Perhaps John L. can expand on this (or anyone with similar experience) but he told me once long ago when we were discussing older frost-free units that if one changes the defrost timer to a programmable unit, energy use would go way down.  It is the defrost cycles that run (on some units) every few hours that consume the bulk of the energy in FF refrigerators/freezers.  Constant heating and re-cooling the unit.  Most units do not need to be defrosted as often as they are pre-programmed to from the factory.  This would largely depend on usage, climate, etc. but since most of us have climate controlled homes now, it wouldn't be unreasonable to think this would be a good idea.  

Also, changing the motor in the condenser fan to a more efficient DC replacement would save even more energy.  

I wandered through the refrigerator section of our huge appliance store yesterday and was blown away by the pricing of new units.  TOL units from Samsung and LG upwards of $3600 and built-in Sub Z & KitchenAid starting at $6800.  Average mid-line pricing was $2000+.  Wow.  I have a 2007 TOL KitchenAid counter depth 25 cu. ft. in my kitchen and paid less than $1400 on sale.

 Cabinet sizes were also shocking, some of these units were 36-38" deep and counter-depth models were few and far between. 

Offer them less for the coppertone GE, if you're interested. Somewhere closer to $100.00.

I'm not sure, but did the Philco use a spring inside the door, to assist with closing?