Barn find: GM Frigidaire CIV-150. Gets Cold! What do I have?

[crssumner]

My brother and I own a ranch in Oklahoma and we were looking at an old estate to possibly purchase and there happened to be an old fridge in one of the barns. My brother has been wanting one for his mud room and this beauty found a new home. We brought it home and it gets cold as can be. I have read just a little, and this one is a French door painted model. It is all complete. Paint on exterior is rough, but no dents and everything inside is good to go. Light even works. So, any thoughts on what I have? Seems pretty cool, just curious how rare it is. Research seems that it’s a ‘54 or ‘55, how do I tell which year? When we moved it some fluid ran out, a blue colored fluid? What is this fluid? Any and all shared wisdom is appreciated.
Thanks!
Clint

 

[turbokinetic]

That would be a very early side-by-side model. I am no expert on production numbers, but they are probably fairly rare. Glad it works! Hopefully it will serve you well for many more years. I would expect so!

 

[combo52]

TOL French Door Refrigerator

I am not sure I would call this a SXS in the traditional sense as both doors just open to the fresh food area with the freezer at the top inside.

 

These were cool refs but as you can imagine the door seals were a major problem as this was a manual defrost model and any air leaks resulted into a lot of defrosting, dripping and condensation problems inside.

 

John

 

[turbokinetic]

John, thanks for the clarification. I only saw a few small images of it and didn't look closely.

I bet it does take a lot of maintenance on the door gasket area, as well.