Not Good.

Dirt Devils with the Hoover name on them...I'm cringing at the thought. Very sad news indeed.

I am very saddened to hear this news. The phrase "driving supply-chain efficiencies" reeks of cheap mass manufacturing to me. As I sit here, I look at a beautiful Concept U3305-030 that was just traded in. This is how I want to remember Hoover.

I noticed that Techtronic (or whatever) also make Vax - a machine where one of the factory prescribed repairs to a worn chassis uses... a plastic cable tie!

Of course, Hoover Europe has never been the same since Candy took it over and introduced all sorts of flimsy and inefficient crap onto the market with the Hoover roundel tacked on, but it is still very sad that a similar fate awaits Hoover USA.

Si

I'm shaking my model 28's bojak bag in anger! Oh well, I wonder how much of Hoover's debt they had to take on?

...what does this mean for the plant and its employees in North Canton? What's the word from our members who are close to that operation or who actually work there? Will Hoovers now be manufactured in China for sale in the United States?

Here's a newswire story on the sale of Hoover to Techtronic.

Thanks for m/w on the way home frome my school, I saw this article and I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO PISSED OFF! I WANT TO YELL OUT THAT I AM JUST ABOUT TO LOOSE IT! HOOVER USED TO BE A GOOD COMPANY BUT THEY ARE LOOSING IT AND I THOUGHT REGINA WAS BOUGHT BY ORECK FOR A CHEAPER BRAND? I JUST DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO SAY WHAT PRODUCTS WILL THEY HAVE NOW?

GOOD BY HOOVER

AB

I'm indeed saddened by the news as well. I thought they were making an effort to redeem themselves by bringing back the Constellation. I guess that will be discontinued now as well. I have always felt the Elite line was the end of Hoover "as we knew it," and that was almost 20 years ago. Also, it was Regina which went out of business, and Oreck bought the plant. Thank God at least Oreck vacuums are still produced in this country.

Kirby,rainbow,riccar/simplicity, and others that are AT LEAST assembled in the USA. It is a shame just to think what will happen! my dads dad and mother had all hoovers (one connie, one pencrest convertible and teal convertible) with the exception of a regina floor scrubber. Just using my concept one makes me think wow hoover made it on the concept now they make S#1+. sorry for the harsh words but I am out of it!now hoover will probraly be all plastic junk with no touch of quality. BUT... LOOK AT VAX HOOVER MAY NOT BE JUNK AS techtronic made the ball with vax which looks to be well built. I wonder how tom A is handaling it?

AB

( Follow my link as this will be memories of hoovers of while they were good )

I was having trouble with my Adobe reader so i didn't get to read Fred's link so Rich, thanks for posting your link. Well this is a bit of bad news isn't it? I am so sad about this. I had hopes for Hoover with the new WT2's and reintroduction of the Costellation! Maybe those model's will continue.

This is like loosing a dear old trusted friend one you always knew you could rely on.. it really hurts....

When words just are not enough!

OMG! Very sad news!

... while dramatic and disheartening, is largely symbolic. Hoover has for several years now not been the same Hoover that we knew and loved and grew up with.

Hoover nightmare

Hoover nightmare

Hoover nightmare

I have talked with several ex-employees and they are very concerned about their retirement. I think that everyone knows and has known for some time that Hoover won't be here much longer. I look for the remaining two plants (main plant and the bag plant 2) to be sold and closed up. I could be wrong but TTI has their own engineers and manufacturing so why keep the North Canton end going? Who knows maybe they will make condos out of the plant eventually. One thing is for sure, the Hoover Historical Center remains alive and well to carry on with the history keeping of this great company. The name still carries on but will be attached to some funky dd machine I am sure.

No I am not handling this too well. However, I plan to help keep the memory alive through the coming years.

--Tom
It will always be IBAISAIC to me!!

Tom
Thank you for being a life force with the Hoover center and
all of those wonderfull retired Hoover people that work there.
It is (the center ) powered and funded thru Walsh College, correct me if I am wrong? Thanks to you for the the 300 plus
Hoovers that you have collected and preserved right in the Heart of (Ohio) Hoover land!!

Hey

I can imagine what the atmosphere in NC must be like at the moment. As you are no doubt aware TTI own the once very British brand Vax amongst others. Sadly it dosent look like im going to see the plant in operation on my planned visit in 2008:(.

Do you have any sort of protection scheme for historic buildings over there?. The Perivale building is grade 1 listed so it cant be demolished :). Surely if you have the main plant at least should qualify as a VERY historic building to be preserved for posterity!.

I have one of the last Hoover models to be made in the UK (Cambuslang. Scotland). Its a 2004 Sensory Cylinder. It will stay in its box unused as a symbol of better times :). I can see some collectors grabbing the last of the Guardsman models to be made if/when the worse happens for the same reason.

Im looking at some of my collection now- in particular the 1010,707,U4003 and 858. Iconic Symbols Of THE HOOVER COMPANY-NORTH CANTON OHIO.

IBAISAIC :)

Seamus

"It Beats, as it Sweeps, as it Cleans"

really is a terrific Hoover, isn't it.

Hey David

That Guardsman is stunning :)- Im guessing it uses paper bags???

Seamus

Looking closer I could be wrong lol!

thank you charles. yes, this Guardsman is the last of the Old School Hoover's. seamus, that is a NOS shakeout bag on it, and thats how i use it now. it originaly used type A bags.

My neighbor upstairs has one and she just loves it. She bought it new from a janitorial supply / commercial floor-care shop called Los Angeles Vacuum that used to be here in L.A. (now long gone). She has replaced the original bag on it. You oughtta hear the ceiling above my head vibrating when she fires that thing up! It's an awesome sound!

Yes, that is sad about Hoover. Unfortunately, that's the way things have been going for several years here in Ohio. Corporate buyouts, plant closings, mergers, have been happening only too often. Hopefully with a new governor and some new people in the state legislature things will take a turn for better.
And yes, that is a beautiful Guardsman! Definitely an excellent example of Hoover's better days, as is my model 28, which I vacuumed with tonight. Purrs like a kitten, and beats as it sweeps as it cleans!!!
Jeff

Here is Hoover's best models:
Convertible/DAM/Concept uprights
Celebrity/Spirit/Dimension canisters

You left out the obvious - the Constellation. My all-time favorites are the model 82, and the new Connie in pearl white. I only hope Hoover continues production of these. I would love to see a new "retro" Dial-A-Matic. I know, I know keep dreaming....

Well, we all have our opinions about which Hoovers are the best (and worst), but presenting said opinions as facts is something else entirely and should be avoided. In my opinion, each and every vintage Hoover model made could be considered their "best", as they all were symbols of quality, style, and innovation. All have equal strengths and weaknesses as well, that ultimately weigh each other out. Convertible, Celebrity, Constellation, Dial-A-Matic, you name it, each of those is a desirable sweeper in their own way.

The early-70's Constellation 843 that I have happens to be one of my favorite models (and one of the "best" Hoovers in my opinion), especially since it was given to me by Fred S. before I even joined the VCCC. Not only is it quiet, it has great suction and airflow as well, and who doesn't love the styling? However, I also like the Celebrity, and it is equally one of the "best" models as is the Constellation. The suction and airflow are just tremendous and it will pick up just about anything that's not too large to go through the hose, and the low-profile "flying saucer" design is stylish as well. On the other side of the spectrum, the Constellation's Type J bag is not the best bag design, and the Celebrity is one of the noisiest vintage Hoovers I've used. In that sense, both are equal.

That being said, while I think the metal-base Convertibles are wonderful machines and easily fall into the "best" category, the later plastic-base Convertibles I could honestly care less about. A few of those came and went here, and they're good cleaners, but they're also noisy and vibrate a lot more than their predecessors. The same goes with the Concepts; it all depends on the machine. My high-end U3105, while not exactly quiet, runs very smoothly, however, my later U3109 (the most recent find), for some reason, vibrates more and is a bit louder.

Really, it just depends on how you look at each machine. I will say this, though, every vintage Hoover made has an equal opportunity to be the "best"!

--Austin