An old refrigerator is a huge, messy, and potentially dangerous thing to collect. Not saying there aren't old fridge collectors, but that it might be hard to find one -- as someone else said, if they're not local, they have you over a barrel.
I'm dubious about the $3000 worth. For the same price, you can get a retro fridge that's new, that doesn't need to be defrosted, and that has all the modern amenities people want.