Seeking Norcold veterans to troubleshoot

[kargesphoto]

Hoping there are some Norcold salts out there that might be able to shed some light on my issue. I have a very old, but still working AC/DC Norcold on my boat. The model# is DE-400A, and its quite possible it is original to my 1976 Searay.
The fridge was not turning on this season, so I bypassed the thermostat by jumping the two wires, and connected it to DC power and lo and behold it turned on, and after an hour the fridge was nice and cold.
Then i decided to plug in the AC power and as soon as I did, the breaker tripped on the boat's circuit panel. Well I soon discovered that one of the alligator clips on my jumper wire had come in contact with the aluminum Thermo housing and had arc'd. STUPID ME.
So after properly insulating the jumper with some electrical tape, I connected it to DC power and the fridge turned on fine, but when I connect AC now all I hear is a click and a click again when I unplug it. The clicking is coming from a electro-mechanical box in back which I do not know what it is called, sorry. I was hoping to see a fuse or reset button within the power box in back but no such luck. I have attached a photo of the inside of the box. This fridge has no circuit board that I can see, its old school. If I plug in the AC while it is running on DC, it shuts off, but does not trip the boat breaker.
Wondering if anyone can offer any advice, or just tell me that the AC section is fried and I will just have to let the old girl operate on DC power for the rest of its life! It may be a challenge for me to find a compatible thermostat anyway.

Many Thanks in advance for any input!!!!! Chris

[bikendan]

I really doubt if anyone here can answer your questions since it's not a RV fridge and it's 45 years old.
Maybe if someone here had a boat with the same fridge.
I would think that a boat forum would be more helpful, than a Forest River RV Owners forum.