1948 General Electric refrigerator lettering restoration

[sudsmaster]

I've had this 1948 General Electric refrigerator in my workshop for about 20 years now. I recall getting it from a friend, and I was told it works. In fact I think I plugged it in and confirmed it does work OK, but haven't tried it for some years now. It's the type with a small freezer compartment, about a cubic foot, inside the door at the top right.

The problem today is the gray plastic lettering on the outside of the main door. The letters spell out GENERAL ELECTRIC, with a round GE symbol in between General and Electric.

When I got the fridge, the leg on the R in the Electric word was broken off. Today I was showing some neighbors the workshop where I keep the fridge, and of course one of the neighbors decided on his own to see if the letters would come off. He broke off the top of the G in General, before I could stop him. We looked for the broken piece on the floor but could not find it. I suspect it broke into several smaller pieces.

So my question is: are there replacement letters available to restore this logo? These are gray plastic; not particularly attractive but I'd rather get a set to restore the fridge. It needs to be repainted as well, so the lettering probably will have to come off at that point anyway.

And while I'm at it, what kind of paint would be best to refinish the exterior of a fridge (white) of this age? It seems to be painted, not porcelain enameled.

[this post was last edited: 2/7/2022-21:39]

 

[sudsmaster]

Here's some relevant photos:

 

[sudsmaster]

Back when I got it... these photos were taken around 2006...

 

[ea56]

That fridge is in pretty good condition inside Rich.  I had one just like this in a rental in Petaluma in the 70’s.  As I recall it was pretty good fridge, but it wouldn’t keep ice cream hard for long.  I hope you can find what you need to restore yours.

 

Eddie

 

[circlew]

The proper paint will depend if you are planning to paint it yourself, or have it done professionally, such as at an auto body shop. Shops will likely use acrylic enamel or urethane, depending on how much you want to spend. If refinishing it yourself, it will depend on whether or not you have spray equipment, or will be applying the paint in some other manner. I've heard that PPG Paints Break-Through waterborne acrylic is excellent, with many of the properties of alkyd enamel, but water cleanup.

As for the letters, maybe a sign shop would have something that would look right.

 

[rp2813]

Eddie, the only way I've ever been able to keep ice cream hard in an evaporator like that is to place it on the very bottom surface where the ice cube tray is in the picture above.  I had a tiny '39 Westinghouse fridge with a tiny evaporator when I was sharing a rental with a friend.  Back then ice cream was still packaged in rectangular cartons, and laying one of those flat on the evaporator did the trick.

 

You can't do that today because even the store brand ice cream comes in round cartons now, which limits the surface area that comes in contact with the evaporator.

 

[sudsmaster]

Hey, thanks for all the responses. After I posted I had a keyboard failure and it's taken me a few hours to recover from that ;-).

Anyway, if nobody has a source for those gray plastic GE letters, I'll probably just remove them for repainting and not put them back on. Most will probably crumble anyway. I'll keep the round GE logo in front. Not sure if it's held with a fastener of some sort. If not, I might just get by masking it off.

About 15 years ago I repainted a truck in my carport (well screened off) with spray urethane. It came out great, but I wound up junking the truck a few years later when it blew a core plug on the freeway and I just didn't want to deal with it any more. Still have all the spray painting equipment, but just not sure if I want to deal with that process again. We'll see.

As for ice cream... I have a 14 cu ft chest freezer, as well as two KA fridge freezers (one SxS, one top freezer), so I won't be needing to store ice cream in the '48 GE.

I'm more interested in restoring this '48 GE fridge to its former glory. And yes, the interior is stunning. Probably because it has little to no plastic. I am wondering if this older model is more, or less, energy efficient than newer models. It doesn't do automatic defrost so there is that energy savings. It would be fun to run for nostalgia.

PS-I just remembered where I got it. A nice neighbor was moving out and was going to junk it. The price was very reasonable. I think it lived in his garage for years, mostly just to keep beer cold.

 

[turbokinetic]

Hi Rich. I just finished restoring a fridge which looks similar to this, although it has a small separate door for the freezer.

It has what appears to be identical lettering and GE logo, however they are not plastic. They are some sort of aluminum or pot-metal. These were chrome plated and had a grey appearance after all the years.  On the inside of the cabinet, there are small steel clips which attach the letters to the door. These are then sealed over with auto body "cavity wax" to keep moisture out.  To get them off, you'll need to take the door panel off, take the insulation out to access the back of the letters. A heat gun can be used to melt the cavity wax so it will run away from the letter clips. Then they can be lifted with a pick or scraper tool. 

If your letters are actually plastic, it may be harder to get them off damage-free.  The metal ones weren't terrible but they were a little tricky.  I put them in the ultrasonic cleaner and they came out very nice looking afterwards.

If you're a member of the Facebook fridge collector group, you would do well to ask there. I fully respect if you choose not to use Facebook, though. They might be able to help locate the missing and broken letters.

As for the paint, I take fridges to a bodyshop for painting.  We have done some comparisons and found out that Sherwin-Williams "fleet white" commercial vehicle paint is a good choice for appliances. It is high gloss, and a slightly less "blue" white than some pure white colors. It won't overpower other things in the home. I shared a before and after picture, but frustratingly I wasn't able to find a picture of the back side of the door with the insulation removed! 

 

 

 

[northwesty]

Personnaly, if

you are going to paint it, I would forget about anything water-based. I have a thread on here where I painted my GE fridge in the garage, and it turned out fine. Depends what you think a lot of work is. I just used Rustoleum white and it seems to be holding up and has about the right sheen, not too shiny. Pretty good deal for what you get paint-wise.

As to the lettering you might be able to sculpture something out of kitty hair fiberglass or some other plastic filler with a little backing. Then paint that. This is going to be a little like brain surgery.

 

[ea56]

I agree about Rustoleum white paint.   Its is super durable and rust resistant.  And the color is perfect for a vintage refrigerator.

 

Eddie