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

The Universal Cooler Corporation was a division of the International Detrola Corporation of Detroit, Michigan. Other Detrola-owned companies were manufacturers of radios, washing machines, furniture and machine tools. In 1950 the Universal Cooler Corp. was acquired by the Tecumseh Products Company of Tecumseh, Michigan.

Dimensions: Approx. 11” diameter x 12” high

Manufactured by:
Universal Cooler Corp.
Marion, 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.

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

This cooler would have been used in a store and placed on the countertop, probably near the cash register. The customer could simply lift the lid, take as many sodas as they wanted and then pay the cashier. There is a bottle opener and a drain spout for emptying out the water once the ice had melted.

If you have anything to add, we’d love to hear from you.

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.

Glasco manufactured soda vendors exclusively for Coca-Cola and the GBV-60 was manufactured in the early 1960s. It cools “with dry forced-air to eliminate defrosting”. It is constructed of steel with a baked enamel finish.

Dimensions: 37 1/2”H x 21”D x 42 ½”W
Weight: 224 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.

This cooler was manufactured about 1940. It has dual lids that share a center hinge. It has a bottle opener and cap catcher located on the front. This cooler had a 96-bottle capacity and additional storage on the rack below for a few cases of warm soda bottles or to put the empties. Casters were standard equipment. This model originally sold for $8.75 as you can see in the ads.

Dimensions: 31” high x 32” wide x 23” deep
Weight: 70 lbs.
Capacity: 96 bottles

Manufactured by:
S & S Products Co.
Lima, Ohio

The Glascock Deluxe cooler, when it was built was the best Glascock had to offer. The $36 price tag was considered a lot at the time (the Standard cost only $15) but came with special features, such as a stainless steel lid and bottle racks. This model was created for storeowners that wanted a more attractive soda machine in their stores.

When the Deluxe was first released in 1930 it was an icebox. Later versions came out as mechanically refrigerated boxes with a price tag of $155. The electric powered compressor was located in the base inside the stand. The vending process was like that of earlier coolers, where a warm bottle had to be inserted into the cooler in order to vend a cold bottle. The vending capacity was 64 bottles of Coca-Cola, with 66 bottles in reserve.

Dimensions: 41 1/2”H x 31”W x 29”D
Produced: Early 1930s
Weight: 418 lbs.

Manufactured by:
Glascock Bros. Manufacturing Co.
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.

This is a Glascock Portable Cooler from the early 1930s. It is based on the Glascock Standard, with the addition of wheels (2 large on the sides, one smaller in the rear), and a push handle. The cooler could hold 72 bottles of Coke and 50 lbs. of cracked ice. Three cases of additional bottles could be stored below. As on other Glascock coolers, there is a bottle opener and crown catcher. The sides had removable panels and it is painted in the standard green and red colors. This cooler would have been just the thing to deliver bottles of cold Coca-Cola to people walking on the street or attending sporting events or fairs.

Dimensions: 40”H x 53”W x 28”D
Produced: Early 1930s

Manufactured by:
Glascock Bros. Manufacturing Co.
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 cooler in this photo is the Hemp 9022. It resembles a fishing or tackle box and is a fairly rare cooler. The 9022 was the smallest in the series of 9020-series Hemp coolers. Originally these coolers were painted with white tops. This example has been restored with a solid red color scheme.

Hemp and Company was a division of the American Thermos Products Company. The first thermos, or “vacuum flask” was manufactured in 1892 by the scientist, Sir James Dewar. In 1907 the American Thermos Bottle Company of Brooklyn, New York purchased the Thermos trademark. They began manufacturing insulated picnic jugs and coolers in 1955 and many of them were for the Coca-Cola Company.

This ad features four models of the Hemp line of coolers: the 9022, 9023, 9024 and the 9025, all manufactured in the mid to late 1950s. These have all been embossed with the Coca-Cola Company logo. They are insulated and have galvanized aluminum liners with places to attach bottle openers and ice picks in the lid.

Manufactured by:

Hemp & Company
Macomb, Illinois

The vintage photo above is of a Coca-Cola Dispenser Service delivery truck. This is a great old photo, not only of the 1919 Ford Model T truck, but it also shows a variety of vintage Coca-Cola bottle dispensers. These coolers were probably destined for Mom and Pop stores throughout the neighborhood.

The dark colored cooler on the rear of the truck is a Glascock Standard. This is the red and green chest cooler that Glascock manufactured from the late 1920s through the 1930s. It was the first standardized icebox that was manufactured for the Coca-Cola Company. The space under the cooler could accommodate up to 4 cases of bottles of Coke, in addition to the 72 bottles that fit in the ice-filled cooler.

As far as the other Coca-Cola coolers on the truck, if you can identify any of them, please send us your comments.

This 1950s picnic cooler was manufactured by the Progress Refrigerator Company of Louisville, Kentucky. It was produced for the Grapette Company, makers of Grapette Grape soda in Camden, Arkansas. Grapette Soda was first created in 1939 and is still being made today.

This picnic cooler has an enameled steel exterior and a galvanized liner. It would have had a sandwich tray originally, but it’s had to find one of these with the tray. Progress also manufactured the A1 cooler for the makers of Squirt, Canada Dry, Royal Crown, 7 Up, Dr. Pepper and Barq’s. The cooler has two handles that lock together for carrying and a bottle opener mounted on the side. A drainage spout is positioned on the front to drain off the water after the ice has melted. This cooler could hold up to 24 bottles, in addition to storing food on the sandwich tray above.

Dimensions: 19”L x 13”W x 19”H
Weight: 33 lbs.
Produced: Late 1940s to 1950s

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 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.

Vendo was founded in 1937 in Kansas City, Missouri. Their initial product line consisted of chest coolers, but after WWII they became known for their upright vending machines, which were made exclusively for the Coca-Cola Company. This chest cooler is one of the earliest—if not one of the first chest coolers made by Vendo.

This cooler is embossed for Cleo Cola, a soft drink that was introduced in 1935 by the Whistle soda company. Cleo Cola was named after the cigar favored by the company’s owner (presumably Antonio y Cleopatra cigars, manufactured since 1879). Advertising for the soda featured Queen Cleopatra of Egypt, which may explain the use of what then was considered an “oriental” typeface.

In addition to the photo of the Cleo Cola chest cooler, there are also photos of artist renditions of the Vendo chest and an additional cooler embossed with the Coca-Cola logo, in what appears to be an office. Perhaps this gentleman is a Vendo Company executive. In this last picture, it is possible to see the top of the machine with the rotating vending mechanism. This chest cooler represents an early version of the soda vending machines that Vendo continued to develop and became famous for.

Manufactured by:

The Vendo Company
Kansas City, Missouri

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

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.

This is a 1950s picnic cooler made by the Progress Refrigerator Company for the makers of Squirt soda. This Progress A1 picnic cooler was made of steel with a galvanized liner. They originally came with a sandwich tray, but today it is hard to find examples with these intact. Squirt is one of the many soda companies Progress produced coolers for. They also manufactured the A1 cooler for the makers of Canada Dry, Royal Crown, 7 Up, Dr. Pepper and Barq’s. Some of the cooler’s features are two handles that lock together for carrying and a side-mounted bottle opener. There’s also a handy drainage spout positioned on the front for dispensing the water once the ice has melted. This model was able to hold up to 24 bottles of soda in addition to the food that would have been placed on the sandwich tray above, keeping is nice and dry.

Dimensions: 18”L x 13”W x 19”H
Weight: 33 lbs.
Produced: Late 1940s to early 1950s

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 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.

This countertop cooler is from Mexico. The embossing on the front and back reads “Tome Coca-Cola”, or “Drink Coca-Cola”. The manufacturer is unknown. It was probably produced in the 1950s. The design is rather unique, with the very thin, flat lid that covers the entire top of the cooler. We got this cooler in pretty poor condition and have restored it to new condition.

The first Latino countries to be given permission to bottle Coca-Cola were Cuba and Panama in 1906. Coca-Cola was first bottled in Mexico starting in 1926 and is still very popular there today.

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 Glascock Junior was a single case cooler, capable of holding 36 chilled bottles. This makes it the same size as the Glascock countertop. The Junior had storage beneath for two cases of bottles and came on legs with casters.

It was equipped with a bottle opener. The sides were covered in removable panel inserts that could be changed out for different soft drink brands or messages, such as “Please Pay the Clerk”. They were painted a distinct Moroccan green that the Glascock coolers became known for. The bottles of Coke were kept cool with ice water.

Glascock was the first manufacturer to produce officially approved coolers for the Coca-Cola Company. The Junior model followed its predecessor, the Standard and was intended for stores with limited floor space. Coca-Cola was vended simply by lifting the lid of the cooler and removing a bottle. The customer then paid the store clerk for the soft drink. The original price for the Junior was $7.95.

Dimensions: 30”H x 17 1/2”W x 17 1/2”D
Produced: In the early 1930s

Manufactured by:
Glascock Bros. Manufacturing Co.
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.

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.

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.

We restored this Dole Deluxe Coca-Cola soda fountain dispenser. It’s a countertop soda fountain dispenser that was introduced in 1947 by the Dole Valve Company. It was the very first dispenser they produced following WWII. Because of its shape, it was called the “outboard motor”. The design was created by Raymond Loewy, a famous industrial designer. The shape was reflective of the popular “streamline” style, suggesting speed.

The Dole Deluxe was manufactured from 1947 through 1951 and over 30,000 were sold. Although the dispenser had numerous improvements over previous models, it was still only able to dispense one 6-ounce glass of Coca-Cola at a time.

Manufactured by:
Dole Valve Company
Chicago, 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.

This is a 1940s cigarette machine that we restored. With smoking as popular as it was at the time, these machines would have been used nearly everywhere. Its beautiful art deco design indicates that it was probably used in a nice restaurant, nightclub or theater. We’re not sure who the manufacturer is, so if you have an idea, blog-in and let us know what you think.

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.

Toy manufacturers have been producing pedal cars just about as long as car manufacturers have been building cars. Karl Benz is credited with making the first modern automobile in 1885 and the first patent for a pedal car was issued in the early 1890s. Pedal cars became increasingly popular after the turn of the century and manufacturers began to model them on the current automobile designs. Pedal cars mimicked the design of the Buick, Packard or Pierce Arrow of that model year. This included the Cadillac, which was the inspiration for the Garton Kidillac.

The pedal car pictured here was based on the design of the 1950 Cadillac. The Kidillac was the top-of-the-line of all the pedal cars Garton produced. It had a steel chassis, chain-powered pedaling and a two-tone paint job, as well as chrome detailing like the big car. There was also an electric horn, head and taillights. Authenticity was key among consumers, so the Kidillac had a spare tire kit just like the real Cadillac.

There was a basic model available that came without the chain driven pedal system. There were Police and Fire Chief models as well. They came with accessories like horns, bells and spotlights. The Kidillac pedal cars were manufactured until 1963.

We restored our pedal car using different paint techniques than the original. We had custom airbrushing applied to the bumpers, trim and taillights, resulting in a souped-up version of the Kidillac. Please note that we are no longer in the restoration business.

View the video of this 1950 Garton Pink Kidillac Pedal Car

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.

The Dr. Pepper Guiberson “88” was produced in the late 40’s. It was a simple, rounded ice chest that held 88 bottles when full. The front two doors hid a place for empties. It was not embossed but had a porcelain sign on the front, so I guess it could have been made for any flavor, but we have only seen it in Dr. Pepper. Guiberson also produced an electric version of this that was a coin-operated vendor. I love this little cooler and I wish we still owned it.

Dimensions: 36.5”H x 25.5”W x 19.5”D

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.

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

The Westinghouse WD-12 Soda Machine is a dry cooler, meaning it cools without the use of water. It is very similar to the Westinghouse WE-6 except that machine is a wet box, and because of that, held fewer bottles. Also the WD-12 has the addition of stainless steel details. This Coca-Cola soda cooler has a stainless lid and trim and could hold 140 bottles. The two lids are hinged in the middle so a soda can be removed from either side. The WD-12 was manufactured from the mid-1940s to early 1950s. Pictured here is a machine we restored.

Dimensions: 28 1/2”D x 45 1/8”W x 36 1/4”H
Weight: 255 lbs.

Manufactured by:
Westinghouse Electric Corp.
Monroeville, PA

View the video of this Coca-Cola Westinghouse WD-12 Soda Cooler

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 the second part of our blog on the Victor Kooler Grill. Be sure to check out Part One where we give you a little history of this unique Coca-Cola cooler also known as the “Hot Dogger”.

Our restoration of the Victor Kooler Grill was probably one of the most challenging and time consuming restorations we had ever undertaken. According to the owner at the time, the cooler was found in a shed that pool chemicals were stored in. This left a lot of the parts in pretty tough shape because of the corrosive effect of years of being around chemicals.

As you can see from the ‘before’ picture, the stainless steel was in bad shape and it all needed to be remade or restored in some way. It was missing some parts like the hot dog grill itself and all of the signage. We also installed all new refrigeration equipment.

The Kooler Grill is essentially a three-door Victor with about a foot added to accommodate the grill, sink and bun warmer. Approximately the remaining two-thirds comprises the refrigerated section. As you can see by these photos we took the machine totally apart.

If not for all of the corroded and missing parts it would have been pretty much a straightforward restoration. The process was to take it apart, sandblast, execute bodywork, paint, reassemble and update the electrical and refrigeration systems. Of course, cleaning and remaking a lot of the stainless pieces including the distinctive arch, slowed down the process.

I understand that this cooler has changed hands a couple of times since the restoration and recently sold for a huge amount of money. So keep your eyes open, I am sure there are more of these sitting around somewhere collecting dust waiting to be found and restored. I hope you enjoyed our blogs and the photos of this unique machine.

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.

Today’s blog is part one of a two-part blog about the Victor Coca-Cola Kooler Grill. In part one this week, we’d like to introduce you to the one-of-a-kind Victor Kooler Grill and outline it’s history and uses.

This was one of the most unique coolers ever to be made. The Victor Coca-Cola Kooler Grill was a soft drink cooler and hot dog grill all in one. It was extremely functional and eye-catching as well. They were made exclusively for the Coca-Cola Company. They were manufactured in 1954 and there were only 50 of them produced. Only 9 of them are known to be still in existence today.

They were designed to serve as fully functioning snack bars. The built-in bun steamer and chili pot were standard equipment. As were the stainless steel hot dog rollers on the Roll-a-Grill. There is a cutting board, a stainless steel countertop and chrome trim throughout. The grill is set behind plexi-glass so patrons could watch the hot dogs while they sizzled. The cash register was made to match the rest of the cooler. There were optional accessories that were also available. These included a rack for empty bottles, a cup dispenser, a wastebasket and a drop-in pre-mix soft drink dispenser. It’s a very large machine, taking up more than 18 square feet of floor space. As if this weren’t enough to attract attention, atop the grill is a distinctive arch made of stainless steel tubing. Sitting atop the arch is an illuminated sign made up of a horizontal tube reading “grilled hot dogs” and a round halo sign with the Coca-Cola logo that lights up and revolves.

This Kooler Grill was a groundbreaker in both product merchandising and food service. Next week we’ll discuss the restoration we did of one of these unique Coca-Cola coolers.

Dimensions: 90 5/8”W x 31 9/16”D x 88 5/8”H
Vending capacity: 510 bottles and 510 hot dogs
Weight: Approximately 895 lbs.

Manufactured by:
Victor
Hagerstown, Maryland

Watch the Coca-Cola Kooler Grill Video

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 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

The Ideal 55B Royal Crown soda machine is the most common of all Ideal’s soda vendors. The Ideal 55B is a “slider”, which is a machine where, after you deposit your coin, you slide the bottle through a rack to the opening to get the bottle out. The Ideal 55B was made from the late 1940s to the late 1950s. It vends 50 bottles and pre-cools 80.

The Royal Crown embossed sliders are the most common among the 55Bs. The cooler design has an inherent flaw that it shared with a lot of other soda vending machines. The problem is that it was possible to consume a soda without paying for it. Evidently there were people that opened the lid, popped a cap off a soda, inserted a straw and drank the soda without removing the bottle or paying for it. Most likely, once the storeowner caught on, he’d watch the machine very closely, or better yet, have it moved to the front of the store where he would have been manning the checkout. This Ideal slider is one that we restored.

Dimensions: 19 1/2”D x 37”W x 42”H
Weight: 204 lbs.
Manufactured by:
The Ideal Dispenser 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.

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

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.

The 1920’s Icy-O Coca-Cola Vendors

Following the first efforts at bottling Coca-Cola in 1894, the Coca-Cola Company decided they needed a way to display and sell cold bottles of Coke. Originally, the solution was a wooden barrel sawed in half and filled with ice. A sign was usually attached to the front of the barrel. This tub-style Icy-O vendor was the first of the Coca-Cola Company’s improvements to the more crude former method. In this vendor, the bottles were displayed beneath a clear door. A crank of the handle would allow the customer to see and select a bottle. The door in the front of the vendor was for the empty bottles.

If the merchant did not have enough floor space for the tub vendor, the Coca-Cola Company’s solution was the Icy-O countertop model. Ice was placed inside to keep the soft drinks cold. This is a self-service cooler that was made of metal, but finished to look like wood.

Manufactured by:
The Icy-O Company, Inc.
Peachtree St. and Clement Ave.
Charlotte, NC

Both the tub and countertop models are very rare. Do you happen to be lucky enough to have one? Send us an email and let us know.

There is a great blog at Retroplanet.com about Coca-Cola coolers being used in various establishments in Southern California in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The photos included with the blog are literally snapshots of a way of life that is no longer with us. Head over to Retroplanet.com and the Blog heading of Vintage Vending Archives. Scroll down to “Coca-Cola Coolers”, and enjoy a trip down Memory Lane and remember what it was like when there were neighborhood grocery stores and filling stations, and of course, coolers of ice cold Coca-Cola.

Pepsi-Cola Mexican Mini Cooler

Here is a very interesting Pepsi cooler. Because it is a double-dot we know it is from the 40’s. We also think it is from Mexico because of the decals on the side of the original. It looks like more of a mini-fridge icebox than a cooler, and is definitely an original because it is embossed. We restored this many years ago and it is in the home of a private collector. We are showing the before and after but for additional photos, please visit the Retroplanet Museum at Retroplanet.com. If you have any information about this piece’s origin please blog-in and let us know.

It is a fairly small piece measuring 33”H X 18.5”W X 15″D

Paint code PPG DCC 18431 Light Blue
A sign painter applied all the other colors by hand.

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

Glascock Countertop Cooler

In 1929 the first officially approved retail cooler for dispensing bottles of Coca-Cola was introduced. It was a Glascock cooler. This particular Glascock countertop cooler was introduced in 1931. This open-top cooler was both the smallest and least expensive cooler made by Glascock. It hit the market priced at $5.95. It held 36 chilled bottles, with no additional storage space. Galvanized metal was used for its sturdy construction. Essentially, it was the same as the Junior model offered in 1930, but without legs. It was designed to sit on a countertop in a retail environment. As with other soft drink coolers of the time, it was based on an honor system, where the customer selected a bottle of Coke and paid the store clerk.

Filling the cooler up with ice chilled the bottles. There was a faucet at the base to drain excess water from the cooler after the ice melted. The cooler is painted a “Moroccan Green” in addition to the standardized red and white. The embossed logos on the cooler sides were panels that could be pulled out and changed. Glascock coolers are considered the “Grandfathers” of all Coca-Cola vending machines that were to follow. This particular Glascock cooler is rare and very desirable to collectors.
For more photos of our restored Glascock cooler, visit the Retroplanet Museum and look under “Chest Coolers”.

Dimensions: 14” high x 18” wide x 26” deep

Capacity: 36 bottles plus 20 lbs. of ice

Manufactured by:

Glascock Bros. Manufacturing Co.

Muncie, Indiana

Help Us Identify Our Coke Cooler

We have added information in the Retroplanet Museum about our coolers. One of these is a Coca-Cola cooler from Mexico that we know very little about. Take a look and see if you might be able to help identify the name of the manufacturer and the approximate date.

1940’s Pepsi-Cola Soda Cooler

This is a brochure for a rare Pepsi-Cola machine made by the Universal Cooler Corporation of Marion, Ohio. They were manufactured from the early to mid-1940’s as an automatic coin-operated vending machine. This electric cooler has a 66-bottle capacity with room for 50-chilled bottles and an additional 16 pre-cooled bottles. The profile of the cooler was intended to be smaller than earlier models, to take up less floor space.

Universal Cooler Corporation

Marion, Ohio

Have you seen one of these machines? Blog-in and let us know.

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.

The Coca-Cola VIP Cooler

This VIP cooler was made for Coca-Cola who directed their marketing for this product toward smaller venues, like offices, social clubs, hair salons, waiting rooms and hotels. It could fit 120 6.5-ounce bottles of Coke, was equipped with two ice cube trays and had additional space for “party fixings”. The VIP was available with either a Coca-Cola design or with walnut-clad sides.

Dimensions:
22” long x 26” wide x 38.5” high

Beverage-Air Company

700 Buffington Road

Spartanburg, South Carolina
Founded in 1944 by Herman Buffington, the Beverage-Air Company is still in business today.

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 V-81’s and VMC-81 Soda Machines, Similarities & Differences

The Vendo Company eventually merged with its rival, the Vendorlator Manufacturing Company in 1956, but originally they were two separate entities building some very similar soda machines. In the mid 1950’s the Vendo Company was manufacturing the Vendo 81 exclusively for The Coca-Cola Company, and the Vendorlator Manufacturing Co. was making VMC-81’s for competing brands like Pepsi, 7-Up, Dr. Pepper and Royal Crown. Once the two companies merged, they continued to make machines under the two product names as before, making The Vendo Company the primary supplier to of the soft drink market.

There were three V-81 models manufactured by the Vendo Company from the mid to the late 1950’s. There was the Vendo V-81A, V-81B and V-81D. Up until 1956, Coca-Cola machines were painted a solid red, like the Vendo V-81A. Beginning in 1956 with the V-81B, The Coca-Cola company painted their machines red and white to emphasize Coke’s “clean and refreshing” image. The “Coca-Cola” logo that had been smaller and positioned closer to the bottle door was repositioned to be centered on the space to the right of the bottle door and the logo was enlarged. The logo was also made more prominent by being embossed in red on a white background, instead of in white on a red background.

The Vendorlator Manufacturing Company’s competing soda machine was the VMC 81. The Vendo 81 and the VMC-81 both held a total of 81 bottles for vending. Space inside the machine allowed for the pre-cooling of 17 additional bottles. Both machines had nine interior shelves, allowing them to vend up to nine different soda flavors. They used “slant shelves” that could be adjusted to accommodate different bottle sizes ranging from 6 ½ to 12 ounces. That flexibility makes these machines very popular today, since you are able to fill them with almost any soda, beer or wine coolers. These soda machines have the classic upright, “round-cornered” cabinet design of the 1950’s. Both the V-81A and V-81B are referred to as “small door” models, and the V-81D is called the “large door” model. This came about because the V-81D had a different coin mechanism that necessitated a larger door. The coin mechanism was redesigned to give change back, where previously the coin boxes only took nickels. The bottle doors in both the Vendo and VMC-81’s had lights placed within them to illuminate the bottles.

1958 was the last year of production for round-cornered soda machines made by The Vendo Company, with the exception of the Vendo 44. All of the Coca-Cola Company Vendo 81’s and the various brands of VMC-81’s are very collectible today. The Vendo 81’s are the most desirable of all the different models of Coke machines manufactured throughout the 1950’s. Fewer VMC-81’s were produced than Vendo 81’s, and of all the brands embossed on the VMC-81’s, Royal Crown soda machines are the most rare and collectible with the 7-Up machines close behind. Any of these soda machines would be quite a statement in any gameroom, den or office.

Dimensions: 53.75 in. high x 25 in. wide x 17.5 in. deep
Weight: 286 lbs.

Please blog in and tell us about your soda machine collection. We’d love to hear about your acquisition and restoration stories. If you have questions about your restoration, blog in and ask us as we’ve done many ourselves and would enjoy being of help to you.

The Vendo Galaxie Soft Drink Dispenser

The Vendo Galaxie Soft Drink Dispenser was the first pre-mix soda dispenser. Up until its creation in 1960, dispensers mixed the syrup and carbonated water when the handle was pulled. With this model, the syrup and carbonated water were stored premixed, outside of the dispenser. The complete soft drink was pressure fed by carbon dioxide gas through the dispenser. The futuristic look of the Vendo Galaxie was a result of the design collaboration of Clare Hodgman, a famous automobile and appliance designer, and the Engineering Department of The Cola-Cola Company. It was available in 1, 2, 3 or 4 dispensing valves. This model was made exclusively for Coca-Cola.

This counter-mounted dispenser was advertised as “The most modern way to dispense Coca-Cola (Pre-mix!).” Covered in a baked enamel with chrome and stainless steel accents. The top of the machine was illuminated and displayed the “Drink Coca-Cola” logo.

As the brochures show, the Vendo Galaxie soft drink dispenser was also marketed to be sold with an ice-making machine, like this Polar Chips Icemaker. The dispenser was installed directly onto the ice maker, making it quicker and more convenient to make a nice cold Coke.

Manufactured by:
Vendo Company
Kansas City, MO

You may have seen one of these drink dispensers or something very similar, since this machine can still be in use today. Blog-in with any additional comments you may have.

The Coca-Cola Vendo 6-Case Vertical Cooler

I like this machine, but this upright cooler never really caught on with collectors. I would guess that’s because of its size. I refer to it as a cooler because there is no coin mechanism. Therefore, it’s not fair to call it a soda machine, even though it looks like a Vendo 81 except for the glass door on the right side. Vendo did make a version of this machine with a coin mechanism and it was called the Vendo 110. But if you have the space and are looking for a machine to restore, this is a good candidate. There are no coin or vending mechanisms to mess with and because they were self-service coolers and not vending machines, they were usually kept indoors so you can still find them in pretty good shape. The shelves inside are adjustable so it will hold different size bottles, including longneck beer bottles. Judging by the name I’d guess it holds 144 bottles; 110 ready to vend and 34 pre-cooled. I don’t recall us ever restoring one at Vintage Vending but we did own quite a few over the years.

Vendorlator also made this machine in Pepsi, Royal Crown, Dr. Pepper and (not 100% sure, but would assume) 7-up.

Size:
63” high
32.5” wide
18” deep

Weight: 200 pounds

Produced from the late 40’s to mid 50’s

Manufactured by:
Vendo Company
7209 N. Ingram Ave.
Fresno, CA

If you have ever restored one of these, please ad to the blog with some restoration tips.

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.