Coleman 555G Col-Max lantern date unknown

Discussion in '555 Col-Max' started by george, Jun 10, 2020.

  1. george

    george United States Subscriber

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    This one is a head scratcher for me. There is no date or indication where it was made. One side of the font is marked with "Col-Max, Coleman" and the other side is stamped in several different languages.
    The valve wheel is imprinted with "Col-Max 500 c.p." no model number.
    The chrome plating is fair/poor and overall quality is fair. Numerous stress cracks, too. This leads me to believe it was probably made in Hong Kong for the export trade. I bought it from a seller in Peru.
    It has a fuel/air mixture screw, and a white inner casing.
    That's it. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated guys and gals!

    20200610_125834.jpg

    It's in pretty good cosmetic appearance, and a nice shelf queen right now until I can fix the stress cracks.
    Where's my can of POR 15?
     
  2. David Shouksmith

    David Shouksmith United Kingdom Founder Member

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    Apparently the 'G' indicates it was fitted with a pressure Gauge.

    Mine's not as nice as yours, cosmetically, but hopefully will be a runner one day when I get round to it... [-o<
     
  3. george

    george United States Subscriber

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    David, where was your lantern made?
    I am just guessing mine was made in Hong Kong.
    In my opinion this was probably the last of the breed. It appears cheap compared to the earlier ones.
     
  4. Wim

    Wim Subscriber

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    Hi George, I have one of those too, including the cracked fount! Seems they really had a quality problem.... As I've learned here, the early ones were made by Coleman themselves and of good quality. Later on they moved production to cheaper China and quality apparently went sharp downhill. You gets what you pays for! @george
     
  5. David Shouksmith

    David Shouksmith United Kingdom Founder Member

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    It's this one, George:-

    Col-Max 555GL

    I've no idea how I knew it was made in Hong Kong way back then. I still have it somewhere around her - it'll re-surface eventually...
     
  6. george

    george United States Subscriber

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    Thanks, David!
    Mine came from Peru. It was beat to hell when I received it. Seems the postal authorities decided to play football with it and just about destroyed the frame. It was all bent up. How the glass managed to survive is beyond me!
     

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