Vintage 1954 Frigidaire Kegerator Gets a HOT Makeover

$100
3 Weeks
Advanced
For my husbands last birthday, I got it in my head that I was going to get him one of those cool kegerator conversions from an old fridge as a gift for his birthday. Our new house has a small bar downstairs and a friend of ours was telling us how he had converted an old chest freezer into a kegerator.
I feel like I’m pretty handy and savvy with tools, so I was fully confident I could handle converting an old fridge into a kegerator. I researched it for weeks, and the more I looked into it, the more I realized it was not going to happen – I didn’t have the required tools to pull something like that off, and all I’d end up doing is killing a perfectly good fridge. So I stopped looking for a deal on an old fridge, and started looking at Craigslist to find a fridge that had already been converted into a kegerator. A lot of people were selling those cheap kegerators that they sell at Costco which get abysmal ratings.
I’d all but given up hope and was about to settle on a nice dress shirt and socks for his birthday, when I hit the JACKPOT!!


This bad boy is a vintage 1954 Frigidaire fridge, had already been converted into a kegerator, with super premium parts and taps and was $300 - the same price as the "cheap" kegerators sold at Costco! These fridges often sell for more than that on their own, let alone already having been converted.
It had so much potential, but was even nastier when I saw it in person. This is what 60 years of rust and age looks like...
I found a tutorial online using this exact same fridge, which gave exact instructions on how to disassemble the door and inner components - and I got to work cleaning this bad boy up!


LOTS of sanding, LOTS of degreasing, LOTS of wiping down, and then a few cans of Rustoleum Appliance epoxy spray. I ran into some trouble with the Red spray paint which was eating through the bottom layers - so for the red gloss I ended up taking it to a friend of a friend who does sand blasting and seal coating, and he finished the job to perfection!
Finally I added some adhesive silver racing stripes that I got off of eBay.


Is she hot or what now????
Now who wants a tall cold one??
Ashley Rader  {Giddy Upcycled}
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Go
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 4 comments
  • Hannah V Hannah V on Aug 22, 2014
    So awesome! I love Goose Island!
  • Jeanette S Jeanette S on Aug 23, 2014
    Now this is just plain cute!....a real "Man thing"...great job! (I bet he is the only one in his group of friends that has one!)
Next