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SALES AND RESTORATION OF ALL BRANDS AND MODELS OF VINTAGE SODA MACHINES -

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The Cavalier Corporation entered the Coca-Cola cooler market as a natural progression in a business begun in 1895 making ice refrigerators. Advertising for their coolers in the mid 30's lists them as the Tennessee Furniture Corporation of Chattanooga, with the name change to Cavalier occurring around February, 1938. The company built their coolers to meet the exact specifications of the Coca Cola Company, hence, their similarity to Westinghouse coolers of the same time period. Their early electric units used refrigerating compressors made by Frigidaire which the company touted as a product of General Motors giving "neighborhood service, available in nearly every town and and city throughout the United States."

While most other manufacturers were moving away from chest coolers in favor of upright machines following WWII, Cavalier continued to build coolers. Along these lines, the company introduced the "Office Dry Cooler" or, Model FD-2, in October, 1945. Meant for business and professional offices and low traffic areas, the cooler was not that distinctive by itself, other than the fact that it was small - 18 1/8" wide x 18 1/2" deep x 40 3/4 high. It's the later modifications of this basic cooler which have made a mark of Cavalier among collectors today. The first such evolution of the machine occurred when the Vendo Company marketed a coin-op lid for the FD-2. Similar to the earlier "Vendo Top," this modification cut the capacity to 17 bottles in vending and 17 bottles in pre-cool. The Vendo Company advertised this model as part of their line in 1946, calling it the V-17. These machines are considered rare today.

A somewhat more radical change was made to the Model FD-2 by Cavalier itself in 1949. The C-27, as the new model was called, was created for coin operation. A hinged front door, added to the basic FD-2 cabinet, provided access to the coin mechanism, coin box, crown box, bottle chute and refrigeration unit. Embossed "Drink Coca-Cola" and "Ice Cold" slogans were added to the sides and front of the machine. One turn of a 3 spoke "ship's wheel" on the front door would dispense one of 27 cold bottles of Coke. Sometime later in production, the spoke wheel was replaced by a one-piece cast wheel with the 3 spokes less obvious. Most machines are found with the later version wheel.

A further progression to the basic FD-2 took place again by Cavalier around 1957 when the company introduced the model C-33. A slightly modified C-27, the C-33 used a familiar crank handle in place of the ship's wheel, and a new vending scheme allowing for 33 bottle capacity. As this was the peak of the "white-top" era, the machine appeared with a white front door and the embossed slogans were dropped from the sides of the machine. While not quite as desirable as the C-27, values for the C-33 rank slightly behind those listed for the C-27.

Cavalier finally broke into the upright coin-operated vendor market for Coca Cola in 1953 with the introduction of their Model C-51. While somewhat larger than the Vendo V-39, the C-51's outside appearance was very similar to the Vendo's. In fact, most of the coin box door parts to the Cavalier, including the crank handle, are identical to the V-39. The vending mechanism inside the Cavalier is radically different from the Vendo model, however. Nicknamed the "ammo belt", the C-51 uses and endless belt of stamped bottle holders which wind up and down inside the machine. A rather unusual double-sided version of the C-51 came out in 1954. The C-102 was advertised as serving Coke from both sides "thus doubling your speed of service" In fact, examples of this machine have been found with the slogans "For Whites" and "For Blacks" painted on opposite sides, certainly a reminder of a part of our history from the 1950's.

Finishing out the round-top era of the 50's for Cavalier was their Model CS-72 (and its larger version, CS-96) introduced in 1958. Again, in Keeping with the times, white was the predominant color of this machine. As a so-called "slant-shelf" machine, the CS-72 holds 8 bottles each on a series of 9 slanted shelves. The shelf can be easily adjusted to accommodate short 6 ounce bottles, up to and including the taller 12 ounce bottle.

Along this same line, Cavalier came out with a "square corner" machine in 1959 which deserves mention because of its size and versatility. The Model C-55 measures only 16" wide by 23" deep by 61 1/2" high and vends either 6, 10, 12 ounce bottles or 12 ounce cans! This certainly ranks as one of the first and smallest can vendors ever manufactured for Coca-Cola. A two selection version was also made, the Model C-55E, which had a light-up front panel in addition to the other features of the 55D.

The Cavalier Corporation advertised themselves as one of the more all around manufacturers of vendors for Coca Cola. Above Description Courtesy Steve Ebner ~ Fun Tronics.

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"!!! CAVALIER 96 and 72 VENDING MACHINES !!!"

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1. Cavalier 96 Photo: Our Company's Chocolate Covered Cherry Best in the World Restoraton of a Cavalier 96 - (We want you to notice something about this photo.) The kick plate of this machine is real chrome! The inside evaporator is Correct Polished Stainless! The copper refrigeration lines are Copper! Look at our Competitor's photos! Pay close attention to the color of everything inside the soda machine from the antique round "STAINLESS" evaporator to the lower "STEEL" kick plate and from the "COPPER" refrigeration lines to the "BLACK CAST" start relay cover on the compressor. Everything you see in those photos is the same color. Dull silver! !