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Allis Chalmers refridgerator


KenN

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Stopped by a friends garage/workshop today and he pointed out his fridge. An Allis Chalmers he claims is original. It was white, but, he painted it orange of course. Had an allis chalmers emblem on the door. Has anyone ever heard of or seen these? He said he had seen some on ebay. Sorry no pics.
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It wouldn't surprise me as my cousin has an International - Harvester refrigerator that was purchased before 1955 and it now keeps his pop and beer cold.. At one time, I believe most of the ag dealers handled refrigerators.
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Welcome to the Club. My backup fridge is a Westinghouse (1947). keeps food better than the newer machines. The only problem is the light switch is funky.
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The AC refridgerators came out sometime in the late 60's to early 70's. Its really too bad he painted it as that will hurt the value. I have a friend who has a dorm-sized model that he acquired from the University of Missouri surplus. I believe I read that they were made by an Italian company, possibly. I asked one of the former dealers I know and he said he never handled them and didn't recall being offered them. They may have been handled through appliance stores?
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Might be a promotional item. Dealers thet sell more than the goal may win that item and Allis paid a company to brand them . It also may have been in a promo catalog offered to customer to special order like clothing,hats,coffee cups and pens etc...
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omg in the words of Sheldon, from "Big Bang Theory" = bazinga. :D and I thought only the green and yellow company did stuff like this. 8) as for refinish hurting the value - with old guitars, yes; but fridges? I suppose; but i have never met a serious fridge collector. sorry, I am having trouble believing this. sm00 But I think it would be cool to have an orange beer fridge w a huge AC emblem on it; esp. with beer in it, and an opener installed at the right height. I'm going to wait for Willy to say something. 8D
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yes IH had a frige so it is possible for A/C to have one. two years ago i was given a 1950's frigerator. it was a little faded on the outside but looked like brand new on the inside. and worked great. found a place on the net that was selling the same frige for over $3000 refurbished. tryed selling mine for almost a year. i was lucky i got $60. there is a place that taks old refigerators and updates them with newer guts. then paints a sports team logo on them and ask big money for them.
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I've heard of them, but never seen one first-hand. A bit of "Googling" turned these pics up: http://www.automaticwasher.org/TD/JPEG/VINTAGE/2010/duet83++7-30-2010-00-59-49.jpg http://www.automaticwasher.org/TD/JPEG/VINTAGE/2010/duet83++7-30-2010-01-00-44.jpg The site won't let me embed the pics, but the links work. I'd guess early 70's vintage, based on the A/C logo usage...
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quote:
Originally posted by GrincheyOne
Welcome to the Club. My backup fridge is a Westinghouse (1947). keeps food better than the newer machines. The only problem is the light switch is funky.
When I was a kid growing up in North Cenral Ohio, Westinghouse had a huge factory in Mansfield, Ohio where they made major appliances. My guess is that someone made the AC and IH refrigerators for them, much the same as Simplicity made the AC garden tractors. John U
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White Consolidated Industries was trying to take over Allis-Chalmers by way of an unfriendly buy out. (Business experts would know the proper name of this kind of buy out.) Anyway, Allis-Chalmers was fighting it. The two companies were already competitors in many areas and Allis-Chalmers added the refrigerator line because White was a major appliance manufacturer. Thus, it was hoped a court would block the take over on anti-trust grounds and the refrigerator line was just another thing for the anti-trust court to consider. This is eventually what happened and the buy out threat was over and the refrigerators disappeared. It was also at this time and I believe for similar reasons that AC built a lawn and garden tractor factory somewhere in the southeast because they feared they would lose Simplicity in anti-trust actions. That is why there are those AC mowers that are nothing like any Simplicities (I don't remember the model numbers). This is all from memory, so some details are probably wrong. However, the refrigerators were more than a promo item. A neighbor at home had one
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Here is one that brought very good money: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ALLIS-CHALMERS-REFRIGERATOR-/330682908830?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cfe3cc09e
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quote:
as for refinish hurting the value - with old guitars, yes; but fridges? I suppose; but i have never met a serious fridge collector.
Glad to meet you! I don't know what constitutes "serious", but I have probably a dozen or so roundtops, from a mid 30's Frigidaire, to a 1940 Gibson, several vintage GE's, a Kelvy, 40's Philco, 1953 Frigidaire, and a few others I've forgotten. Never heard of an AC branded 'fridge, but it's plausible. I know of several appliance manufacturers who made "private label" appliances for whoever came up with enough money. I've had fridges branded IH, and Firestone, for example. It's hard to tell, but the one on EBay has an Admiral look to it, with that style condenser, and handle. I'd be curious as to who made it.
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(hi kenny) "serious collectors"? In my world, the most serious collectors insist on untouched originality, functionality is secondary. Personally I think those guys are extreme; but it's all they want; mods are unacceptable. To most people, a collectable item would require original finish, and necessary maintenance, or very minor tasteful improvements, would be acceptable. In the guitar world, that's largely about functionality. Then there's other collectors, who are serious in their own way, or on their own (many and various) terms - no problem, it's personal. In guitars, once you refinish, the value drops out the bottom, although some buyers will rush in; but the sell price often is less than new replacement cost; whereas in the case of a well maintained original finished item, the value will often exceed the cost of new replacement - in some cases that figure is sky high. There are also many other factors to consider - "desireability" is big. Some old items, are "just another guitar". Some will only ever be "wallhangers". But a 1920's Lloyd Loar Gibson guitar or mandolin collectors value can be easily found at 25k. New, they were about 50 bucks, back then (they only "made them like that" for a very few years, and then Loar left). What people pay can be that high; but who knows, it depends. You mentioned a 1940's Gibson fridge - as a guitar that would draw a lot of interest, and command a good price, in playable condition w orig finish..... and so on, it's a long story. Everything has it's own standards. Same thing when people discuss tractor restos, maintaining originality, original paint colors, etc.; and things like NOS, stored inside, specs, repowers, etc. It all matters to some; but not everyone. Personal. Nice to meet you too. sm01
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  • 6 months later...
My friend has an apartment sized Allis Chalmers 33 high and 24 deep. Made in Italy. It is excellent condition but in Salina, KS so he does not know how once could sell such an item? Any Ideas ? Thanks
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