Posted 12 years ago
Urstuff
(1 item)
Recently purchased this have no idea what I have......I do know it is made my Universal Cooler Company, Made in Bradford ontario, canada? The serial number looks like 2 1n1 but again not sure. If anyone can help me out with the year, was this a real coke machine, and is it the original colours.
Thanks for your help
Ken
Well, it has an old icebox style handle.
Hey Ken, welcome to C.W. ! That is a very unusual cooler, I've never seen one like it in Canada or anywhere else on-line. Is the door wood or metal? It looks like blunderbuss has suggested, that it has elements of a soda cooler combined with a ice chest.. Very cool looking item.
Bern
It is all metal, no wood on it at all. The compressor is at the very bottom, We believe (a friend of mine who is a refrigeration guy and a coke collector) that you put water in the top section (we do hot have the right bottle rack in it) and store over stock pop in the lower section where the door is, to keep it cool.
If it is a water bath cooler, it likely would not have a rack system in it, they just put the bottles in , and the customer would reach in a grab-a-cold-one!
I have an all wood ice cooler with a similar looking door.
What part of Ontario are you at?
Northern Ontario Just outside of North Bay
Dang, that's a ways away! Are you starting a collection, adding to one or just liked the looks of the cooler? , cause I love the looks of this one!
Bought it cause I loved the look and am using it in my Store as I have a ice cream shop and thought it would be great decor. However last week someone offered me something crazy for it so I am thinking of selling. I have only had it a couple weeks lol
Nice! Good luck with the ice cream shop, that's a great business up there in the summer! What are ya selling in the winter? Hot chocolate would be a big seller!
Hope you get a crazy price for it, I think it's worth it being so unusual!
I have 2 convienience stores, one has an ice cream shop, and the other has movie rentals in it. The guy offered me 1200.00 I thought that was a crazy number.
I would'nt say it's crazy, only because it's hard to put a value on rarity. To restore a cooler to this condition can cost twice that or more, and that's for a more common one.
If you are making a good $ on it and are'nt attached to it, take the dough,(or try and squeeze a little more maybe?) but don't think you will ever see another one like it !!
Thats what I am afraid of that I will not see another one, I only have 450.00 in it.
You got a great deal, wish I could find one for that! I just paid 150 for the old one I just posted, but I usually put @20+ hrs of labor into restoring them , and that's only for the cosmetic portion. Most of my coolers/ machines are for display only, as to keep them in working condition cost mucho$$ on hydro, and we get frequent power surges that would play havoc with these old machines. I would feel out your buyer with your knowledge of what they cost to restore, and see if they would be willing to make a better offer. Having said that though, they are not lowballing in their initial offer, so your really have a tough decision! Good luck!!
Have you ever seen this form of cooler though Ray? It has a certain style and quality to it that would say to me there where likely few of these made, probably due cost and maybe to the war, and Bradford is a very small town with little manufacturing , so i'm guessing that this company was not around long. I can find nothing on the net on this company. Even if it was a generic cooler, I think it is still worth a great deal , certainly worth more if it is an original coca-cola, but some of the lesser collected brands bring even bigger money due to their scarcity. The seller of the cooler I recently posted had an original R.C. Cola cooler and it was way more $ as there are so few out there. More research would definitly be helpful here. Is the logo a sticker or painted on?
A local C.C distributor certainly wouldn't hesitate to put one of their advertisements on an unmarked cooler with permission(probably). That's common marketing practice.
If it is a sticker as Ray has figured, then it was likely put on recently as part of a resto or to increase the value. A coca-cola distributer putting a logo on a piece makes it an original IMO.
Found out this company was bought out by the Tecumseh Products Co. in 1950, here's a link,
http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/tecumseh-products-company-history/
OK gang here is some more details. It is painted but done professionally there are no flaws in this one. The company is Universal Cooler Company of Canada out of Brampford , ON believe the model number is 2 INI or 2 1N1 serial # 1504. The top of the cooler is all sealed with two sliding doors. The door in the front is air tight and is the inside is galvanized steel. Thats all I have for you it is working and in great shape.
Sure sounds like "the real thing".