I’ve had this vintage steel cooler sitting in my shed for the last 10 years, daring me to do something with it. I originally scooped it up when our former blogger Matt Murray decided it wasn’t worth his time and tossed it. The classic Coleman icebox form the early ‘70s just looked to nice to throw away, so I saved it. I just wasn’t sure what for, though.
Since I’ve started to restore my 1993 Range Rover, however, it occurred that it might make a nice accent piece. Perhaps a clever way to take detailing products with me to car shows once it’s done. After all, the thought of actually using it as a cooler was rather unappealing given its condition, especially the inside.
But I recently had an ah-ha moment when I realized it would be a great way to brush up on my bodywork and paint skills before tackling the more daunting task of a full respray on the truck itself. After all, it’s been more than 15 years since I last repainted a car. As a bonus, it would also let me test our OEM paint match before committing to gallons of it.
Restoring a Vintage Steel Cooler
These old steel coolers suffer a lot of the same abuse our cars do – rust, dents, dings, faded and missing paint. Most of what you’ll encounter on a restoration can be found in one of these old ice boxes. And the cost of failure? It’s quite minor. These sell all the time on Facebook Marketplace or at garage sales and swap meets for $20 to $30. Your time and materials are worth more than the finished project.
For this project, I started by disassembling it to its most basic components. The lid, hinges, and latch are all either screwed on or riveted. The drain spout is a threaded assembly with a rubber washer for a seal. The plastic tub is molded into the steel outer band, making them difficult to separate. For this project that wasn’t important. However, it meant that the riveted handle assemblies would also remain in place.
Paint Removal
Removing what was left of the old paint required only a dual-action sander and some 180-grit paper. The large, flat surfaces quickly returned to bare metal is a couple passes. A sheet of the same paper on a foam block removed what the sanding disc couldn’t reach.
Rust Repair
This cooler had significant rust on its lid, likely from being used to hold cold beverages over the years. Thankfully it wasn’t deep or hadn’t perforated the sheet metal. Otherwise there were only a few other spots of light rust. The sander cleaned up corrosion on the surface, and I used Eastwood Fast Etch to deep-clean all the bare metal. As a bonus, this left behind a rust-inhibiting phosphate coating.
The hinges and latch tab went into the blast cabinets for a quick cleanup. Afterwards they were cleaned and treated with Eastwood After Blast. This is a modified version of Fast Etch that contains ingredients to thoroughly remove blasting dust.
Priming
With the steel shell and lid completely stripped bare, I laid down a couple coats of 2K epoxy primer. This provided a foundation for both body filler and pain to adhere to. After two days of curing, I knocked it flat with 400-grit sandpaper and inspected for low spots to fill.
Body Filler
The corners and several flat sections showed evidence of a full life in the form of dents and dings. Because the back of the metal was inaccessible, these required body filler for surface correction. I used Eastwood’s Contour lightweight body filler to bring things up to level. Block sanding with 180-grit, 220-grit, 320-grit and finally 400-grit paper left the surfaces ready for a spot application of primer.
Painting the Shell
For the paint, I used Eastwood’s OEM Select single-stage urethane mixed to match the original factory code for my Range Rover. We mixed a pint of Ardennes Green Mica (code HUL/43) which I applied with the Eastwood Concours Pro HVLP touchup spray gun. Both the lid and the shell got three coats.
Cutting and Buffing
After a weekend of curing time, I came back to discover some dirt had found its way into the paint. I used a nib file to level out all the outstanding specks. With those addressed, I moved on to color sanding and buffing. I worked by hand through a series of sanding sheets from 400-grit to 600-grit to 800-grit dry. These I followed with 1000-grit, 1500-grit and 2000-grit papers wet.
Satisfied with smooth but dull paint, I turned to the high-speed buffer. First, I cut the sanded surface with a foam cutting pad and compound. This I followed with softer foam buffing pad and solution to bring up the paint’s final shine.
Painting the Plastic
The molded white plastic cooler tub was severely stained from years of use as a storage bin for rust cans. Likewise, the outer plastic bottom had seen some rough use. Cleaning it may have brought some of the brilliance back, but even the unstained plastic had yellowed. A better solution was simply to paint it.
My original though was to simply paint it all white. But I remembered I had a can of SEM Color Coat (leather/vinyl/plastic) paint in Opal Grey, the same color as the headliner trim in my vehicle. I figured this was the perfect chance to make it truly match both the interior and exterior of project car. A couple coats of this paint inside and outside totally transformed the discolored plastic, transforming the overall look.
Reassembly
The last step was to reassemble everything. This required replacing several #6 screws that were stripped or cut off during disassembly with new pieces. It also meant riveting the lid back onto the hinges. I used Eastwood’s solid rivet kit with 1/8” brass rivets to give it a factory-like appearance.
Lessons Learned
Restoring this old cooler was an eye-opener considering I hadn’t done a full paint project in years. Mistakes were made, for sure. I left some sanding scratches, missed some small dimples with the filler, and burnt a section of paint on the lid with the polisher.
I contemplated fixing these before reassembly but decided against it. Instead, I’ll leave them as they are. They’ll serve as reminders to take my time, double-check everything, and pay greater attention to the little details when I get to paint the full vehicle.
But the truth is, overall it turned out quite well. This old vintage steel cooler went from trash to treasure in most people’s eyes. And it’s certainly good enough to throw in the back to hold quick detailer and some microfiber towels. Now I just need to finish truck.
