The Rise and Fall of Car Companies Building Refrigerators

[mattl]

Interesting article and pictures. Some of the pictures remind me of Kevin's collection.

 

 

<blockquote>
Cold Start: The Rise and Fall of Car Companies Building Refrigerators

Automakers like GM, Ford, AMC, and Chrysler used to make all kinds of home appliances. Here’s why they don’t anymore.

</blockquote>

https://www.thedrive.com/news/cold-start-the-rise-and-fall-of-car-companies-building-refrigerators

 

[kevin313]

Thanks for sharing this, Matt! This is a great article!

 

[jamiel]

and another link on the Frigidaire Flair

https://cranbrookkitchensink.com/2020/10/02/magical-oven-the-frigidaire-flair/

 

[petek]

I can remember maybe only one or maybe two times as a kid going in someones house and they had an Intl Harvester fridge. I saw one for sale around here on Marketplace not too too long ago.

 

[circlew]

One of my friends in elementary school moved into the house that had belonged to his dad's parents. They had left the chest freezer, and it was an IH. It was huge! The house had a large enclosed front porch, and the freezer sat at the right side of it. This house also had a Crosley range.

 

[kenwashesmonday]

To me, IH refrigerators look a lot like the Sears Coldspot refrigerators from the same era which I believe were made by Seeger, which Whirlpool bought out in the mid-1950s.

 

[petek]

The dad of a friend of mine in senior high years drove a 1970s ish IH Travelall. It was a beaut. Quite lux at the time. I always drove it when we went out drinking and cruising because he wasnt comfortable driving it being so big.

 

[sudsmaster]

Yes, Matt, great article/link. Thanks for sharing!

 

In my family, as I recall, my parents only got GE refrigerators. I remember when they replaced a late 40's GE with a newer bottom freezer unit around 1961.

 

What I have now: a Kitchenaid SxS fridge in the main house kitchen, a KA top freezer in the patio kitchen, a Kenmore14 cu ft  chest freezer in the patio kitchen.

 

Then a 1949 GE fridge (which actually works, but I don't run it) in the workshop. That one I got from a neighbor here a few years back when he moved out. I think he said it was from his mom's house, originally, and he said it ran just fine.  I have got a new door gasket for it... just waiting until I feel motivated. It's sitting not plugged in,  in a storage area here. I *think* I'd like to repaint the door as well, which is a whole nother kettle of fish.

 

Then two desk height office fridges and one little cube fridge, from my working days. Also not plugged in but they should run just fine. No idea what the mfg is on those, probably Haier or similar import brand.

 

According to Google, the Kitchenaid stuff is all made by Whirlpool. The Kenmore chest freezer, by Gibson/Frigidaire/Whirlpool. I *think*. It's nothing special, but it does have a rapid defrost heating system. I may defrost it every 5 years or so, whenever the frost layer builds up. It has a minor defect at the front right corner, where frost seems to build up more than it should. I figure that's probably an area where the spray foam insulation didn't quite get in between the inner and outer walls. I just chip it away as needed, maybe once a year.

 

The old GE fridge, made by GE, of course.

 

 

 

[mattl]

I wondered if any of the pictures of the various collections belonged to anyone one this site.

 

[sudsmaster]

Got the specs on the mini fridges:

 

1) 1.6 cu ft, Igloo, FR100i, 2007, 219 kWh/yr

 

2) 3.1 cu ft, Willz, 2 door, 2018, 320 kWh/yr

 

3) 3.4 cu ft Midea, 2 door, 2018, 260 kWh/yr

 

Last time I checked, they all work.

 

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Mini-fridges to his day, noyhingbcould realllybgomwrong with except someone only wanting more space in a bigger fridge...

Easy to see the GM-built Frigidaire Flair getting car-like doors and touted pretty much the way those on a Delorean opened and closed...

Car companies built their appliances I think well enough that hit or missed in just varying degrees...

-- Dave

 

[sudsmaster]

I acquired my mini-fridges in order to have someplace to put my lunch, snacks, etc at various jobs. And for the home office. Of the three I think the Midea is the best.

 

Seems like their prices have doubled in the past four years.

 

 

[blackstone]

IH Travelall

We used an IH Travelall in our TV/appliance business. Lasted for decades. Very low tailgate made loading a refrigerator very easy. Picture shows the Travelall when newly purchased in 1960.

 

[wayupnorth]

IH Scouts were popular here with 4WD. My uncle had a Scout II he used for plowing snow.

 

[qsd-dan]

Internationals were absolute beasts! Their engines would go hundreds of thousands of miles even with very low geared manual transmissions and rear ends that typically came in them. No timing chains in these to break or become sloppy, they were gear driven. During that time period, inline 6's were about the only engines that could regularly pull that off those high mileage achievements, especially with the kind of abuse they consistently incurred.

Speaking of manual transmissions, they had some very wild shift patterns! I drove one of their very rare 5 speed overdrive manual transmissions (T37, I think) and this was the gear pattern:

1 2 5
R 3 4

If I were to purchase one today, I'd get one with an automatic transmission (Chrysler 727 Torqueflite) and install a Gear Vendors overdrive unit. 90% of their manual transmission equipped vehicles not only had very wide ratios between gears but also very low final gear ratios that could barley achieve and hold 65 MPH.