The Heintz is home and we made it without incident. I paid the seller what he was asking. Did not want to risk haggling and losing a good deal and I did get a good deal. I am planning on keeping this one for my bar and the guy was very happy to see that it was going to someone who was going to keep it and not re-sell it. It kind of reminds me of a cooler that we had at my dad's drugstore in Detroit when I was a kid though that one was not embossed.
Had a tough time getting it into my wife's Town and Country Minivan but it went in standing up.
Couldn't get it out that way though. Had to rotate it so that the back was facing the back door and then we laid it down and lifted it out.
I was worried that I was going to have to take the headliner out of the van!
I located the manufacturer's plate on the back. It was painted over when the guy had Maaco Body Shop repaint it but the tag is embossed and the numbers are engraved so it is still legible. There is also a tag that gives instructions for dry operation and wet operation because this unit can also be used with ice and there is a drain behind the cap catcher. The manufacturers tag indicates a model number of C2 and a serial number of 5000 and says:
"Made by Heintz Mfg. Co. for Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Inc. Powered by Kelvinator"
It has all of the original workings including the power cord which is a little crackly (need to replace that) but the seller cut the wire for the cabinet light and put it on a separate power supply so the light could be turned off. All of the stuff is there so it can be changed back to original. Light works and the compressor runs and cools well. All of the racks are in the inside and the tub looks solid. Cap catcher is original and had about 20 cork back Canada Dry Ginger Ale caps still in it--now how old are those? The bottle opener is a Coca-Cola "Starr X" so I'm not sure if that is original or not. The opener has "52 Made in USA" on the back. Would that indicate the year it was made? There was also an empty Canada Dry Quinac bottle (see picture) and an old wooden Vernors case inside.
The seller had it repainted in a hammertone green. The original color is a similar shade of green but is not metallic. (If anyone knows the paint code for Canada Dry green I may repaint it at some point in the future.) He said that the embossed lettering was not a different color before he had it repainted. Have to do some research on that!
He got it from a neighbor about 20 years ago (the original owner) who had it in his store until the store closed and then moved it to his home and used it for a bar. The seller got it when his neighbor was moving and was going to throw it away! He was selling it because the "war department" wanted it out of the dining room!
As another added bonus, the guy threw in a framed advertisement from the 40's that actually has a picture of the machine in it. H picked it up at an antique flea market. It is from an old magazine.
On to the pictures. This baby is going to be the centerpiece of my back-bar for my basement man-cave. Construction will begin soon but in the meantime I know one thing--I am going to keep it out of the dining room!
The attached pictures are not the greatest as I was running out of daylight. I will get some better ones after I get it into the house and would be honored to have one of my machines on the site Soda Machine reference area!
Tim
