These are some old soda crates Mrs. Horn (the Wagners daughter) gave me along with the cooler.
Today it is hard for people who did not grow up in the 50's-70's to believe that soft drinks used to come in two forms:
1. The bottle - which had no screw off cap - you needed a bottle opener to open it up.
2. The can - which had no pop top or tab opener so again, you needed a can opener to open it up.
The Wagners cooler only held bottles - at least I do not recall there ever being cans of soda in it. Of course this made sense since the cooler had a bottle opener right there on the machine. All you had to do was pop off the cap, hear it 'clink clink clink" as it fell down into the bottle cap holder, and drink away.
There was just nothing like the taste of soda from one of these ice cold bottles. Of course, those from an earlier generation would scoff at that - they would say the real soda came from a soda fountain, hand made for you by the "soda jerk". This is probably so, but by my generations time, the soda jerk was about as common as the Polio virus. By the 1960's-1970's they were all but gone.
We drank plenty of canned soda too of course - mostly A Treat (which you can still buy today here in Pennsylvania - though you can find it only in plastic). Trust me - the good taste of soft drink does not come in plastic. Also - Two Guys Department store and Weis Super Market soda. Those of course because they were cheap and all our parents could afford to buy and bring home from the grocery store/department store.
I recall the early variations and experimentation to develop pull tabs for soda cans. The first ones you lifted and pulled off, having a nice little "key" in your one hand, the soda can ready to drink in the other. These pull tabs usually ended up on the ground. People with metal detectors looking for coins are still finding these early pull off steel tabs today like we still find Native American arrow heads. The pull tabs will probably last even longer.
With the first Earth Day and the environmental craze of the 70's, can manufacturers were trying to come up with a pull tab that did not separate from the can itself (so millions of soft drink and beer can tabs did not end up on the ground). The first such "pop tops" didn't work too well, and one could easily cut their finger pushing these awkward devices into the can. Sometimes the little "pop top" circle of steel or aluminum ended up in the can (as a matter of fact, I seem to recall that happening quite a lot) where they could be swallowed by those who liked to chug their beverage.
Finally, after many tries, the can manufacturers came up with the pop top opener that stays with the can (but does not separate and fall into the can) that we have today. Ah....evolution.
Once of the many great thing about those old soft drink cans was they were made of steel - none of these aluminum cans you find today that puncture if you sneeze on them the metal is so thin. No - these were steel cans made of thick sturdy steel. And as such, they were useful for something all kids created back in the 60's-70's - the soda can cannon. Simply cut the tops and bottoms off about six or seven soft drink cans (using the electric or hand operated can opener every house had back then) - tape them all together end to end using black electricians tape - leave the bottom can with the bottom still on - puncture s small hole in the center of this bottom can - add liberal amounts of lighter fluid - put in a tennis ball - strike a match to the pin hole at the bottom, and Boom! One ready made soda can cannon.
I recall vividly when the old steel can began to be replaced by the thin aluminum ones. Not only did the soft drink not taste as good out of an aluminum can - you could not construct a cannon out of them.
Many years later (well, it wasn't that many years really) I discovered the fine taste of Fosters Lager beer out of the steel cans we called 'oil cans". They were large steel cans of beer containing about 25 ounces - similar to the old oil cans that had metal tops that needed an oil can spout to open and pour (another long forgotten tool that was replaced by screw caps and pull tabs). Then Fosters stopped shipping their beer to the US in steel cans and switched to aluminum. Once again, something was lost in the taste. I have not had Fosters in an "oil can" since they switched to aluminum.
When it comes to beverages - give me the good taste of steel any day.
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