Is this a fairly uncommon machine?

The only two vacs I have ever seen with a similar arrangment are the vintage Air-Way uprights, and the Vorwerk from Germany, which was sold here for a short time in the 1980s.

WOW...that's even got the green Vorwerk color scheme! The only Mighty Maids I've seen on eBay were red & white, the typical Advance color scheme. Must be an early one.

I have the red version of this. I would call them fairly uncommon, at least they are now.

I am also looking for a brushroll for mine, if anyone might know where I might be able to find one.

The owner opened the bag and the disposable bag said Vorwerk on it.

Well if it walks like a Vorwerk and talks like a Vorwerk.... LOL
Actually, it is a Vorwerk. In it's heyday in this country (back in the early 70's), these machines were everywhere. Vorwerk entered a few private label arrangements with other companies, which is why this machine has been seen with other brand names on it. There are also other versions of the Advance Mighty Maid with cosmetic differences aside from the color scheme. The motor cover for the fan housing is shaped differently on these. In teresting thing about the machine in this photo is that the fan motor/bag assembly design is much older than the model of the power nozzled that is attached to it. Those first power nozzles that came with this machine to the U.S. were a rectangular head. This looks like the power nozzle that came with one of their later models. Their current model called the Kobold looks interesting, but they have no plans to sell it in the North America.

I was just telling CompactC9 about this machine. My smalltown High School in Nebraska had these machines to clean with. Yes the Mighty-Maid was also made in Germany. I knew this cause one of our male custodians would work on them if they broke down, and he would have to order the parts from Germany. They were a work-horse for sure. The only od thing was when you used the hose on it they were to lay flat and you had to carry it around. The Mighty-Mades cleaned really well. We also had Advanced machines and one huge old Clark with a huge blow up bag on the back for cleaning the commons and the hallways that was only used when needed. Doris our female custodian called clark the "popcorn machine" because as it ran when the gravel hit the inside of the bag it sounded like poporn popping. This was my favorite vacuum to use, no it did not clean the greatest but it was fun for me to use. Like all of us, I liked to start it up and then stand back and admire it as it was just standing there running.

David

If anyone is interested in this machine, let me know. The owner likes my stuff and I am sure will be gentle re pricing. I have no need/interest in it but am sure it will disappear after the weekend.

how much does he want for the it i VERY well may be interested!! kyle

I have replied by sending you an "off thread" email.

Hi folks,

seeing this ever so common German machine on your site, I take this as an opportunity to sign up and shed some light on the subject.
What you see is a Vorwerk Kobold VK 117 (made late 70ies) with powerbrush ET 20. ("Kobold" is actually a dwarf, a goblin round the house). The "Mighty Maid" division of USA was/is in Jacksonville, FL.
You can learn ALL about the Vorwerks on Michael's page (see link).
Vorwerk still has some 25% of the German market, the rest is shared by some 80 other brands. They sell door-to-door from the 20ies up to today.
Their main page is www.vorwerk.de and www.vorwerk.com
Other products they make are an ironing system, kitchens, carpets and an electronic self-cooking blender/kitchen mixer.
Although the company is quite scruffy and shortspoken towards collectors, I hope you still enjoy Michael's pages.
Cheers, Joe (Mannheim, Germany)

PS: Although there is some automated translation thing on some of his pages, not all is in English. Feel free to ask me details and I will translate them for you.

I thought this name came out on some of the later models.

Okay, so a kobold is a goblin -- what is a wetterwolf?

hi friends,

yes, those units always had the name "Kobold" (the original brand name of Vorwerk)

http://www.vorwerk.com/de/kobold/html/eine_geniale_idee.html

Translation:
"wanton makes inventors" was the thought of the Vorwerk corporation. When in 1929 the business for grammophones went bankrupt, Vorwerk had to look for new products. Engineer Gorissen had an ingenius idea: He altered a few things on their grammophone motor and thus it became the core of the little handy and versatile vacuum cleaner.
When the secretary of the chief construction engineer saw the cleaner in action for the first time, she exclaimed "what a nice little goblin that is!" From then on, the new baby had a name and the success story of this handy vacuum cleaner was started."

Watch the little dwarf on top of the page, this logo has always been the label of the Kobold stick vacs. In Italy they call it "Folletto" (= goblin), in the UK they have no brandname (as there is some company with the same name), in France it is called "Optima". Their canister vacuums = Tiger, the carpet shampooer = Teppichfrischer (= rug refresher), the steam cleaner = Hexe (= witch).
Only the units for commercial use did not have the green/white color scheme, they were orange and gray (e.g. the Kobold as a "Viehputzgerät" (= cattle grooming unit). The names were often changed when the cleaner was exported:
Advance in the states = Mighty Maid, Tornado company in France = Cadillac.

You can see the complete history of the Kobold line here:
http://www.vorwerk-museumprivat.de/19301.html

The first electric model no. 30 is the one that resulted from that grammophone motor.

Hello! have you ever seen the Advance mighty maid? It is a sort of evolution of the vorwerk vk 117 with et 20

If I remember correctly, Advance also once offered a version before the gray one, when their main colors were red and white.