Refreshment on the Job

The line that really made me realize how old this is had to do with Quality of ingredients, this was back before they switched to High fructose corn syrup! 😛 :sick: :coolmad:

I'm with you Ty, the flavor of HFCS just isn't the same as cane sugar. I keep my eyes open for the special offerings from the bottlers when they periodically put actual sugar blends on the shelves. Usually, in this area, I find Dr. Pepper, and sometimes Pepsi, on the shelves during the summer. I can find Coca-Cola (in bottles!) from Mexico at Sam's Club on a fairly regular basis.

Those cooler machines were built of real steel, nearly impregnable. I've always wanted one of the top loader types where the bottles were suspended in a cold water bath, but I suspect that they've all sprung leaks and gone to the scrapyard.

I remember those top loaded Coke machines, where you had to drag the bottles through the tracks to get them out. My dad used to give me money to get one when we'd be at the service station. (That's a gas station where there were employees who actually knew how cars worked and could fix them with actual hand tools, for those of you youngsters out there who may not know the term!) Coke always tasted better sitting on the curb at the service station with the greasy old dog (always named either Shep or Inky) sitting next to me as I inhaled both the soda and the leaded gas fumes. Ahhh, the good old days! And as an aside, why were the tires always wrapped in festive colored foil?

@ScoutC, The wrapping on tires of that time was to prevent pests from getting inside and making nests! Back in the day tires used to sit on the shelf for awhile before sale, often in open air garage bays. in those type situations tires are prime nest sites for all kinds of critters! :lol: :coolsmile:

I actually own one of the Coke machines featured here, about halfway into the video. It is incredibly heavy and the inside where the bottles are stored resembles a honeycomb. With little in the way of insulation it would cost a lot to run. I notice an emphasis on returning the empties. What-no deposit system yet? We always took our bottles in to get that dime apiece back!