1950's Kelvinator Refrigerator restoration

[Hools]

Hi there, I posted this in July 2012 -

http://www.refrigeration-engineer.co...or-suggestions

Life just got too busy and I put the restoration on the back burner. Recently I held a garage sale and was overwhelmed by offers for this fridge. It made me want to make time in 2015 to restore this fridge. As this was on R 12, Obviously a retro-fit is on order. Keeping the entire project original will be a challenge in itself. It is not my priority to keep it all original. I would like a great looking, efficient retro fridge.

I have a couple of questions before I tear into this project.. (if you were me)...

1. Would you paint this 'Fire Engine Red', A real nice 'Pearl' color or try to find the original color and go for that?.. (my current preference is 'Pearl').
2. The Compressor is open circuit and I haven't yet looked into the integrity of the condenser and evaporator coils. What would your suggestion be as to what compressor/refrigerant to use. As you can see by the photo's, There is plenty of room to put system with a condenser fan motor and plenty of room in the evaporator for a TX valve.

Any suggestions on any part of the restoration would be most welcomed.

Thanks for reading

- Petekelvinator 2.jpgKelvinator 1.jpg