#22 - 1954 237 - More lessons and regrets
Vital Stats
Model: 237
Date: February 1954
Technology: Kerosene pre-heat
Mantles: 1
Fuel: Kerosene
Date Acquired: June 24, 2017
Almost every collector can tell you a tale or two about "the one that got away". I have a few of my own, but the first one that comes to mind is a Coleman 237 that regretably passed on.
I was perusing an indoor flea market in a town near my where my mother-in-law lives and I spied a very junky 237 hanging from a vendors stall. The same stall, in fact, where i bought my first birthday 220H. But on this day I couldn't find the shop-keep to ask him what he wanted for it. Add on the fact that it was in very poor shape, and I made a quick decision to move on . What I regretted was the fact that I didn't currently own a kerosene burning model, nor did I know that even the parts on a 237 carry a fairly high value. But mostly I regretted the beautiful bold green sunrise logo that adorned this model for a brief 3 year run.
Some time later I was back in the area, on my way to meet my out-of-town friend, Lee, who had become a regular hook up for me as well as a less-fervent collector in his own right, for a camping trip A few weeks prior he had sent me some texts of another 237 in a local junk shop and asked me if I wanted it. "Absolutely", I said, remembering my earlier mistake. Plus, I figured, we could try to get it going while we were sitting around camp.
I would pass the same indoor flea market where I had failed to buy the first 237, so I figured I would take the long shot and stop in and see if he still had it. He did not, but had an even better one sitting in its place. It didn't have the bold green sunrise globe that I wanted, just a replacement, and a rather large dent/cave-in beside the pump, but looked to be in otherwise functional condition. I bought it and headed on to Lee's house. This guy:
We said our hello's and quickly packed up his truck for the trip to the campsite. I showed him my fresh score, which we both decided to let stay in my car while we took the one he had found for me up to camp. We were putting quite a few eggs in that basket, from a lighting stand point, but we also had my L327 that I had brought along as a "conversation piece", but not really intending to run it. Things went downhill from there.
The first step in evaluating the function of one of these old pieces is usually determining if the fount will hold pressure. Usually there are prerequisites to this like having a fuel cap with a good gasket, a pump that will actually pump, and a check valve that will keep the air in. The first two can be accomplished on the fly with some quick replacement parts if you don't have the tools for a real fix, which was the case up at our camp site. All except the check valve, which requires a special tool to remove, but fortunately it was working. That was the last of our fortune. Immediately upon pressurizing the fount starting spewing kerosene from a crack just below a small dent in the fount, which spelled an immediate end to the viability of using this lantern for lighting on our trip.
Fortunately we had the L327 which ran admirably. The real shame was the 237 that I had gotten at the flea market and left in my car back at his house was in fine shape.
I ended up giving away the flea market 237, but I was determined to get the one with cracked fount going again. When faced with a breached fount, collectors and restorerrs are faced with 3 choices:
1. Part out the lantern.
2. Repair the fount.
3. Replace the fount.
Repairing a fount is always a risky proposition. The integrity of the fount has been forever compromised, and repairs of this nature are hardly 100% effective. Pair this with the fact that you have a literal ball of fire sitting just above it and you are asking for trouble.
Fortunately, the 237 shares the same fount dimensions as the common 220/228, and I just so happened to have a spare off a 220E I had parted out (remember this guy?). This was a quick and easy fix. I later swapped the 220 style globe for a replacement 660 globe, which is the signature curved globe for a 237, that I had found at a flea market for $1. Slapped on decal that was originally found on the post-WW2 237B, and voila!
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