Hi first post. I purchased a coleman 425, with no letter recently. and am restoring its function and beauty to its 1948 to 1953 glory. My question is pertaining to the correct color font. Was gold an original color or was that some previous owners choice merely for their own preference? I understand the earliest 425 font color was brown, and I also know that bronze was one of the colors in the evoloution of the 425 but I have also seen and read that gold was too. This on had a distinct gold tint and I dont know if it was original. The stove is in excellent condition aside from its age catching up to it and needing a good clean up, rust removal, a little love and good clean fuel. Thanks for your reply. Dan
Those are some fine looking 425’s. My dad had one when I was growing up I suppose thats why I had to have one. I remember some fine fried fish on his with a cast iron skillet being used… many camping trips to southeastern Oklahoma when I grew up. I just recently restored a 413g that was in almost new condition except for the tank was completely gummed up, but now runs great. I’m addicted. Luckily finances limit my obsession.
Welcome, the gold/bronze color as you can see in gallery has many shades. Use and storage over time makes each one a tad different. All you need is a 426 three burner to have all Coleman suitcase stove. Don't need stacks of stoves you don't use IMHO. Here is a early brown one
Well I just ordered some rustoleum champagne bronze paint I think will look nice. I’ve got most things cleaned up or still soaking in evaporust. My generator coil and needle assembly is still stuck in the generator tube but am hoping that the evaporust will loosen it. If not I will try some heat on it. Thanks for the information I love this forum. Seems there are a lot of people that have the same interests as me.
Being redundant here, but there were three versions of the 425,,, the earliest font, from 1948, was brown
Well I at least know that my stove was in the 1st or 2nd version, because of the way the legs lock in position. I was able to free up finally my generator coil and needle from the generator tube. Took about three heat and quench cycles to do so. The carbon left behind was difficult to fully remove, but I prevailed. Painted the font and assembled the valve and generator assembly. Fun stuff.
Daryl, I’ll try and post pictures when its all finished. Had a lot of “patina”, and I decided to start over and make my families own. I have no idea who came before me with it and have no sentimental value to me, Except that I am grateful to own it and make some memories with my family. So its gonna take a little longer to finish than I anticipated. But it should be good to go for the next 75 years and beyond. Rust free and well protected. Probably 2 weeks. I’m slow but thorough. I have other stoves to cook with for now and this one will be an accompaniment to them when its finished.
Im also restoring a well used and very damaged (but straightened metal) 425NL. Was found at an antique shop in turquoise paint. Bought for 10 bones. The item that caught my eye was the brown fount. Just painted the case today... will share pics when done. Hope all turns out well with your resto!
LetThereBeLight, My stove had some bent metal also, I was able to straighten what was tweaked, and got the body and manifold ready for paint yesterday. I paid a little more than you did unfortunately but. still a bargain price.Money well spent. Quality items that have stood the test of time and will continue to be valuable functioning assets. Since I bought it online and was unable to look inside the tank I was most concerned with it's condition which turned out good and the check valve is functioning.Pump is good to go. Hope yours turns out great as well
Well as promised I am posting a couple of pictures of the 425nl I finished today and fired up for the first time after completing. I apologise for the length of time it took. I am working on two other stoves, a 413c and a 417b. Painting is not my forte. I am picky about flaws and so I redid pieces several times to get them right and finally settled with “it is what it is” and since I plan on using all my stoves I decided that they are not going to look pristine forever anyway. At any rate this one turned out pretty nice and runs perfectly as it should once again. I had my first cup of tea from it this morning. Thanks for this forum as I am allways learning something new every time on here
@Primevalhorseman Fine looking work you did did on 425NL. Time to enjoy and feel free to post in 'stove in use cooking thread'
Thanks Daryl. We are having some nice cool weather now and I’ve been itching to cook breakfast at the country. Get a little bacon grease on it to break it in.
