now been in business for almost 70 years making coolers and beverage dispensers. They manufactured the Diplomat for the Coca-Cola Company from 1962 to 1969. It is classified as an electric, self-contained, over-the-counter soft drink dispenser. This catalog page states that the “Crisp, clean lines and a bold, lighted sign on each side give the Diplomat styling that attracts costumers, adds prestige to any location!” It also adds the promise of “ice cold refreshment” due to the “Cornelius Ice-O-Matic design”. The cooling device was self-contained within the machine, so there was no need to add ice. The design and illuminated logo served as point of sale advertising and as an enticement to have some refreshment.

The dispensing unit could be mounted on a counter or bar, taking up a minimum amount of space. The dispenser could serve as many as 4 different products and up to 150 cold drinks, figuring on 6 drinks dispensed per minute. There was a cooling recovery rate of 1 drink per minute.

Manufactured by:
The Cornelius Company
2727 North Ferry Street
Anoka, MN 55303

Weight: 110 lbs.
Dimensions: 24 ¾”H x 18”W x 22 ¼”D

The VMC 27 was made for Coca-Cola from 1948 to 1951. This tabletop vending machine had a unique mailbox-type shape that attracted customers, so these were very popular among storeowners. There was an optional stand made by Kay Products for this machine that had additional storage space below. The VMC 27 was capable of vending 27 cold soft drinks, and pre-cooled 10. This machine was a friendlier size for use in Mom and Pop establishments where space was at a premium. These places wouldn’t have had any use for the gargantuan Vendorlator Master and Jumbo models that were made during the war for use in factories. (The Master could vend 84 bottles and pre-cool 80 and the Jumbo could vend 124 bottles and cool 104!) Unfortunately for the 27, the Coca-Cola Company wanted something that could vend more drinks than these were able. In the early 1950’s Vendorlator made the upright Dual 27 for Coca-Cola that was an improvement with the capacity to vend 27 and pre-cool 27 more. As the competition between the soft drink manufacturers grew, Coke felt the 27 still wasn’t big enough. The answer was the VMC 33 that could vend 33 bottles and cool 27. These replaced the model 27 product line and were manufactured from the early to mid-1950’s. And the vendors got larger still, with very popular models like the VMC 81 that was made for dispensing Royal Crown, Pepsi-Cola, 7Up and Dr. Pepper. These classic machines were produced from the mid- to late-1950’s and are very collectible today.

In 1956, Vendorlator merged with its former rival, the Vendo Company of Kansas City, Missouri. Prior to the merger, Vendo worked almost exclusively with the Coca-Cola Company, so the combination of the two companies made them the primary supplier of vendors to the soft drink market. Within two years, the companies were completely consolidated and operating out of the Fresno location. In 1988 Vendo became a subsidiary of the Sanden Corporation of Japan. Vendo moved its headquarters to Dallas, Texas in 2005 and the name changed to SandenVendo America Inc. They still operate today as a manufacturer of vending machines, in addition to commercial freezers, and automotive air-conditioning systems.

The Vendorlator Manufacturing Company
4000 Railroad Avenue
Fresno, California

These two ads were part of an advertising series appearing in a trade publication from 1949. They feature Coca-Cola button signs manufactured by Temco Inc. of Nashville, Tennessee. The signs are pictured in these ads with the Taj Mahal and Stonehenge to illustrate how “timeless” and long-lasting Temco porcelain enamel signs are. I also came across another ad online featuring the Matterhorn. There may have been more ads pairing up the Temco Coke signs with other indestructible icons. Maybe you could let us know if you’ve seen one.

As you can see, these Coca-Cola button signs were designed to withstand years of outdoor use. They were used outside filling stations, neighborhood grocers and drugstores. They were very often used as part of a larger sign or in combination with others and could have been hung on a wall or installed on a stand. These Temco signs came in sizes ranging from 12 inches to 36 inches in diameter. In addition to the red signs shown here, with the Coca-Cola logo, there were also versions made that were white and/or had a Coke bottle on them as well as the logo. Some said “Drink Coca-Cola” or “Drink Coca-Cola in Bottles”. Because of their durability, you can still find these button signs today, although they don’t come cheaply.

The Cornelius Deluxe Ambassador was a lightweight pre-mix soft drink dispenser that was designed for The Coca-Cola Company to be used in upscale bars and restaurants. It was the exact same machine as the Cornelius Ambassador, but with simulated wood grain panels instead of prominent Coca-Cola advertising. It was intended as a “quality dispenser for serving fine quality pre-mix for mixed drinks”. Among the mixers of course, was Coca-Cola.
This machine was the smallest and lightest of the Ambassador line, since it had eliminated the lighted dome entirely. It still clamped easily to a countertop and only required 4 ½ inches in counter depth. In addition to the wood grain, this dispenser had black trim, allowing it to blend into even the most elegant settings.



Manufactured by:
The Cornelius Company
2727 North Ferry Street
Anoka, MN 55303
Weight: 20 lbs.
Dimensions: 11 1/2”H x 11”W x 9”D (without dome)

This photo is of a page from The Coca-Cola Company’s 1957 catalog featuring commemorative Coca-Cola jewelry, made by the L. G. Balfour Company. Since the turn of the century, The Coca-Cola Company has believed in creating employee incentive and rewarding loyalty with acknowledgment that may have come in the form of merchandise, gift cards or discount vouchers. As seen by these catalog pages, in 1957 Coca-Cola turned to the L.G. Balfour Company of Attleboro, MA to create gifts with their insignia. Balfour has been making quality jewelry since 1913. Lloyd Garfield Balfour originally started the company to make items for fraternities and sororities on college campuses. During WWI the US Government hired them to make military insignia for the Armed Forces. When the war was over, Balfour created new product lines including a wide array of company service awards. The Coca-Cola Company awarded pins to their employees after completing every five years of service up to what appears to be 50 years according to the catalog. The pins were 10K gold and included enamel and/or genuine precious stones. The last pin shown is in a classic Coke bottle shape and is listed as a “Pledge Pin” for the modest price of $1.50. At the bottom of the catalog page you can see they also offered a genuine Rolex watch for the phenomenal 1957 price of $50.75.

The next page of the catalog illustrates a wide array of additional items awarded by The Coca-Cola Company and made by Balfour. Included are a makeup compact, bracelets, a necklace, tie clips, a keychain, a money clip, a lighter and a belt buckle. Noted is the option of having the item made with a “50th Anniversary mounting, Coca-Cola Bottle mounting, or Coca-Cola (logo) mounting”.

This 1962 catalog page shows that Bulova also made merchandising items for The Coca-Cola Company. These products were also directed at the management at Coca-Cola as gifts and awards for their employees. Each quality watch bears the Coca-Cola logo painted in red on the watch face. The ad states, “With these beautiful watches Bulova helps you say ‘Thank You’ in an unforgettable way”. I’m sure the lucky recipients were very happy to receive these gifts and also very proud to wear them.

The Cornelius 5-Product Bar Valve
A Coca-Cola Pre-Mix Soda Fountain Valve Dispenser

This catalog page shows the 1965 model of the Cornelius 5-Product Bar Valve. It was proclaimed the “modern way to serve drinks in bars and taverns”. These were manufactured for The Coca-Cola Company and offered 5 different mixer flavors. This was “paired up with a Cornelius 5-Flavor Cold Plate”, making it a cost-effective alternative to the larger soft drink dispensers. Five flavors were available on the valve that could be dispensed with the touch of a finger. A molded valve rest was attached under the bar to store and protect the valve when it was not in use.

Manufactured by:
The Cornelius Company
2727 North Ferry Street
Anoka, MN 55303

Dixie Produces Paper Cups for Coke, Tab and Sprite

The trend in soda vending machines throughout the 1960s was to serve up pre-mixed soft drinks in paper cups, rather than dispensing them in bottles or cans. Machines that dispensed soft drinks in paper cups were popular at places of business, clubs and in schools. But the original idea of a cup vendor dates back to before WWII.

In 1939 the president of the Vendo Company, E.F. Pierson, came up with the concept of a machine that became known as the “Decapper”. This machine opened a bottle of Coke and poured it into a cup before dispensing it. The customer never had to be bothered with discarding empty bottles. The complexity of the machine made it expensive and it never really caught on, resulting in only 251 of them being manufactured. Vendo’s next try at selling a cup vendor was ten years later, in 1959 with the Model V-800. This pre-mix cup-dispensing machine led the way to further advances in cup vending technology and the increased demand for them in the 1960s. Cup vendors continued to be popular into the 1970s.

Making all of the cup vendors possible, of course, was the invention of the paper cup. The onetime use paper cup was invented in 1907 by Lawrence Luellen of Boston, MA. He had taken on the task of inventing such a product after a business associate was approached by investors who expressed an interest in starting a company that could make a flat-folded paper cup. They wanted to dispense the cup from a vending machine connected to a watercooler. They hoped to address health issues arising from the practice of drinking from community water pumps and water barrels, usually using the same ladle or cup.

Luellen came up with a pleated cup made of paper treated with paraffin. He also invented a machine that dispensed water into a paper cup for the price of a penny. Remaining was the task of convincing the public that disposable cups were necessary and that reusing drinking containers could make them sick. (Up until the turn of the century most people were unaware that germs even existed.) In 1908 Luellen joined forces with a man by the name of Hugh Moore to educate the public about the health benefits of disposable cups. In 1909 they formed the Public Cup Vendor Company and named their product the Health Kup. At that time their main business was leasing their water dispensing machines to railroads and train stations. They also sold their cups in bulk to these customers.

Scientific studies of the time boosted sales of paper cups. It may be hard for us to believe it today, but schools had a single drinking vessel that was used by all of the students. Public places had common drinking cups, or the “tin-dipper”, and railroad stations supplied a shared drinking glass beside water coolers. In 1908 a biology professor published his study called “Death in School Drinking Cups”, which did wonders to eliminate the practice of sharing a glass. The flu epidemic of 1910 also greatly increased the demand for the paper cups.

In 1910 the company was incorporated as the Individual Drinking Cup Company of New York. Luellen handed over his paper cup patents to the company and received money and significant stock in the company in return.

In 1919 the cup was given a new name: Dixie. The company’s name was changed to the Dixie Cup Company and it continued to grow. In 1921 the company was moved to a newly designed and constructed plant in Easton, PA. They experienced great success throughout the course of WWII due to their watertank-cup dispensers being widely used on US military bases and factories.

Dixie’s growth continued after the war, and in 1946 they worked with The Coca-Cola Company to create a cup vendor. The evolution of the Dixie Cup included improved printing methods in the 1960s that allowed them to print company brands on them. This brochure page shows some of the Dixie paper cups made for Coca-Cola in the 1960s. In addition to the Coca-Cola flavor of soft drink cups are cups for The Coca-Cola Company’s Sprite and Tab brands.

Since 2000 Georgia-Pacific Corporation of Virginia has owned the rights to the “Dixie” name. In 2002 the Dixie division of GP and The Coca-Cola Company united once again, collaborating in a product line of plastic Coca-Cola cups to be sold at retail stores. Included in the line is a disposable greenish plastic cup, shaped in the classic fluted Coca-Cola bell-shape. At Retroplanet.com you can find a variety of similar glass versions.

Vendo Milk Vendor

The Vendo Milk Vendor was manufactured by The Vendo Co. in the 1950’s. It uses a lot of the same parts as the V-80 and 81 soda machines as well as having the same shape. This machine was not intended for large volume, but rather was classified as a small to mid-size machine for “’in-between’ volume needs”. As with other machines of the 50s, this is an upright with rounded corners. The upright design was intended to save floor space and this model requires only three square feet. The design includes the addition of an illuminated display case on top of the machine for the customer to view the different drink options. The drinks were available in cardboard cartons and the selection could include up to four different choices. There was a 52 to 80 drink total capacity and the machine operated with a push-button selection.

The Vendo Milk Vendor was one of a group of three very similar machines produced by Vendo at the time. In addition to the Milk Vendor were the Hot Food Vendor and the Ice Cream Machine. The Milk Vender is a rare machine, but of the three, the Ice Cream Machine is the most rare.

The standard color for the Vendo Milk Vendor was blue, as seen in the brochure. But we had a machine that we decided to do a little differently. See our earlier blog about the Cow Motif Vendo Milk Machine.

Dimensions: 58”H x 27”W x 16”D
Manufactured by:
The Vendo Company
Kansas City, Missouri

The Vendo V-83 Coca-Cola Vending Machine

The V-83 has the distinction of being Vendo’s first coin-operated, upright soda vending machine to be mass-produced. Like all other Vendos, it was made exclusively for the Coca-Cola Company and was produced from 1946 to 1955. There were more of this model machine made among upright Vendos, than any other machine up until 1960.

The vending couldn’t have been simpler; just insert a nickel and lift the dispenser door to lift out your Coke. It is a single-selection machine that vends 83 bottles and has space to pre-cool 75. The 6.5-ounce bottles were loaded into individual compartments in a honeycomb-shaped drum. By lifting the door to remove a Coke, the drum was rotated to the next available bottle.
This Vendo 1947 V-83 brochure states that demand is so high for this machine, that they may have difficulty filling orders for them in the following year—so you had better put your order in early! Not so true anymore, as this is such a heavy machine, that it’s not all that popular with collectors. In addition, it can only hold the original 6.5-ounce bottles.

Dimensions: 63”H x 32 1/2”W x 18”D
Weight: 450 lbs.

Manufactured by:
The Vendo Company
Kansas City, Missouri

The Jewett Bevador Giant Circular Cooler

The Bevador cooler is a beast, but yet a very interesting item! With the dome top it measures 7’ 6” tall and weighs in at 1050 pounds. It was produced in the 1950’s by the Jewett Refrigerator Co. of Buffalo, NY. Inside the cooler are seven revolving adjustable shelves. The door has five feet of white neon tubes between the glass. We owned one of these and considered restoring it several times but never got around to it. I have seen them restored as Coke bottles, but our idea was to take off the top and restore it like the 1960’s Coca-Cola Diamond pattern can. The one we owned was just in too bad a shape to do anything with so we sold it ‘as is’.

I believe the company is still in business and manufactures blood refrigeration cabinets. I’m not 100% sure, so if anyone has any information please blog-in and let us know.

Jewett Refrigerator Co.
94-98 Pearl Street
Buffalo, NY

Sherwin-Williams Coca-Cola Truck Brochure

These are scans of a very early Sherwin-Williams brochure for painting Coca-Cola trucks. Looks like it could be from the twenties by the look of the truck. There’s a great graphic of the truck along with a color chart spelling out the use of all the colors and where to purchase them. This is another example of how important it was to Coca-Cola to have a consistent look, even way back when.

You can download a larger version of this and other truck-painting brochures at the Retroplanet.com PDF library.

The Mills 65 Soft Drink Vendor

The Mills 65 cold drink dispenser was advertised as a smaller version of soft drink vending machines of the time. This machine was manufactured from 1947-1953. For a nickel, it would dispense an ice cold drink and it could make change from a dime or quarter with its electric coin changer. It could hold 65 bottles of soft drinks and was painted in a variety of colors with a baked-on enamel and stainless steel accents. Manufactured by:Mills Industries, Inc.4100 Fullerton Ave.Chicago, ILIf you have one of these, they are the most desirable of the Mills machines made after WWII. If you are fortunate enough to have one of these, blog-in and let us know. Or if you have anything of interest to add to this blog, please let us know.

1950’s SuperVend Cold Cup Drink Vendor

The ad for this 1950’s superVend drink vendor stated that this machine could be used at a variety of locations to increase drink selling profits. Some of the locations listed were schools, air, rail and bus terminals, supermarkets and filling stations. This model cold drink dispenser was capable of vending 3 different flavors of a cold drink into a cup.

Manufactured by:
SuperVend Corp.
2586 Cedar Springs Ave.
Dallas, TX

The ad proclaimed that this machine was “A sleek, glistening beauty!” Maybe you have seen one. Blog in and let us know.

1929 Hazeltine & Perkins Drug Co. Soda Fountain Supply Catalog

We just posted PDFs of a 1929 Soda Fountain Supply Catalog in the Retroplanet.com PDF Library. The catalog was put out by Hazeltine & Perkins of Grand Rapids, Michigan. It is filled with all kinds of great soda fountain items like glasses, dishes, stools, mixers, straw holders and lots more. It could be a great reference piece if you are planning to build your own soda fountain. Also, it could possibly come in handy if you are trying to put a date on some items in your soda fountain collection.

The Delf Triple-Selector Soda Machine

The Fully-Automatic Delf Triple-Selector Vendor dispensed bottled soft drinks and was capable of vending up to 3 different flavors. This model machine, made in the late 1940’s to early 50’s was touted as being a smaller model, but with a large capacity. It had an overall 121-bottle vending capacity but had a unique way of vending them. It utilized 3 horizontal vending conveyors that vended 37 bottles. This machine could vend 6 to 12 oz. bottles of soda. There was a stainless steel interior lining and storage available inside the machine to hold 48 additional bottles.

Manufactured by:
Atlas Tool & Manufacturing Co.
5147 Natural Bridge Blvd.
St. Louis, MO

Dimensions: 73”H x 24.5”W x 25”D

Blog-in and tell us if you’ve ever seen one of these machines, or maybe you also have one in your collection.

The Cavalier C-27 Coca-Cola Dry Vendor

Designed as a smaller, indoor Coca-Cola vendor, the Cavalier C-27 was produced from the late-1940’s to the mid-1950’s. It was intended for use in offices and reception rooms where there was limited traffic. It was easy to operate; you inserted the proper change, turned the crank and a cold bottle of Coca-Cola was dispensed. There was a small red light beside the coin slot to let you know when the machine was empty. The original handle design was referred to as a “ship wheel handle”. Later versions of this model had a “star” handle. Examples of the original ship handle version are rare and hard to find.

This Coca-Cola vending machine could vend for 5 or 6 cents per bottle. It was equipped with a crown catcher and a slug rejecter and was able to be fitted for a changer.

Dimensions:
22”D x 18”W x 41”H

Weight: 175 lbs.

Manufactured by:

Cavalier Corporation

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Acton Manufacturing is responsible for some very collectible items. The Acton Standard picnic cooler is fairly common, but finding one in mint condition with the box is hard to do. The Acton Junior or “6-Pack” is probably one of the most desirable Coca-Cola picnic coolers for collectors. Acton also made the “Low Boy”, another hard-to-find and collectable picnic cooler. But without a doubt the hardest to find, most desirable Acton item is the Coolerette stand. It was a stand they manufactured that was made to hold the Standard cooler, turning it into a low volume vendor.

Included here is an old Acton magazine ad as well as pictures of a few Acton items we restored at Vintagevending.com.

This item is not for sale. We show restored items in this blog to encourage discussion, prompt questions and further the hobby of collecting and restoration. We also enjoy sharing the photos of the many items we have restored over the years.

The F. L. Jacobs Company, A Soda Machine Company

F. L. Jacobs originally specialized in manufacturing home appliances like the Jacobs Launderall washing machine out of Detroit, Michigan. They began manufacturing soda vending machines for Coca-Cola in the 1940’s from a plant in Indianapolis, Indiana. Their machines have a unique shape referred to by collectors as the “mailbox” shape. They are believed to be one of the few manufacturers that the Coca-Cola Company authorized to continue making Coca-Cola soda vending machines in limited quantities through the course of WWII. Like all machines made in that time, they had large capacities for serving the workers in the wartime factories. One of these was the enormous J-144. It weighed 580 lbs. without any soda in it and measured 65”H x 34”W x 35”D.

In contrast, the smallest, most sought-after and fortunately, most common of Jacobs soda machines is the Jacobs 26. The 26 was produced in the late 1940’s and measures 54”H x 19”W x 26”D. Like all Jacobs machines, it has the classic mailbox shape. This design is to accommodate the interior drum from which the soda is vended. The drum rotates to dispense the bottles. Like all the Jacobs Coca-Cola models, it vends from the narrow side of the machine and the bottles are loaded from the wider side.

Other postwar machines include the Jacobs 50 and 56 manufactured in the early 1950’s. The Jacobs 50 was a 50-bottle model that used decals to advertise Pepsi-Cola. On the other hand, the model 56 is a slicker looking machine, with an illuminated Pepsi-Cola soda “cap” on the door. Collectors have given this model the name “Pepsi Light-Up”. The Jacobs 56 was made for only two years, from 1952 to 1953. Due to its short production time and the scarcity of models with the “cap” intact, this is one of the most sought-after soda machines and is a rare model to find today.

In addition to the models already mentioned, Jacobs made the model 35, produced in the late 1940’s to the early 1950’s. It is identical to the 26, except that the drum was redesigned to hold nine additional bottles and there was room in the machine to cool 41. Jacobs also produced what turned out to be their final model, the 108, proclaiming it the “fastest loading medium cooler made”. The F. L. Jacobs Company moved to Traverse City, Michigan around 1950. Unfortunately, there weren’t to be any more Jacobs soda machines coming down the production line. It seems that in 1951 the F. L. Jacobs Company was encouraged by the U.S. Department of Justice to repay $15 million “in excess profits from producing necessities and munitions of war during World War II”. They voluntarily paid back the money, and it obviously put a strain on the company. They closed their doors in 1953.

F. L. Jacobs Company

1100 W. 21st Street

Indianapolis, Indiana

Originally starting as a sawmill, the Tennessee Furniture Company of Chattanooga opened in 1865. It began as an offshoot of the sawmill, in order to sell off the flawed pieces of wood that wouldn’t have sold otherwise. Gaston Raoul was the second owner of the furniture company. He bought an additional enterprise, the Odorless Refrigeration Company, in 1905, which enabled the Tennessee Furniture Company to rapidly become the largest manufacturer of ice coolers in the country. They chose the name “Cavalier” in 1923 for their line of cedar hope chests and soda coolers but they continued to make furniture in the division known as the Tennessee Furniture Company until 1960.

In 1935, during the Depression, the Cavalier division of the Tennessee Furniture Company began a long-standing relationship with the Coca-Cola Company. Under the name “Cavalier”, they made soda machines, coolers and picnic chests to the exacting specifications of the Coca-Cola Company. In 1938 the company name was officially changed to the Cavalier Corporation. Some of the early coolers made by Cavalier include the Junior, Standard, Master and Giant model chest coolers. Cavalier made products exclusively for Coca-Cola right through the 1960’s. In 1958 Cavalier advertising proclaimed they had sold “more than half a million coolers since 1935”.

Post-WWII most vendor manufacturers were focusing on the production of upright machines, but Cavalier continued to concentrate on coolers. In 1945 they introduced the model FD-2, or the dry office cooler. It was designed for low-traffic areas like offices and retail stores. Cavalier joined other manufacturers in producing upright coin-operated vending machines in 1953 when they introduced the C-51. It had a very similar appearance to the Vendo-39; only it was larger and able to vend 51 bottles, as opposed to the Vendo’s 39 bottles.

One of the most popular Cavalier models of vending machine is the CS-72 that was produced from 1958 to 1959. This is still a very desirable machine, since it is able to vend up to nine different flavors of soda. It holds eight bottles on nine slant shelves, instead of using a conveyor system that was capable of vending only one type of soft drink. This innovative model was the first to be designed without the crank handle on the outside. Instead, once the money is deposited, the “Have a Coke” lens lights up, indicating the door is ready to be opened and a bottle of soda pulled out. Cavalier was responsible for many “firsts” in the vending market. The Cavalier Corporation was also the first to introduce a vending machine that was able to dispense either bottles or cans of soda. This was the “square-corner” C-55D vendor introduced in 1959. In the 1960’s Cavalier was taken over by the Seeburg Corporation. In turn, Seeburg was taken over by a succession of companies. In 1987 the Cavalier division filed for bankruptcy and was spun off as an employee-owned company. In August of 2000 the plant was closed for good.

Cavalier Corporation

1105 East Tenth Street

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Coca-Cola Cavalier 72 Soda Vending Machine

The Cavalier 72 is a round-top model Coca-Cola vending machine that was introduced in 1958. It was built by one of the largest manufacturers of soda vending machines for the Coca-Cola Company, the Cavalier Corporation. This machine is one that we restored at Vintage Vending.

Every soda machine we restored at Vintage Vending followed the same process. First the machine was completely disassembled and all painted parts were sandblasted. All other parts were re-chromed, powder-coated, repainted or cleaned. The coin mechanism was re-plated and rebuilt. Automotive bodywork was performed on all of the sandblasted parts. The machine was painted with PPG automotive paint. Then the machine was reassembled with a new refrigeration compressor and all electrical was replaced.

This machine was restored with the original color scheme. As was popular in the late 1950’s, this machine is predominately white. It is a slant-shelf machine that holds up to 72 bottles, 8 bottles on each of its 9 shelves. These shelves can be adjusted to accommodate bottles ranging from 6 to 12 ounce sizes. This also allows for the vending of up to 9 different flavors. There’s space to pre-cool 17 bottles. Collectors appreciate this machine’s versatility, making it a very desirable model and one of the most popular Coke machines.

The Cavalier 72 also has great style with its small profile and rounded corners. In addition, after depositing your money, the “Have a Coke” lens on the bottle door lights up, indicating that you can pull a soda out. There’s no need to pull down a handle to dispense the soda, as the slanted shelves and gravity make the bottles readily available. Older soda machines were equipped with mechanical coin mechanisms. Because the Cavalier 72 has an electro-mechanical coin mechanism, this machine also allows you to set the price of the sodas up to $1.00, making this vendor an option for use today in a restaurant or store.

Dimensions:
67” high x 24 3/4” wide x 21 7/8”
deep
Weight: 256 lbs.

Manufactured by:

The Cavalier Corporation

Chattanooga, Tennessee

This item is not for sale. We show restored items in this blog to encourage discussion, prompt questions and further the hobby.

To view more pictures of the completed restoration visit the RetroPlanet.com Museum.

The Cavalier Coca-Cola vending machine was designed by Cavalier to compete directly with the Vendo 39. It vends 51 cold bottles of Coca-Cola and pre-cools 36 bottles, which is a greater volume than the 39 vended, 20 cooled of the Vendo 39. Other features you can see listed in this brochure are that it’s easy to load, has an all-metal construction, chrome-plated hardware and a large crown catcher. Each bottle travels on a belt in its own aluminum tube, so the bottles are not rubbing together as they are stored and dispensed.

These soda machines were made from the early 1950’s to the late 1950’s, but they were not as popular as their competition.

Dimensions:

24 ¾” wide x 20 ¼” deep x 64 9/16” high
Weight:
360 lbs.

Manufactured by:

Cavalier Corporation

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Have you seen a Cavalier 51? Please blog-in with your feedback/comments.

What do you do when you have a couple of undesirable, enormous and basically worthless Vendo 144 soda machines? You turn them into restroom doors. These are photos of the restrooms that were in our retail store in Salem, NH. We took two Vendo 144 doors and restored them to like new condition and bolted them to a couple of solid doors. If you try this, keep in mind that they are heavy and you may have to reinforce the doorjamb and hinges. But the extra work is worth it; the doors always received great compliments and a second look from everyone who saw them.

1950’s Esso Tiger Advertising Statue “Put a Tiger In Your Tank”

These pictures and video are of the Esso Tiger we restored a few years back and that still guards the Retroplanet.com world headquarters. The pictures show the ‘before’, ‘during’ and ‘after’ stages. At Vintage Vending we restored 3 of these over the years. This one is the smaller of the two sizes that were used by Esso, and is different then most Tigers because of the embossed Esso logo on the back leg.

The Tiger is fiberglass so the restoration process entailed stripping the old paint, fiberglass repair work, primer, sanding, a basecoat of paint, airbrushing the details and then clear coat to finish.

Here are a couple of tips if you decide to restore one.
1. If you sandblast—be very careful. Use a media that is not that abrasive; you do not want to break through that outer layer of fiberglass. I believe we used crushed walnut shells.
2. Also, do your best to find one with its tail. Many are missing theirs and they’re not the easiest things to duplicate.

All in all, it is not a hard restoration, especially if you have access to a good airbrush artist. Good luck.

1960 Coca-Cola Vendo Soda Machines

This is a Vendo Company brochure announcing their available soda vending machine line for the year in 1960. Note the Vendo 44, which was introduced in 1956, was still being manufactured. This was a very popular model, and tens of thousands of these were manufactured.

As the Vendo soda machines were modernized and improved, they were also getting larger, as you can see in this photo of a Vendo V-304-4 Multi-Drink model. This machine was capable of vending 304 regular or king (10 oz.) bottles, as well as cooling an additional 36 bottles. It could vend up to 4 different beverages. With its large capacity, this vendor was designed for high-traffic areas.

Blog-in with any comments you may have.

Auto-Lite Spark Plug Automotive Parts Store Counter Display

This was a great little Auto-Lite spark plug counter display we restored. It looked a little rough on the outside, but inside the case was pretty clean. Most importantly, it had all the original spark plugs and the curved glass was not broken.

It was a pretty basic restoration: take apart, sandblast, bodywork, prime, sand, paint, reassemble, apply decals and it was done.

I think it is safe to say they don’t make displays like this anymore, and I am happy to say I have this piece in my collection.

This item is not for sale. We show restored items in this blog to encourage discussion, prompt questions and further the hobby.

Service Manuals for Coca-Cola Vendo 81, 44 & 39 Soda Machines

At the Retroplanet.com site we are offering free downloads of PDFs of service manuals for three models of Coca-Cola soda machines from the 1950’s. They are the Vendo 81, 44 and 39. These PDFs can be found at the Retroplanet PDF Library.

It is important to note that in the beginning of the manual you will see photos of vending machines that were restored by us at Vintage Vending. They may have been restored to look different from the machine you may have. The rest of the manual PDFs are of the actual manual and schematics. There are also photos and parts lists. Our hope is that these photos are of help to you.

The soda machines we have restored are not for sale. We show restored items in this blog to encourage discussion, prompt questions and further the hobby.

“Coca-Cola Truck and Car Paint Schemes” at Retroplanet.com

Standardization of the Coca-Cola identity is discussed at the Retroplanet.com blog, “Coca-Cola Truck and Car Paint Schemes”. Click on http://www.retroplanet.com/blog/category/vintage-vending-archives/ to see the Standardization Bulletins issued by the Standardization Committee of Bottlers of Coca-Cola in 1948 and 1957. They’re very interesting!

The Cavalier Coca-Cola Office Cooler

The Cavalier Corporation produced this machine in the late 1940’s, early 1950’s. This Coca-Cola cooler was designed to be much smaller than the standard soda vending machines so it could be used in an office for use by employees, customers or patients. In other words, Coca-Cola was also interested in being in places where they would make low-volume sales in addition to more high-profile locations.

This 2-case cooler is powered by a Frigidaire motor and was not coin-operated. The cold bottles of Coke either would have been offered as a courtesy, or there would have been an honor system in place.

Cavalier Corporation

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Cavalier began making Coke coolers in 1935, and closed in November of 2000. Perhaps you’ve seen a Cavalier cooler? Let us know. Blog-in using the form below.

1941 Vendorlator 120 Soda Machine

We have seen a lot of soda machines here at Vintage Vending, and I would have to say that this one could be the ugliest. Seemed like a good idea at the time, I would guess. It vends up to 63 different flavors and holds any size bottles. “It is modern and handsome in design, easy to load, simple and almost 100% automatic in operation,” says the brochure.

Manufactured by:
Vendorlator Manufacturing Co.
4000 Railroad Avenue
Fresno, California

The Vendo Company History

The Vendo Company is known worldwide as having been a leader in the manufacture of vending machines for more than 50 years. Vendo was founded as a small company in 1937 in Kansas City, Missouri as a manufacturer of bottled soft drink vending machines. Prior to this, early vendors had not been coin operated machines, but rather self-serve coolers packed with ice. This system relied on the customers’ honesty.

The first coin-operated vending machines appeared in the early 1880’s. They were first used to dispense postcards and books. These early models did not work well, often jamming. They also did not have the necessary safeguards and could not distinguish between a coin and a slug.

In the late 1930’s, two brothers named Elmer and John Pierson saw a need for improvement to the earlier designs and took out a patent for a vending lid that could be added to existing coolers. This lid called “The Red Top”, was simple, reliable and inexpensive. The lid was locked on top of the cooler and could be opened after a coin was inserted. The lid rotated to the next available bottle, eliminating the need to dig through the ice. At first the lids were added to Frigidaire and Westinghouse coolers that were already in use. Vendo then began buying coolers from Westinghouse and outfitting them with The Red Top and selling the resulting vending machines under the Vendo name. Early examples of this were the Vendo Junior and the Vendo Master (both from the late 30’s to early 40’s). In the 40’s, a compressor was added to soft drink bottle coolers, eliminating the need for ice altogether.

Red Top lids went to war during WWII, after the US War Department declared that soft drinks were necessary to the morale of military personnel. 5,000 Red Tops were made to be placed in military training camps and wartime factories. Vendo also manufactured radar detection systems which aided in the war effort. After the war, Vendo went back to designing soda vending machines, and produced the V-83 in 1946. The V-83 was Vendo’s first mass-produced upright coin-operated machine. A nickel was inserted, and then you simply had to lift the small door to get your bottle of Coke. This model’s great success was followed in 1949 by another highly successful vendor—the V-39.

In the 1950’s Vendo diversified its product line and produced machines that could vend other items like hot food, ice cream and milk. They also experimented with fully automated restaurants, convenience stores and drive-ins that were served only by vending machines. Vendo merged with its competitor, Vendorlator in 1956. They had, like Vendo, been founded in 1937. But where Vendo worked mainly with Coca-Cola, Vendorlator had been working with both Pepsi-Cola and Royal Crown. The merger of these two companies made Vendo the primary supplier to the soft drink market. Vendo also went public in 1956 and their stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 1961 and continued to for the next 20 years. Vendo also expanded internationally, working with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan starting in 1962, where they manufactured Vendo beverage coolers. They also licensed operations in England and Mexico. In 1964 they opened new facilities and contracted out to Belgium, Australia, Italy, Germany, France and Canada. The 60’s also brought Vendo’s introduction of the canned soft drink dispensers.

In the 1970’s, due to the energy crisis, vending machines were determined to be nonessential and the vending industry began to suffer. Vendo left Kansas City and sold its snack vendor division. In 1988 Vendo was bought by the Sanden Corporation of Japan. This infused new life into the Vendo company, and led to many innovations in vending machine design. These include programmable electronic vending machines, high-capacity vendors that can hold plastic bottles in many shapes and sizes, and machines that will take a debit card. Today Vendo is expanding into territories like Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

Not only has Vendo produced many highly collectible vendors in their past, but they also continue to be a significant presence in the manufacturing marketplace.

Blog in to add to the information presented here. We’d love to hear from Vendo machine collectors or anyone who remembers using them.

Coca-Cola has always done a great job getting their products into as many locations as possible. The Vendo D-56 was an attempt to get Coke into locations where a soda machine might be out of place, like an upscale office. The D-56 was basically a soda machine with a decorative door on the front. The doors were offered in five styles; warm and exciting Mediterranean, bold and sleek Danish, sculptured and classic Provincial, light and charming Colonial and crisp and trim Traditional. I don’t think the concept really took off, but it was an interesting idea. Coca-Cola offered many smaller machines for low volume situations over the years and we will be posting others soon.

The Coca-Cola Company used many different manufacturers for their dispensers and coolers. The 1930’s Moss Cooler is one that does not seem to have withstood the test of time. Its main competitor was the Glascock cooler. Moss coolers are very rare today, where the Glascock are easier to find. Vintage Vending was fortunate to have owned a Moss cooler.

The Moss bottled beverage cooler was made of durable metal construction. It was painted in a dark green, oven baked crackle finish. The hardware was nickel and cadmium plated. There was a bottle opener and a cap catcher for the customer’s use. It had casters so the heavy cooler could be moved more easily since these weighed 44 and 55 lbs. without the ice and bottles. The bottler supplied the signs to be inserted on the sides of the cooler. One, two or four signs could be installed. The coolers came in two sizes: 2-case and 4-case.

Manufactured by:
J. Moss Equipment Co., Inc.
78 19th St.
Brooklyn, NY

It is interesting to note that the reverse of this brochure was used by someone who typed a story about Dizzy Dean, the pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1930-1937. Perhaps this copy was to be used for a news broadcast or was a rough draft for a newspaper story.

Blog in and let us know if you’ve ever seen one of these or have anything interesting to add.