Westinghouse electric door opener (update)

[cowboy4800]

Ok folks here is the update, Picked up the fridge Saturday , actually put it in the trunk of my 66 Mercury Parklane after lugging it up out of the basement ( which it seems ALL old appliances go to die) This thing was in poor to fair shape. I spent all week end working on it put on new cord, cleaned and oiled etc, and painted it "I'm really not a waitress red" This pic does not do it justice but will give u an idea...now do I sell it or keep it?

 

[vulcanchef]

sweet old fridge mate , the red looks cool

 

[charbee]

KEEP IT! We have a 1949 Westinghouse "Aristocrat 10" that still runs exactly like the day it was made. It just sits there and does what it's supposed to...we painted ours "OSHA Safety Red"...and it has proven to be the basis for our entire kitchen remodel, including finding a red 1954 Chambers Model C!

 

[bobbyderegis]

That looks identical to our Westinghouse fridge, but ours was white. My aunt has it in her basement, and I think it is still running. I'll check with her and report back.
Bobby in Boston

 

[danemodsandy]

Keep It!

It looks like a great old fridge, and by using it, you'll be helping to prevent the wasteful manufacture of a new, short-lived box.

I'm kind of hankering after an old reefer myself, though I'm not presently in a house where I can have one- this place has cabinetry built around its appliances.

The reefer I'd like to have most is this 1955 beauty from Hotpoint- it's identical to one Harriet Nelson had in her Ozzie and Harriet kitchen (at least for a while- Hotpoint kept changing the appliances from year to year), except for the hand of the door. Harriet's was a rightie (hinged on the left, handles on the right), and this one is a lefty.

 

[appnut]

Roy, one of my mom's best friends had this exact same fridge. (I can still hear the noise it made when pushing the open door button). She also had a 1955 Frigidaire Unimatic washer & Westinghouse Laundromat dryer.

 

[rp2813]

'49 Westy

Charbee, does your '49 have the electric opener? If not, have you had any trouble with the handle? The handle on my parents' '49 Westy started to self-destruct back in the 60's and in its later days (it died during a heat wave a couple of years ago) it was being held together with a clamp. I always felt that the handle design and associated failure on these fridges is what ended up sending them to the crusher before the actual cooling mechanisms gave out.

 

[charbee]

Lucite handle...

No electric, just a pull handle...Ours has a metal handle with a Lucite bar that attaches to it from the rear...the Lucite has cracked, but it's staying on with one of the mounting screws.

Worst thing about our old baby is the actual door latch (mechanical mechanism) gave up the ghost long ago, and I had to replace it with two "trunk" type latches on the exterior, one above and one just below where the old latch mechanism was. I don't think anything about it anymore, but I guess it takes some people by surprise when they first see it.

Several other things have gotten broken/lost over the years, and I've got a "jury-rigged" self-made gasket on the door that works well enough. It'd be great to find a real replacement gasket somewhere. THe main inner door panel could use replacing, since sometime in its life before I found it, someone had left the freezer chest door down and tried to close the main door...ouch, crack...silicone ain't pretty, but it works on the main wounds ;-).

 

[goatfarmer]

What kind of shape is the inside in? Is it complete? I would keep it if it worked, and was all there.

kennyGF

 

[cowboy4800]

found original care and use manual

The former owners have forwarded to me the original "Care and use" manual for the Westy. It would seem with each purchase comes an elf like creature who will do your grocery shopping....You can be sure.....If it's Westinghouse

 

[MikeS]

The Night The Door Failed To Open

I'm surprised no one has talked about the night the Westinghouse refrigerator door didn't open on a live commercial during the CBS anthology "Studio One." It was sometime in 1953 or 1954, and most people thought it was regular Westinghouse spokesperson Betty Furness who had trouble getting the electric door to unlatch. But it was actually actress June Graham, who was subbing for Betty that night. According to an article on AmericanHeritage.com:
"June was demonstrating an “easy open” Westinghouse “frost-free” refrigerator, the door of which stubbornly refused to yield. She pressed, tapped, and then thumped the “easy open” button. But no luck. So, barely missing a beat, she shifted emphasis to the “frost-free” feature as the camera moved in close on her face, squeezing the fridge out of the picture while someone in the studio crew overcame the traitorous easy-open mechanism. As the camera moved back out again, it revealed a smiling June Graham beside the now open door. Millions who saw the spot never forgot it, and it was reported in newspapers nationwide."
Inaccurately, it turned out.

 

[charbee]

Ad for the '49 from Saturday Night Post

We were lucky enough to find this ad for our '49 on eBay for a reasonable price, and Char matted and framed it. We've also got an ad for the Chambers that's been matted and framed, so they'll hang next to each other in the finished kitchen. Figured y'all would enjoy seeing the old ad.

http://www.charcardz.com/allied/westwhole.jpg

 

[rp2813]

My parents' '49 was a cheaper model. It was old school with the freezer in the upper right corner. The lucite on the handle was history by the mid 60's. Probably 10 years later the entire handle assembly began to tear out of its housing. The handle has pins top & bottom that do the pivoting when you pull on it, and these pins are held in place by hollow cylinders. Those cylinders began to tear and the handle became loose and eventually wouldn't work. My dad rigged something to hold things in place but it was unsightly. The fridge ultimately ended up in the garage so looks didn't matter. But this is why I think there are fewer Westys than other brands out there of this vintage.

I have a spare handle, sans lucite, if anyone is interested. Just the handle you pull on, not the entire assembly that attaches to the door.

Ralph

 

[charbee]

Here's "Li'l Red"...

Here's a pic of our '49 from a few years back...excuse the silliness magnet-ed to the front. And yep, the door handles were the weakest link on these old Westinghouse tanks. You can see the bottom part of the Lucite is missing, but the real corker was the metal piece that served to latch the whole door closed...it just broke in half one day, and that was that. My "mother of invention" fix of the two trunk clasps is still working ;-)