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Hello everyone,

I just picked up a progress refrigeration dr pepper cooler, I believe the A1 model and it has a lot of surface rust with some holes toward the bottom along with some dents....how do I take this thing apart to restore it?   Ill try to get Pics on here within a few days.

Thanks.

I took one apart for bodywork.  I bought a "NICE" RC cooler off ebay and by the time the Post Office used it for fork lift training, it was so full of dents, I felt I had to take it apart to dolly the dents.  I used a stiff putty knife to pry the liner crimp away from the main body and was able to remove the liner.  To reinstall it, I used a flat bladed crimp tool, but it didn't crimp the liner anywhere near like the factory crimp.  There may be a better crimper for this job.  I left out the insulation and it made the cooler somewhat lighter.  It's for display only, and won't be used for picnics.  I would need a fork lift to carry it full of ice and drinks.

Thanks for the help...I bought this One off eBay and the guy lived about a half hour away...lucky me!  It had way more dents than expected...the top is pushed in, the corner prOtectors are dented...the handle on the lid is tweaked, one of the sides is dented so the big handle scrapes....and the thing is rust brown with a little paint left...only a few small holes that are an easy fix with a little bondo....I need to finish my coke machines first before i even start on this project...anyway, thanks for the info.  Hopefully I will be able to Get it back together without any troubles.

Helpful hint, to re-crimp the liner of the picnic cooler back to the outer body, I used a flat sheet metal duckbill pliers then finished it up with an old fashioned hand-turned can opener (the kind with the large mickey-mouse ear shaped turning handle) with the cutting blade removed, you can control the pressure & it did a nice job, but the corners were tricky to get it into, so out came the trusty old vice-grip pliers.  PS crimp it before you have it painted obviously!    Here's a Pic of mine from a while ago....

well i got my cooler finished...not too bad for my first resto...probably should've worked out the dings a little more and sandblasted it more but there was a lot of rust!

And thanks for your help everyone!  got a 7up cooler next after i finish my Westinghouse WE6!