Thanks to Travis. He bought this Roper Town & Country range last January then contacted me and said that he decided to resell it. I bought it and had it shipped. This was originally posted by Oldskool on this forum in this thread:

The only chips I have found are on the side panels. I'm hoping that i can have them redone and the new white will be close enough to match the rest of the stove, but very little of the sides show so it doesn't have to be an exact match. The burner grates will need to be reporcelained, the burners themselves look great. The stove is clean under the burners, surprising since all of the other stoves I've worked on are greasy and filthy under the burners. Each set of four burners has a removable "tray" or large square drip pan. One of these has several chips too so I will reporcelain both along with the side panels.

The timer seems to work, the clock is missing two small adjustment knobs. I'll rewire the stove before plugging it in and testing the clock, which is made by Techron. All burner, broiler, and oven valves turn freely but I will clean and regrease them all. Howver, I might go ahead and hook the stove up this weekend, test for leaks, and fire it up to see if there are any problems; especially with the oven thermostats. The weather will dictate how much I do.

It is missing one oven door handle plastic insert - I have the chrome part. I have to double check the literature and pics from restoration sites to see if I have all of the broiler pan components.

Basically, rechrome the chrome and polish the aluminum, plus redo the parts I already mentioned, and it is ready to go. This stove is in better shape than most of the others I've messed with. It is a fairly desirable model so I can resell it for a lot if I choose to.

That man-sized stove is all business. 

The clock should be a fairly simple fix if you have any Telechron clocks or rotor assemblies lying around.  If you have another rotor, change that out first.  It's almost always the culprit with a stopped Telechron. 

Thanks for the advice, rp2813. Typo, I meant Telechron dang it. Tired, long day at work, and hot outside, and had a beer or two.

The stove is shoehorned into the garage right now, but here is a pic of the burner under the griddle. The burner is football-shaped, the flame holes are mainly along the outer edge but there is a small area on the inside edge with flame holes, the side closest to the camera, that is about 3 inches long. The rectangular black "box" under the burner provides the mounting  for the burner and the drip pan slides into it - note the 1" round hole to the right on the black box. There is a tube attached to the griddle that funnels the drippings down into the pan. This is kinda awkward, the griddle doesn't sit flat on the counter when removed from the stove.

Now that's a RANGE! Great piece.

You nailed the problem. I also have a Chambers Imperial that is the same size, but twice as heavy, and I have thought about how to arrange everything if I use one of these big stoves. Not a simple ergonomic answer yet. I have another fridge across the room in the breakfast area, but that is really inconvenient to be used as an only fridge.

Tom,

The stove is supposed to be functional, if I can tap into the gas line to install a fitting in the garage I'll try it this weekend. I bet the griddle is awesome.

Gansky1, The center is a big broiler. Under the big broiler is a small storage drawer. There is an oven on the right and left sides with a small drawer broiler under each. The big broiler has two pans, but both are missing the top part with the drain holes. These missing tops are the same as the ones found in the drawers and I can use those in the big broiler, but I'm going to try and find two more.

The writing above the big broiler says "Roper 'Glo' Broiler"

Broilers to right and left, storage in the middle.

This emblem is in the right side next to the burner drip tray.

The four burners on the right side. The upper right one has a different grate and seems to be a high BTU burner.

These are all identical and are the same as the other three regular burners on the right side.

Another view.

Note the drain tube coming out of the bottom.

.

.

Yes it did. I think it was the "UL listed" or possibly "Energy Star" of its day. Appliances rated CP had to meet 20 or 21 requirements. Apparently Chambers stoves, possibly the best built residential gas ranges ever, didn't qualify on two parameters but the company was not willing to sacrifice their quality to meet all the requirements.

Here is a 1948 model for sale in Dallas, just a tad bit pricier than mine :)

Thanks to 54monroe for sending me these literature scans:

This says that the one different burner is a coffee burner, that implies to me that it is lower BTU but the burner looks bigger than the others. The burner valve, however, has one orifice cap, the others have two each.

Just found this old ebay auction. The stove sold for $999.00 and has some rust through on the top, which makes me wonder about the rest of the stove - is it all corroded underneath and is the metal paper thin? Look at the aution link. I've attached the last picture which is an appraisal by Antique Gas Stoves in Alta Loma, CA.

Seriously??? This unrestored Roper T&C with rust through is worth $5900-$6100???? I should see if they want to buy mine for that price!!!

Now that's what I call decadence.  So many burners that one of them is singled out for brewing stove-top coffee.  I'm guessing it's lower BTUs than the rest since it has only a single sunken flame source.  Perfect for Pyrex, and likely provides just the right level of heat to set and forget until coffee has been brewed to your liking.

CONGRATS David!  

I have to say that if I were to have an old stove in my kitchen, THAT is the one I would want it to be!

Very, very cool!

Kevin

Well, I started to pull this stove apart today. It is in much better shape than my Chambers Imperial therefore I can get it going soon. Plus, one of my college buds might want it - his wife is remodeling and I sent a pic of it, they went gaga over it. I have sent an inquiry for the chrome (10 burner knob trim rings, two oven knob rings, two oven knob trim pieces, six oven door handles, upper vent trim, three upper vent grates, backsplash trim for timer/clock, and the light reflector). There is not as much chrome on this as you would think - my 35 1/2" O'Keefe & Merritt has more.

The eight burner grates will be re-enameled. Only one burner has noticable chipped enamel - not worth redoing. All burner valves will be cleaned and regreased. I'll clean the oven and griddle burners and paint them with high temp automotive exhaust paint - they will look like new cast iron and the stove won't get hot enough to burn the paint off. I'll send the aluminum parts (griddle, broiler pans) off for professional polishing. I decided to have the oven T-stats rebuilt, even though I have not tested them. As old as they are, I think I should start from ground zero with them. Part of the reason is I fixed a Chambers B for a friend. It worked fine about 9 months and then the T-stat quit. Might as well rebuild them while the stove is apart and they can be accessed easily.

The side panels are bent and damaged pretty badly, but I have a donor 40" Roper with good side panels. I swapped them today and they fit perfectly - then I took them back off as I disassembled the stove. I probably would not be tearing into the stove this far if it weren't for the fact that the rear legs - stamped steel - are bent and I have to tip the stove on it's back to repair them - this is why the side panels were damaged. I have to remove the top, sides, and backsplash to do this to prevent damage. Since I'm doing that, I'll just clean everything and check door insulation, etc. All of the porcelain is in great shape - no panels need to be redone. There is a 1/8" chip on the left edge of the top and a 1/2" chip at the back center of the left side panel which can be fixed with a touch up kit - that is all.

I have my stove sitting on a couple of furniture dollies right now. Be careful, one common issue is the feet - they are stamped steel and bend easily so don't try to slide the stove. $200.00? That's a steal! Even in rough shape it is probably worth over $1000.00.

These old gas stoves are not hard to work on, just disassemble a little to clean. If the ovens and broilers have no corrosion there really is no need to do a complete disassembly unless you find a lot of mouse nests. Basically remove the two sides, the backsplash, and the top to get access to the valves and the area under the burners for cleaning - that is generally where the mess is from years of food and grease spilling down. Really, the hardest thing is rewiring the light and clock. The rest is elbow grease and maybe some high temp paint.

The valves are easy to rebuild, just do them one at a time so that you don't mix up the parts. The oven T-stats may need rebuilding, this will generally run $175-$300 each depending on the manufacturer.

You can send the top to Independence Porcelain Enamel (IPE) to redo the porcelain but it will probably not be an exact match for the rest of the stove. The original porcelain will be duller and maybe slightly discolored from the years of cleaning, wiping, grease residue, etc. So you might wish to redo the back splash and burner drip panels well so that at least the top area will match. IPE has reasonable prices, the hard part is shipping since the top is 5' long. Use a trusted shipper for this and mark everything fragile. You might want to build a wood crate to ship. One member of the Chambers stove forum had shipping damage that rendered the panel completely unusable.

Does the light and clock on your stove sit on top of the backsplash and have a big chrome housing like the one in this picture? If so it is a 1948. Mine is a 1949.

Unless mice have had a field day in the insulation, or spilt grease has saturated it over the years, there is no need to replace or add insulation.

These stoves are safe to use, but as with any type of plumbing, you need to check all of the connections for leaks. Soapy water and a brush is good for that, the soap will bubble if gas is leaking. Then check all burners with the valves turned off to see if a valve is leaking - usually smell will work but you can hire an appliance man or plumber to come and check with their natural gas sniffer machine. Oh, and don't let an appliance repairman tell you that old stoves are inherently unsafe. Many younger repairmen know nothing about the stoves and assume old = bad and dangerous. Some just don't want to bother with them and will tell you that old stoves are dangerous as well. A properly checked over and installed vintage stove is safe.

A safety system can be installed for the ovens if you wish - this would cut off the gas flow should the oven burner and pilot go out for some reason.

The burner valves are basically a tapered cone of metal in a matched housing with little holes for the gas to flow through. They come apart easily (unless stuck) and can be soaked in solvent to remove the old grease. You can buy the special stove valve grease online (a small can is $25 but will last your lifetime - a little goes a long way and I could rebuild 100 stoves and have plenty left). You might talk an appliance repairmen out of a little or find it locally through an appliance repair shop. Do not use abrasives or steel wool on the burner valves:  scratches = leaks.

The side panel is an easy fix, the last time I checked IPE charged about $60-70 for a side panel.  If it doesn't exactly match it won't be very noticeable.

For t-stat rebuilding I would call Repco - they do the t-stat rebuilding for many of the vintage stove restoration outfits. They normally don't deal directly with the public but might if you can't get your plumber or appliance man to send the parts - the plumber/repairman would probably charge a small service charge to send the t-stat for you but it would probably be cheaper than what the vintage stove repair shops mark up the valves.

Here is a picture of a typical stove valve. Some have a knurled knob to hold the tapered valve body inside the housing instead of the two screws this one has.

You can lighten the stove somewhat by removing the burners, grates, and other loose heavy stuff before moving. You can also remove the side panels to prevent further damage.

Very nice. It looks like at least one rear leg is bent judging by the damage at the lower rear of the side panel. This is common with these stoves, the legs are stamped steel trapezoids that are expected to support the stove weight. They bend if the stove is slid out from the wall for moving or cleaning.

I haven't had them made yet.

For the stove insulation, check a local appliance repair shop or check ebay.

I replaced both side panels on my stove (A friend gave me a 40" Roper of the same style so I have a "parts" donor but will ultimately restore it too). As I posted before, the legs that the stove sits on are a weak point. Be sure to check them before you put a good replacement side on the stove or it will  wind up like the one you already have.

When I get the new plastic handles made I'll let you know.

A couple of months ago I sent the aluminum broiler pans and the griddle off to be professionally polished. They came back today and look amazing! I'll post some pics this evening. Next I'll send off the chrome and then I can put the stove together and start using it. I'll then start on getting the plastic door handle inserts reproduced and the burner grates reporcelained - I can do four at a time and still have a four burner stove top to use in the mean time.

EDIT: here is a picture of the polished aluminum. You can see the before condition in my posts above:

I'm very happy with how the aluminum turned out. If anyone needs aluminum polishing, here is the contact information for the person who did mine. The cost was surprisingly reasonable:

Ray Carpenter.

email:  ray@afchromebolts.com

Thanks to Steve Sansone (54monroe) for the referral.

Stainless would be my choice.

Safety systems can be pricey but you can get a do-it-yourself set up for less than the resto sites charge. I am a member of two Chambers forums and there are posts on how to do this but I would have to go find them.

Yes, you would need a safety for each oven. Even older stoves have a pilot, but the pilot is only on when the oven is on. When the oven reaches the set temperature, the flame goes to a low by-pass mode and the pilot will relight the by-pass flame if it blows out. When you turn the oven off, the pilot goes out and you must relight it with a match the next time you cook. The safety system has a pilot that is always on. Just turn the oven thermostat on and the burner lights - no match needed. There is a thermocouple that sits across the pilot flame. If the pilot goes out, the thermocouple will then shut off the gas to the burner and pilot so that you don't accidentally turn it on, walk off, and fill the house with gas OR so if both the pilot and oven by-pass flames go out you won't do the same. Each oven would need its own set up. On the Roper T&C, where to put the safety switches? The only place I can think of is the middle bottom storage drawer. Also, to add a complete safety system to the Roper T&C would involve a lot of extra plumbing of gas lines.

As far as the weak feet on the Roper, other brands had the same problem. Chambers, widely believed to be one of the best stoves ever made, had terrible feet - just some bolts that easily bent, especially considering that a Chambers is much heavier than most other brands.

Did you remove the valves from the stove? That is how I clean mine. Some people just take the valve body out of the housing without removing from the gas manifold. I think you can clean them more thoroughly off the stove. I clean mine in gasoline and use a nylon scrub brush and Q-Tips. Remember: clean one at a time so you don't mix the parts up, they are not interchangeable. Spray brake cleaner from the auto parts store works great too.

Sorry, I haven't done anything in quite awhile. Yes, the clock and timer are original. I'll try to locate them for pictures.

Snoggle - Sorry, I missed your post last October. I don't know of a gasket source but maybe an auto parts store has gasket material that you can cut a gasket from - it needs to be a high temperature material.

David, I've been thinking about you and wondering how you were doing.  Glad to see you about and getting back to this project.  Email me at the email addy in my profile if you wish.  Bob

Hi David, great progress can't wait to see pictures of it all assembled.

Question, where did you get the thermostats rebuilt , I have not needed any for a while but Ido have a customer with a 1950 Roper that is having problems with one of her ovens on a 40" dual oven model and I have not been able to get it to keep a stable temperature.

John L.