I have this refridgerator and I've done countless searches, bought THE BOOK on them and can't find it anywhere. The model number normally on these fridges is L100D. This one is L103S and it's no where to be found anywhere in existence. Is it a scrapped model? Pre production model? I don't know but it's a 53. There are hundreds of the other model but none of these. When I search this model number, the 53 truck comes up.
Was this a freebie that came with a new truck so when you came home with it you could appease the wife?
Any one have one like it? Or know what's going on? It has a butter warmer in the door, an egg tray, and a half freezer... (btw it's fully functional) I even have the diffuse-o-lite!
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I have been giving this a lot of thought. The model exists because it is advertised in a number of places in Canada with that number.
The photo of the door matches another model (if I am looking at all of the features correctly).
Is it possible that you have the L 103 S body and the door from the L 105 DS which is pictured in one of the photos from yesterday. I put up a new photo today showing the interior of the L 103 S.
In all my years of learning and researching collectibles and cool items--I have often found that if you are not the original owner and you come across something that is a mystery, it is often a "frankenpiece"--meaning two or more things mixed together.
I see this in extensively in my doll travels (the head of one on the body of another, dressed in the clothes of a third gal) and in furniture--where "Uncle Three Fingers" the family carpenter did something like chop off dining room table legs to make a coffee table or shortened an adult chair to make it suitable for a child.
Today they are called OOAK (one of a kind) pieces!
If any of the stores that sold them back in the 1950s are still around, maybe someone could tell you if "door swaps" were a thing!
Post back with your thoughts!
First off I love your vocabulary lol ^
And I looked into all of this too and it has never been taken apart and if so it was by a professional that's for damn sure! I have inspected it the best I can and the only possibility is if the guts of one fridge were entirely chopped with another...
My only other wild guess was that this is (and I don't mean to be too big a dreamer here) one of those models that was the original idea for this fridge, but maybe enough people said "the freezers tiny! Give me a bigger one!!" And they came out with the 105-D like in the ad... a good re enforcer to me is the "large freezer" part in the ad. And It looks like it's still a floor model fridge for God's sake! As much as it killed me my dog wiped his big dirty mitts across the front, and I haven't had the courage to wipe it off.
Thanks! I love writing about and looking at old and cool stuff!! Been doing both for most of my life!
I do love a good mystery and old stuff...so this has been fun to figure out.
There are a few "experts" out in the wild:
store.antiqueappliances.com/
I will keep digging! Post back if you hit paydirt!! Thanks for sharing!
I have the same fridge minus the egg thing. Ill look today and see if at one time it was there. I am looking on how to take apart the thermostat to work on it or replace it.
This is still bugging me that no one has found this model. I found more pictures of 1950 models and even checked the 1940 models but the only models that have that style 'freezer' were made in the 40's and they had a freezer at the bottom. Actually, I do not think this model even has a true freezer as the small freezer compartment at the top was always just used for ice trays.
I found this site that has a lot of styles but not this one. Of course, the IH that was used on Friends is the most popular model.
www.google.com/
Then I found a link that has the ad that was shown on WorthPoint and was able to download it but after seeing it enlarged it is clear that none of these are this model.
I'm beginning to think that this may have been made at the end of the regular model year and the department decided to use all of their left over parts from previous years and just gave it a 'special' model number. I know they do this with a lot of manufactured items, especially automobiles, and if your car was made at the end of the year it may have parts from the previous year or parts from the next year and this can give mechanics a fit when doing repairs.
I guess I will give up and hope someone else finds something.
One last try--I wish I had two screens so I could compare the photo I am uploading to the photo in this post.
Is this a match--it has the "Model L 103 S" and the thing on the door.
I think you have found it or it certainly appears to be the same to me. maybe we'll soon know for sure.
I cannot for the life of me figure out why IH would make a refrigerator without a freezer.
That seems to be it!! It even has the egg tray at the top right and not on the door. Holy cow I didn't get to comment on the last advertisement for it but if you noticed it had the 105-D on the picture and 103-s on the wording for the ad. I'm going to have to go back to caseiii and show them. That's awesome thank you very much :) took me months to not find anything and 3 days with some help!!
If no one here has the answer, you could submit pictures and your question to this forum: www.farmallcub.com/
There are a few links to asking questions and trouble shooting for this brand of frig , Because it is a rare piece from the 50's. Here's a start - ask.metafilter.com/
I tried looking through the forums everyone's talking about new fridges lol il look through the threads and find a good recent one thanks!
I guess I'm just curious but is this a special item that you are wanting to know about a model number difference?
It looks like it is in great condition but? As I said - just curious.
The forums are not for searching what is already there but to join and ask your question and post your pictures.
Someone on one of these forums may be able to answer but it would probably take someone that was involved in the company during some of that period.
I have some other links for you to check but you have to do the asking. The site may not seem like it would be good for what you are wanting to know but when asking a question like this (and really want to know the answer) you'll have to go to every source even if it proves to be a dead end.
cse.google.com/
www.applianceblog.com/
ask.metafilter.com/
www.binderplanet.com/
Reddit is a good sight for asking anything although it can be confusing for new members. You can ask for help if you have problems.
www.reddit.com/
Sorry I didn't quite get what your question was, but it's my own fridge I just can't find any info anywhere not even from caseiii... if you're saying I shouldn't post things like this here my apologies! But I figured since there is a what is this/what was it used for section I could start here. I had the head mechanic, head of the sales team, and a guy from behind the (IH) counter come over and they can't tell me anything either. It's not in their system unlike the 100-D model. and thanks il try there too!
And I posted here first because I already had a few posts answered well for me, I don't use internet often so I'm not very good at navigating things like this. Biggest drag is having 100 different accounts on different sites
I'm sorry you misunderstood what I meant. We love to have questions like this. I guess I was just curious about the difference in model numbers thinking perhaps you were having problems and needed the correct number to order parts.
I can understand what you are searching for now but I believe it will take someone who knows about this brand to be able to help you.
This is really making me curious as it would appear it would be in their system, even if it was a special edition.
I can understand about having too many sites but I usually unsubscribe as soon as I get some answers/comments.
I do not believe that I've ever seen an older refrigerator in that good of a condition.
Just think of all the good things that have been 'stored' in this refrig. all along 67 years!
Lucky you to have it.
I'm just a collector who got lucky!! Before I bought this fridge I didn't know IH made them, I don't need parts or anything I just hoped I could get help with identifying it :) you never know, even some one who knows some one can help! I love looking at the history of antiques I'm not here to make money just get some heads together!! Il keep the post up for a bit but il take it down if no one knows (I don't know about you but I just love even seeing pics of these things it's really interesting) I just wanted to know if any one has seen this model before. It has the shipping tag still on it and the aluminum id plate is spotless, it's incredible!!
I have a membership to a newspaper site and here are screen shots of the model from 2 newspapers in 1953. It was real and was sold--at least if I am reading these ads right. The print is very small. It looks right but double check me that I have the right letters and numbers.
Not sure if this is the manual for it that was sold and is archived in Worthpoint:
www.worthpoint.com/
Are you asking because you want to sell it or just to learn more?
The old refrigerators last just about forever! Unlike the new crap that barely lasts a few years. It is a cool piece!! I bet if you wanted to sell it, you could!! This reminds me of something the American Pickers guys would like! Thanks for sharing!
One more thing I forgot to add. The only place this model seems to have been advertised is in Canada. Are you in Canada? If not, I wonder if it was moved from someone who bought it in Canada and moved to the US. Just curious to note that. There is other info about the company on the newspaper site, but the only ads for the model are Canadian!
Well - I guess we have the same subscriptions but when I looked at both of these, they are different from the pictures she posted.
The front door on ad has a round emblem above the handle and her pictures shows a rectangular emblem.
Also, the inside door on the ad shows the freezer compartment across the top and her picture shows freezer on one side.
Still, it does appear these are 53 so that is puzzling to me.
Hope you are well.
I just found this link: www.worthpoint.com/
I think the one in the picture is the top left on one of the spreads.
Hi cybergrannie, thanks for your message! My impression from the ads is there were several cubic foot models and they pictured the bigger one, but gave the price for the smaller one (in the top photo) and in the bottom photo, it is the refrigerator (not open, looks like right logo) and the matching stand alone freezer.
That was how I interpreted it. The old bait and switch thing maybe?
I wish I could get that photo on Worthpoint to blow up and not pixelate. I think that is the correct model and configuration.
We are hanging in. Hope you are all well!
I've seen this ad too, it's not the same :( like I said it's the combination of half freezer, egg tray, and butter warmer I can't find anywhere. It's weird because the half freezer is stock there are no Marks from say, some one switching it out from the full size one. I was just looking to find out ANYTHING about this model. The guys at caseiii told me to hit the internet because it's just not in their system and they don't know... I seriously appreciate all the forum recommendations though! Il keep lookin
I think we found it thank you EVERYONE for chiming in I'm gonna go to the website and probably save that ad too! I love a good mystery and (if you think about it) even the lead mechanic and the lead salesman who have 50+ years in IH couldn't help!! Great detective work :)
I am so excited to have found it!!
When I was poking around to find it, I noticed that in some places they encouraged the buyer to buy a refrigerator and a freezer (they had both the chest and the uprights) as separate units to maximize storage.
Their ads are all about "feminized" features--that women had a say on what they needed in their kitchen--so maybe that was part of that campaign. It would certainly maximize their profits.
My other thought is that the size you have is just the small (maybe the S stands for Small or Special) made for a small apartment. They seemed to advertise it with one of the bigger models and their ads often said they sold the same "Line" in multiple sizes to meet everyone's needs so maybe the S is Small. Not sure what the other letters would refer to.
I also found one US ad where you bought a refrigerator and they tossed in a kitchenette set (small table and chairs). That was interesting.
Then there are some vendors in the US who told people to come buy from them because they (the store owners) could win a big prize (a trip to a major city) if they sold the most appliances. I think 1953 it was a trip to Vegas or San Francisco. I didn't save those searches.
The company was very creative! I also found ads where you could use fabric to decorate the refrigerator and freezer so they matched your kitchen. That would get dirty fast, I am sure. Yuck!!
Let us know what the company says! You may want to share your findings with the Wisconsin museum I submitted in a previous link. I think they have a ton of material and displays on the company. That confused me a little because I thought they were from Evansville IL, but I could be mixing things up in my brain.
This has been fun!
It is nice to see that diligent research does pay off.
I had given up so I'm glad you found it. I think the butter dish 'warmer' was neat.
And, I kinda wish they made a really good refrigerator only now as so many people have a large freezer but I guess it would not be practical for hugh sales.
You know I love to research and don't like to give up! One of my first questions on this very site was whether a research business would be profitable...the responders said no, which made me sad. So I just do it for fun. It is one of my favorite things to do!
Many people in Pittsburgh still leave real butter on the counter so it is always room temp (not me--that makes me nervous). The warmer thing in the door is fascinating though. I agree about the lack of a good refrigerator. Most have too many features I don't need. There was an old one that had a lazy susan type shelving that I thought would be very functional. Why can't they bring THAT back!
I got away from using the freezer a few years ago when we lost power for days after just having done a big shop and lost everything. We were under our insurance deductible so it was an expensive and wasteful loss. Now the freezer has things in it so they stay frozen--but it is limited to leftovers, no stocking up any more...which is not good for the budget...so we had to change our shopping habits.
Glad we got to double team the research!! Stay well!! Hugs from Pgh!
I contacted the museum just to see what happens that would be so cool! I'm so excited to have the ad now I know it's not a Franken-fridge and it should exist somewhere :) I never knew you could look at the magazines still but It must have taken a lot of research thank you very much, i can't go into caseiii so il have to some how get a hold of the sales manager if i can find his number again. Il keep the post up if you want to know what happens...by the way it says "FEMINEERED" on the bottom under the drawer ;) fun little fact
That is so neat that it has the "FEMINEERED" notation. I doubt that would fly in today's marketing!! I love history like this though!
Please leave the post up for posterity because someone else may be having the same wonder. It would be cool if the museum would buy it from you!
I am a big proponent of museums and I have an paper ephemera collection I donated to the Pittsburgh History Center from my days as a reporter with several small newspapers.
Preserving history is a passion of mine I hope they will work with you!
It has been a blast working on your research! Stay well and keep us up to date! Blessings!
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