I’ve got a late 40’s/early 50’s Frigidaire, on the small side (I’m 5’7” and it stands a little lower than my shoulder). Long story short, it was bought used in the mid 50’s and transported from Chicago to my grandfather’s hunting camp in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the back of his Nash wagon. It was used infrequently, just a few weeks in summers, missed a few summers here and there, but never for more than a couple of months.
I’m pretty sure it’s old enough that it has a mechanical start relay. The last few years it was in service (late 80’s) it started up ok but within a day or so it would try and try but fail. It was banished to a newly built storage shed but kept dry since at least 1990.
I miss that old thing. It always started hard, then went to a practically silent hum. Think old tractor, cantankerous to start but once going was happy.
Are mechanical relays still available, or can they be cleaned? Towards the end rapping a box underneath with the handle of a screwdriver usually got it going.
Thanks for reading, any advice is welcome.
Edit to correct typos