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Got this at an antique store today for $28. Does not look too bad and the inside has no rust in it and the bottom is not rusted through. The lid was smashed in but I got most of it pulled out by holding it down with my feet and pulling up on the handle. Just got a small dent now. It looks like someone has painted it at one time so I am a little worried that I might find some rust under there but it does feel pretty solid so I think it should be ok. Also it does not have the tray inside. I look forward to working on this very soon.

(http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t357/ScaleBowler/DSCF1498.jpg)

nice deal, should look great once re-painted

Yep very good deal. I dount you will find rust under it. Usually you would see it under the paint. Sometimes on cars people cover up rust with bondo and you can get some surprises when stripping off paint but I doubt you will find many people doing a lot of body and repair work on a picnic cooler. I think someone repoped the trays but I am not sure. You see them on ebay from time to time. Great find

Nice price!

      Looks like it was painted with a spray can so if you carefully remove the paint from the logos you might find some nice color on them.

Thanks guys! I do have a few questions about some of the parts. The first one is are the corner pieces chrome plated or are they stainless steel? They are painted right now so I have no idea but the handles appear to be stainless so I am guessing that they are as well. The other question I have is what is the logo supposed to look like? From what I know I think it was origionally just painted red on the raised parts. Not sure if I will go that way or paint it up a little differently by putting black in the "shadow" of the letters and on the bar at the top and bottom of the logo kind of like the logo on a 7up machine from the same time period. I think that would look pretty cool.

 the corner trim on my cooler is polished stainless

I stripped the paint off over the logo with some paint stripper and found that the red was all chipped up so I think they just painted it to make it look better to sell. No big deal though since I all ready planned to strip the paint down on it. Going to use some chemical strippers on it since I have heard of the embossing being damaged by a wire wheel on a grinder. I also plan on panting the logo to look more like the embossing on a 7up vending machine since I think it will look pretty good.

Mine have polished aluminium...& I don't think that suitcase latch holding down the lid is original, seems like the crushed the coolers side flat just to mount it.

I was wondering about that latch. Who ever mounted them on there used rivets to hold the lid latches on so I was thinking they were origional but when they blocked the movement of the handle it made me wonder about them. I'm also not a fan of them so I think I might remove them. They did crush a little part to get the latch on but I think I can pop that back out and the other side is fine. I did see that the liner for the lid is not really held in very well anymore so I will need to do some work on that. Maybe have my brother bring it to his metals class and use the spot welder on it.

I bet because the lid was pushed down and the top latch didn't work they added the other latch instead of pulling the lid back up.

Not a bad price.

Getting sick of seeing this cooler sitting in the garage so I am going to do some work on it this weekend. I think the lid is shot. Got most of the dents out by just pulling up on it but the edge is all bent up and falling apart. Think it might just be easier to replace it. I want to pull the liner out to fix the holes in the body of the cooler from those "suitcase latches" that the previous owner put on the sides and to pop some dents out. I know how to remove the liner and I have read about how to put it back in but the thing I am not sure about is how exactly do I re crimp the edge? I have seen people mention a hand crank can opener with the blade removed but I'm having a hard time figuring out how that works. I'm sure I'm just over thinking it

Took the liner out and all I can say is I know why they painted it before taking it to the antique store. That thing is in sad shape. Plan on stripping the rest of the paint off just to see how bad the damage is but it looks nasty. Might have to try my electrolysis method on this since it worked pretty good on a tonka truck that looked worse than this thing.

I love a good challenge and am bored enough to try and see what I can do. If I end up getting it cleaned up and see that the thing is just shot I'll just throw it away but I don't think much rust has made it through to the other side so I might be ok

(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/268990_10200627086214108_1298937227_n.jpg)

(https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/253349_10200627086174107_591658812_n.jpg)

Why not just put a coat of POR15 on the inside of it?  I'm doing a Pepsi Progress right now and it was rough on the inside, I coated it all with POR15, covering the larger holes with fiberglass sheets embedded in the POR and it came out great. 

I might do that. I really need to strip the outside first though just to see exactly how bad it looks. I might put POR15 inside anyway to prevent it from rusting again.

I'd suggest a clear empty dirt field & a pint of gasoline & a long fuse, I encourage your dedication!  :drinking:

Would this work too? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRfgNVc5yUM :biggrin:

Thinking about getting one of those plastic 55 gallon drums and making an electrolysis tank large enough for this cooler in it. It worked for this so I figure it's worth a shot with the cooler

before

(https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/393058_4616210957806_1754730716_n.jpg)

(https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/63229_4616196357441_462201596_n.jpg)

after with primer

(https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/582632_4785237543365_1362893436_n.jpg)

Doing some electrolysis right now on the inside of the cooler. Found a container big enough to do half of the thing at one time and found that the frame from my old dashboard works perfectly for one of the electrodes (really don't want to get any rebar from the home depot right now) Will check it in a few hours and see how it looks but I expect it to look pretty good or at least have some progress done. We'll see

I also saw that we have a small blast cabinet at my work. After I've been there a little longer I'm going to ask them about possibly getting trained on how to use it and using it during lunch or on the weekends for small parts on some of my projects.

It's been cooling for about an hour or two now and I all ready see a HUGE improvement on the rust inside. The gunk is just wiping off and in some spots the rust is disappearing.

The cooler "Cooking" in a tub of goop

(https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/248079_10200668079838923_2126598743_n.jpg)

I like your "tanks" reinforcement tie-down strap! looks like the reverse electrolysis is doing the trick! I think a plastic watering trough from my local Tractor-Supply hardware store would have a stronger side-wall & be deep enough to immerse the entire cooler, but looks like yours is handling the job well enough. I'd watch the temperature of the bath as this type of plastic storage "tub" will get plenty soft at higher temperatures!

Looks like your home made Redi-Strip franchise is on its way!

It's doing a wonderful job. Going to let it sit for about an hour more and then I will hose it off and see how it looks and post a picture (and spray it down with some WD-40 to prevent it from rusting) Actually doing it half at a time should give a good before and after picture. I like the idea of the plastic trough but I still live at home and my parents all ready told me "No more big things" so I can't get one of those unless I can figure out a good place to store it. I do like this method much more than using the hydrochloric acid

Yeah I had to use that because there is a crack at the top of the container and I noticed that once I filled it up that side was starting to bow out so after searching for some duck tape I found the tie down strap instead and decided to use that. Working so far (hopefully now that I have said I don't end up with a garage full of redish brown soapy water)

What exactly are the corner pieces and the handles made out of? Is it stainless steel? Just want to ask incase any of the chemicals I use to strip the paint off of them react with aluminum. Also does anyone have any tips on re installing the liner? I'm really not entierly sure how to get it re crimped.

Looking good! May give that a try on some drum parts. Magnet would tell you if it is ss. I've used gallons of Klean Strip on aluminum with no problems. I looked at a can opener and don't think it will work well. Ask around at work someone may know where a edge crimper is.
Thanks for the update!
Creighton

I've been thinking about how I'm going to paint it up when I'm done with all the body work and I am leaning towards instead of painting the 7up logo all red like it was from the factory painting the logo up to match what would have been on a Ideal 55 or a VMC 81 with the black "shadow" on the letters. I think that would look pretty good and should not be too hard since the "shadow" is all ready embossed in the cooler I just have to fill in the area. Biggest problem is finding out which paints will be compatible with each other.

the lid handle & corner trim are made of Aluminum, the carrying wire handle is typically chrome plated steel.

Well I noticed a big mistake with my rust removal. Turns out I had the leads switched so it was cleaning the electrode hanging inside the cooler and dissolving the cooler. Caught it before it could do any damage but hopefully I will get some better results now.

Now that the leads are on the correct parts everything is going MUCH faster and looking much nicer! Even have a lot of paint on the outside of the cooler coming off. Will post some pics in about a half hour when I take it out and check on it. The metal did turn a black color but almost ALL of the heavy rust is gone. Just a little bit more in the corners left to go and then I'll flip it over and start the next side.

Cool! can't wait to see how it turns out!

Would something like this work for recrimping the liner into the cooler? http://www.harborfreight.com/3-inch-hand-seamer-66654.html I'm just using that link for a picture to show what I'm talking about. I actually have one that I got from my grandpa I am just wondering if it would flatten the seam enough or if I would need to go with something else.

A hand seamer can work but might not get it tight enough. I used mine to get it close and finished it with a pair of channel locks with 2 pieces of 1/4 inch square key stock to get it tight.

You could try them, but I don't think they'd have enough leverage to crimp the seam very tight, I just use a pair of vise-grip pliers & carefully work back along the seam, they do sell a set of "flanging" pliers that have a bit of a die-form welded onto a pair of (again) vice-grip pliers, they are used to form a stepped-recessed seam on an edge of a panel of sheet metal so that two flat pieces can be welded together to form a flat level joint. they are sold at auto (bump-shop) supply houses, they are not that expensive.   here's a link to a guy who sells them on ebay, but I know harbor freight sells them too, both a pneumatic & manual version.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Panel-Flanger-Widebody-Body-Shop-Sheet-Metal-Tool-NEW-/160994632152?pt=Motors_Automotive_Tools&hash=item257c0721d8&vxp=mtr (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Panel-Flanger-Widebody-Body-Shop-Sheet-Metal-Tool-NEW-/160994632152?pt=Motors_Automotive_Tools&hash=item257c0721d8&vxp=mtr)

would sticking it in a vise work and just work your way around?

Here is what I have after doing the electrolysis on half the cooler. Keep in mind it looks worse than you might expect because I accidently had the leads switched for a while so it kind of etched some of the rust marks into the metal but since the outside still had paint on it it's fine. Only a tiny bit of rust in the corners still but I can sand that out with some sand paper. Got it flipped over and will check it again in another hour. I think the outside should go much faster since it just has some bad paint on it and that stuff comes off much faster than this awful rust.

One other thing are these coolers supposed to leak at the corners on the bottom? There is a small gap around the corners on the bottom plate for the outer shell. Trying to decide if it is something that I should fill in with some strip caulk or if it's there to let any condensation that soaked into the insulation to evaporate out.

The more rusted side
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/936172_10200672892159228_65949731_n.jpg)

I'd coat the inside with POR or a paintable spray-on truck-bed undercoat to protect it before re-assembly.

That's a great idea! I have vise grips so I'll give that a try. I also like those flanger vise grips. Looks like I might be able to make some at work out of some scrap material and some vise grips if I got someone in the welding department to weld them up for me

That's what I was thinking too. I know there is a auto paint supply place near my work that is a por-15 distributor so I'll have to see about picking some up on my way home one day.

I might give that a try on the cooler lid. I have a small bench vise that would work great for that. The entire cooler might be a little awkward to move around the vise though since it is a very small vise