But Greene Distributor of Warren isn’t a threat to any established businesses. Joe Greene of Warren picked up an old commercial Coke cooler that he found listed online. It was a 1940s chest-style metal cooler that would have kept Coke products refrigerated in a store.

“You would grab a pop out of it and take it to the cashier,” Greene said. “I always loved those kinds of machines. I could never find one cheap enough.”

But, he kept his eyes open, in person and on Facebook Marketplace.

Around the first of the year 2020, he found what he had been looking for and right next door, in Jamestown, N.Y.

“When I first saw it, I had no plan for it, but I wanted it,” Greene said. “After thinking about it for 10 minutes, I figured I could find a spot for it.”

He worked the seller down a couple bucks to a final price of $120. In exchange, he received a rusted metal box with much of its paint gone.

That didn’t matter to Greene. He knew people.

“I had the Career Center in mind as soon as I saw it,” Greene, who was a pre-engineering student at Warren County Career Center at that time, said. “I’ve seen auto body fix things up like that before.”

He had the cooler at the school about 18 months ago, but COVID set back the timeline

“I just got it back a couple days ago,” Greene said last week, noting that it was worth the wait. “I would’ve waited longer for it.”

Students, teachers, and parents from various shops — auto body collision, machine tech, and pre-engineering — brought the cooler back to its prime.

“They went way above and beyond,” Greene said.

The pre-engineering class even added a personal touch and labeled the bottom of the cooler Greene Distributor — Warren Pa.

Auto Body Collision Teacher Bob Smith was in charge of much of the work. “It was a great project for the students that aligned with their collision repair curriculum covering many of the repair processes made on a vehicle,” Smith said. “For example, the students repaired rust holes and dents, using body filler and primer just as they would on a vehicle.”

“Other processes such as metal bonding and a urethane bed liner were also used,” he said.

The lead student on the project was Eisenhower High School sophomore Olivia Hummell, he said. “While most students took some part of the repair, Olivia took the lead role, which included fabricating and refinishing the folding cooler lid, a key part of the restoration.”

“Senior Alex Zariczny from Machine Technology and his father, Jeff Zariczny, reproduced the missing bottle cap tray,” Smith said. “And (teacher) Dan Passmore from Pre-Engineering made a lettering stencil.”

“Substitute instructor Don Worley also was a key factor in the reassembly of the machine,” he said.

“It was rewarding watching the excited response of Joe Greene when he arrived to view it for the first time and for the passion he has for restoring antiques.”

Greene is glad the students and teachers enjoyed the project. He has another cooler for them.

“As soon as I took that one up there I found another one on Facebook,” he said. “It’s summer right now. I was going to give them a break.”

But, as long as he can find more coolers, he’ll be providing the career center with more work. “There is not a limit as long as I have room and you can make room,” he said. “I would take them all to the career center. I will keep them in business by myself. That’s my plan.”

The cooler looks a little different from its original form. There is now a display shelf at the bottom where the cooling equipment was housed.

And its function has changed. It’s no longer a plug-in device, but it could be a cooler – just add ice.

For now, it’s an accent piece.

“I am putting it in my room or taking it to college with me” if there is space for it, Greene said. “It’s red, old Americana. It stands out.”

“It’s perfectly my aesthetic.”