1954 Frigidaire Cycla-Matic in Maryland

[58limited]

This person e-mailed me about selling his '54 Cycla-Matic. I told him I would list it here to see if anyone in the AW.org community is interested. I do not know the person and make no promises about the fridges condition. Here is his e-mail to me:

"I have this Frigidaire im looking to sell. its not in bad shape,it works,missing a couple of shelves , the body is in good shape no rust no dents it also has a updated thermostat someone put in before I got it. I goggled the fridge and your profile popped up so I figured you might be able to point me in the right direction for finding a company or collector I could sell it to.I'd appreciate any help . by the way my name is Tim Seip "

From the pictures I can tell that it is missing the serving tray and egg racks, one main shelf, and the small shelves on either side of the butter and cheese storage spots. It looks to be in better shape than my '54 Cycla-Matic, but it is too far away for me to buy.

Tim's email address is: [email protected]

 

[58limited]

inside

 

[58limited]

Door

 

[goatfarmer]

Nice 'fridge!

 

[swestoyz]

Nice fridge - possibly even a porcelain finish? If so, weight = megalith.

Ben

 

[rickr]

Looks to be in very nice condition! Hope someone can save it.

 

[jeffg]

Where is it located?

 

[58limited]

Sorry, I forgot to mention where Tim lives: Maryland. He didn't say what city.

Yes, the finish is porcelain. It is an Imperial Cycla-Matic, like mine. All of the Imperial Cycla-Matics were porcelain.

 

[cadman]

That is the exact same fridge my grandparents have been running in their basement for years. I also see it suffers from the 'handle breaks loose from freezer door' problem. The butter compartment is heated on these and there's supposed to be a slanted egg "rack" in the _Server Tray_ area, which I've always wondered about given the text on the metal spring-loaded plate.

Cory

 

[58limited]

Mine has the server tray, but one corner is broken off. I'm missing the egg racks and drawers.

 

[swestoyz]

All of the Imperial Cycla-Matics were porcelain.

Hey David- you got me thinking on this one, so I pulled out the Tech Talk. It lists both a Delux finish and a Delux Porcelain finish for the Imperial models (P or non P models). I suspect this is a CTI-130P.

I'd take this over my 1955 CVI-1121 enamel finish dual door any day. Yes, from the factory it was Stratford Yellow, but was painted Avocado in the 70's.

Ben

 

[58limited]

Thanks Ben. The Tech Talk is the final word on this in my opinion. My sales lit doesn't mention the Deluxe Finish on the Imperials, just the porcelain. I was using the sales literature as my source, but of course they only show the TOL models.

 

[58limited]

Ben, post a pic of your 1955 CVI-1121. I'd like to see it. I posted a thread on the restoration of my 1955 CDV-103 last spring.

 

[swestoyz]

Ben, post a pic of your 1955 CVI-1121

Sure thing!

Came from St. Louis. Travis was gracious enough to bring it to Waterloo on one of his Minneapolis treks.

The crazy part is the Avocado paint job looks fantastic but is not my cup of tea. My plans are to repaint it Stratford Yellow, get some new door seals for it, and cross my fingers the Meter-Miser decides to live a few more years.

For now she is a temporary tenant of my condemned garage.

Ben

 

[danemodsandy]

Ben Is Right:

His Frigidaire is ka-razy - I've seen it, and the Avocado paint job is incredibly nice. Whoever did it got the shaded edges exactly right and everything; a young person who didn't know Avocado wasn't a '50s colour might even think it was factory.

You used to be able to buy appliance paint in Coppertone, Avocado and Harvest, along with the "shading" colour. If I remember right, there was information on the label that told you one can of shading would take care of up to three cans of the base colour.

Anyway, Ben's reefer is a hoot - it has a picture-perfect Avocado paint job, so good it's almost a shame to strip it. But of course, it has to be stripped to restore the fridge correctly.

 

[58limited]

Beautiful, as is the slant front next to it.

My '51 GE fridge was repainted avocado green before I acquired it. It too was a professional looking job, fewer flaws than my automotive quality repaint.

 

[alr2903]

Grandparents had the one in first pic. Did all cycla matics, have that distinctive door handle. After all these years i remember their distintive start sound, if you have heard it you know its a frigidaire. alr2903

 

[bugsyjones]

It's a nice fridge. I wouldn't mind having it. But tracking down the missing parts might be a challenge.

Two problems: I'm too far away and I'm flat broke.

It always seems that Kansas, mostly my immediate area and Wichita, have 0 appliances that I want. No '57 Frigidaire control towers, no '56 Kelvinator Foodaramas, no late 50's Zenith Space Command TV's...no nothing....

~Tim

 

[retroguy]

If anyone is interested....

But you cannot pick it up right now, I could get it and hold it for you. Rather see it go to someone here.