I was driving home from the gym this morning and as I passed a house I cought a glimpse of a Coleman suitcase stove. I pulled over and sure enough there was a 425 in the trash. I took it home, pumped it up ( still has fuel) and it fired up beautifully. As I already have a 425 I will hand this over to my son, this will add to his collection already consisting of an 8r and a RM 1 pint. Not a bad collection for a 13 year old.
one man's trash is another man's treasure, and a 425 is a good thing to have on hand here in hurricane country good find! willie beach-combing on the Gulf of Mexico
these are probable the most abused stove in the world.folks buy them thinking they work like the kitchen range and on the first try they get a fireball and toss them out.on the other hand if they do get it to work everything is cooked at max power resulting in burns,grease and food spattered everywhere. i find them at yard sales never taken out of the box for $5 or so beat that,like the one in the photo,are just take away's...they do clean up nice!
The first camp stove I ever bought was a Coleman 425C, on sale at Pay 'N Save drugs in Ballard, WA in 1963 or '64. I paid $8.95 for it, used it until 1984 then gave it to my Son's Scout troop, Troop 49, Alerwood Manor, WA. They still have and use it quite regularly for Troop outings, mostly for making coffee for the adults. I just got another one for old time's sake, paying all of $5. It, too works as well as it did new. The woman I bought it from was moving back east. She said It was just as it came from the store in the early 60's. It is in nearly new condition, only the main burner showing heat bluing. Good ol' Coleman Stoves, nearly bulletproof. I'd like to be around in two or three thousand years when someone finds one in an archaeological dig and fires it up. It'll likely be found in the "boot" of a '58 VW sedan, also in running condition. My second and favorite hunting, fishing and camping rig was a 1958 VW Sunroof Sedan that I put a roof rack on to carry camping gear. I drove that little car past stuck jeeps several times to go hunting. Da Missus and I had been married less than a year the first time we did that. I didn't stop hearing about it for two months. Did it again the next Spring to go fishing. She finally gave up haranguing me about it and just "went with it", realizing I didn't have any suicidal tendencies, I just wanted to go play. We always managed to get home in one piece. Gerry
Lamafat, I too have 'rescued' a suitcase (#411, round copper tank) from the trash. Cleaned and repainted, it fired up great. Plan to try running on kero next summer. AND {blasphemy!!} you 'could' always add a propane adaptor for real multi-fuel ability. Available at WalMart, CdnTire, etc. I have used my 431 Easi-lite to make a huge pot of hot cocoa for my daughter's cadet sqn in -20F weather. Pot covered both burners and they were on max, but fuel lasted very long. The built-in windscreen of the suitcases is great!! Gideon
