Is the Dr Pepper light up insert original? I haven't seen one of those before
I believe it is original. A few things make me think so. First, when I found it like this it had been sitting in a barn untouched for 20 years. Second, when I gutted it I noticed that on the inside back panel (behind the insulation) someone had written in grease pencil "USS-64 Dr P"... almost like it was "tagged" at the factory that way for branding. Of course, that's all circumstantial evidence. It did have an original Dr Pepper decal on the ID tag side, too.
And davestar... I will stock it with other stuff but I just liked the look of all the Dr Pepper tags.