Original reference photography from the Cola Machines archive. Select any image to inspect the machine, mechanisms, identification plates, and restoration details.
This reference catalog documents 23 Vendorlator machines. Surviving model records include production information spanning 1940 to 1959. Model-specific archive photography survives for 22 of the 23 entries.
This profile combines preserved company background with evidence from the individual machine records. Dates and model counts refer to documented examples in this collection, not an assertion that the catalog is complete.
Vendorlator company history
Preserved background
Archive documentation notes that Vendorlator commonly called VMC, was located in Fresno, California.
With the popularity of their model 27, another plant was opened in Picqua, Ohio in 1949. Novices have confused VMC and the Vendo Company since a few models were almost identical to each other. An example ot this was in the only difference between the Vendo 44 and the VMC 44 is the absence of a chrome coin entry bezel on the VMC 44. Vendo eventually purchased VMC in 1956 only to continue on to be the largest producer of soda vendors today.
What the machine archive shows
Evidence by model and date
The dated archive currently runs from VMC 149 (Late 1940's into the late 1950's) through VMC 44 (1956 – 1959). It contains 23 model records, 17 with recorded production dates and 22 with surviving model-specific photography.
The documented production footprint is distributed across 1940s (5), 1950s (11). These totals describe this archive—not necessarily the company’s complete output—and will change if additional period records are recovered.
Vendorlator machines
23 model records
Vendorlator photo archive
5 general collection photos
Research note: Profile scope is 23 archived machine records. Company background was independently restated from the site’s preserved manufacturer overview; view the archived source. Dates, photographs, and model counts come from the linked records. Where the preserved evidence is incomplete, the page says so instead of filling gaps with conjecture.