With all the recent sad news about the Hoover company, I thought it would be appropriate to post a picture of the two newest Hoover additions to my collection. I just finished the final touches on my Hoover Decade 80 a few minutes ago. It was sent to me by a vac shop owner in Pennsylvania. It needed a new base due to the fact that the brushroll had melted the one side where it snaps in. From what I understand, this was a common problem with this model. Luckily, because they aren't available anymore, Tom G. had one in stock at his shop. I have a Cleveland Wood Products brushroll in it now so this shouldn't happen again. I gave it the hood a good scrubbing with a magic eraser but the decal still has some gouges in it. I would love to eventually find a new hood with a good decal. I took the bag apart and washed it in the tub with some Cheer laundry detergent and washed the fill tube and put it all back together. I am pretty satisfied with how it turned out.

My Hoover Lark model 14 is SUCH a cool machine.. I don't know why but I think this vacuum is the neatest looking cleaner. Ben C. sent it to me from NJ and it has a new bag on it that he found cleaning out an old vac shop. I put new bearings in the brushroll and it works like a champ!

Anyway, thought everyone would enjoy seeing some of the old Hoovers :)

Derreck

Those turned out terrific Derreck!
I recently got a Decade 80 off of Ebay and the decal on it is pretty scratched up, too. It's funny that as a kid I really, really wanted a Decade when they came out -- I thought they were the coolest looking machines. After acquiring my latest one though, I'm still drawn more to the older convertibles and my Concept 1&2. The lark looks great! What a fun machine.

colovacman..

How funny.. I wanted a Decade 80 when I was a kid too.. I saw them in the catalogs and at the stores and I loved the color and the way it looked. I'm glad I found one. By the way.. I forgot to mention above, I love vacuuming with it the way the headlights look. They are bright and the way the lens spreads the light out it looks like an airplane coming in for landing. Also, I thought I would mention, I used a friend of mines Decade 80 and it was much louder and had a lot more vibration to it, so I don't know if it's because I have a new base or if the Cleveland Wood Products brushroll works better.

Derreck

i had a Hoover with a CWP agitator in it. the CWP agitators dont vibrate (in higher-amp Hoovers) like the metal Hoover ones. you can cut noise (vibration) in half with a CWP brush.

Aye, Hoover in the UK appears to be feeling the harsh sting of outsourcing already (has been doing for quite sometime to be honest) I mean i'm all for making a bit of the old dead presidents, but does quality really have to be sacrificed so greatly?

Ian

Derreck, congratulations on another great set of machines! Those Decade 80s are great. I had the lower-end version for a while; white handle with a blue grip, and no headlight. Just a blue opaque lens where the headlight is. Got bored with it after a while (I guess I'm a dyed-in-the-wool metal-base Convertible fan) and gave it to the thrift store, now I could kick myself for doing it. It was only one speed on the switch with no Power Surge, however, when you put the handle in the upright position, there was a little yellow tab that the handle caught to go into attachment speed.

And I think I mentioned to you before that the Lark 14 is another dream machine for me. Yours is in just beautiful shape...I'm envious!!!

--Austin

Derreck...

Congrats on the Hoover finds. The blue Lark is more rare than the maroon one. You are very lucky to find a NOS bag. The bag was so thin that it was usually the first thing to go. Does you Lark still have the red ball switch on the back? I happen to agree with you in that the 14 really looks good. The original design of the Lark made it look more like a 115 rather than use the larger 12" agitator from the 29. The original design called for a "flip open lid" that covered the belt and fan chamber.

Your Decade is the Huxtable model used on the Cosby show! Yours is post 1984 as it has the Power Surge. The original 1980 models had high speed when the handle was put in the upright position. The 1980 version looked very much like yours too. I like this top of the line Convertibe because of the color and all of the glitz that is built in! I too use the CWP brush rolls and find them superior especially in a Decade. I cannot use them in the older metal Convertibles because the motors are just not strong enough. My daily driver a model 1070 has a Decade motor in it attached to a CWP brushroll and does it ever clean!

Thanks for the pics and congrats!

--Tom

Tom..

My Lark does have the red ball on the back with the blue cover that says "It beats, as it sweeps, as it cleans". The blue cover has bowed just a little bit and doesn't fit as tight as I would like.. but it's okay. How long did they make the Decade 80?

Derreck

Derreck...the Decade 80 ran until the later 80's when the name was changed to the Decade 800 but was gone by 1992 or so. The switch plate on the Larks were notorious for coming off of the machine. Then the little red ball would simply fall out. It is great that yours is all complete! Happy Hoovering!

--Tom

Derreck
I too am envious of your Lark 14. I had actually forgot that
they and dark red ones were out there. In my mind they (at the time)
were the same as the lark. Sure would like to find a blue one
like yours.
Norm

WOW! What great finds!! Congratulations! I have that same model Decade 80 that i bought for $6.00!!! It's always great to get a great machine at such a bargain! I would just flip ( and maybe let out a girlie gasp LOL! )if i were to run across a Lark 14!!! Hold onto that one for sure!! Remember, the thrill of the hunt and the ecstacy of the find!!

Marty

We'd had the Decade 80 over here - they're a lot nicer looking than our Powerplus, which always looked a bit bland to me.

The model 14 looks like a European 1224 on steroids (see pic below)!

Simon...I would love to see the European version of the Decade 80. I think the 1224 looked great in those colors. I particularly like the big Hoover medallion on the front cover.

--Tom

I'm starting to regret all the machines that I never got around to fixing. I had a Lark in the burgundy/white color scheme. The ball was missing and the back cover was warped. My day job got busy and I had been given an ultimatum to clear out my storage room. I'm ashamed to admit that I let it go.

This is probably the nearest thing we had to the decade 80

And this, I'm very glad to own one of these:

Hi Derreck, love the look of the decade, and you have to admit Hoover wasnt afraid of colour...lol

The lark looks much beefier than our UK 1224`s...

Our equivalent to your Decade would probably be our Powerplus, and as Simon said , rather plain...BUT interesting and restful colour I find...

Heres our Larks, love those blow up bags, a nice quiet whiney sound, very popular over here with our small houses...

With tools

Mike...all I can say is WOW! I really liked your 1224...they are such a pretty machine and so well built. The UK models had the nicer handle grip too. The Power Plus was definitely related to the Decade. The dust cup was an exact copy of ours or vice versa. I really like the UK tools with the black ultra flex hose. The UK sets seemed so much more complete. How was the suction when using the tools? Was this a popular range of cleaner? The Decade was incredibly popular here. Thanks for the photos!!

--Tom

I presume the Powerplus range was popular in as much as it was seen as a continuation of the Senior range.

I have to say, I don't remember this cleaner being at all popular in the UK. AFAIK, there were two reasons for this.

Firstly, the Powerplus was introduced at around the same time as the Turbopower (US Sovereign) range. Hoover really pushed the Turbos hard - they were normally at the front of brochures, with pages detailing why they were so great. The Powerplus was invariably hidden towards the back. I've known quite a few people who owned a Turbopower, but no-one that had a Powerplus.

Secondly, I understand from other collectors that the Powerplus hads several design shortcomings. The handle was way too weedy for such a bulky machine, and the handgrip used to snap off - and I believe the metal poles would bend and break too. Also, as the cleaner had a combined handle and power pedal, if the cleaner was switched on with the tools attached the handle would fall backwards and wallop whatever was behind it, unless you remembered to hold on to it when you pressed the pedal. Lastly, it suffered the rather inelegant habit of blowing its paper bags clean off the fill tube, especially when it was being used with the tools and the motor was running at the higher speed, although Hoover later came up with a modification to prevent this.

They seem very rare now, especially the Dust Cup version. I've only ever seen one, for sale in a second hand shop, but didn't buy it as it was a bit modern for me. Wish I had now, of course.

Si

Hi Tom, glas you liked the pics, I never realised that your Hoovers vacs tended not to have rubber handle grips on them, was most disappointed to get a 700 US model and it was "Bare"....lol

I`m with Simon on the Powerplus, I never knew anybody who had one, people thought the Dustcup was too much of a gimmick to catch on....I do like those mauroon colours though...

But compared to your colours the UK models where quite tame...

Mike

Damn I thought I had me hoovers sussed :p but then, I was merely going on the fact that some people would be like "oh my mum had one of these..yoink" alas by the 80s most people didn't think like that..ended up turning into yuppies like i'm not honest ;p

Ian

At least you know you've got a bit of a rarity on your hands!

I was going to suggest that it also didn't sell because it was low-tech, but hey! The Sensotronic was all bells and whistles and no-one bought those either :-)

Si

In an ideal world people would buy the Powerplus/last of the Junior range because there would be less to go wrong ;p sadly the buying public just love their gadgets.

Ian

Here is our 1980 line up of Decade 80's. The one on the left in blue is very early and labeled "Deluxe Convertible" instead of Decade 80. Early on they were know by this name instead. The Decade label must have been a last minute decision. They all four have the handle actuated high speed motor. These were fairly long lived units. The bases would eventually crack or the brushroll would melt the housing. They were excellent carpet cleaners. This as it turned out would be the last major restyle on the Convertible series before it ended in the early 90's. This was Convertible at its glitziest. Enjoy the pics.

--Tom

Wow, I remember three of those Decades! The one on the left was the one I had for a while, except it did say "Decade 80" on the front cover. My dad's old workplace had the grey machine, second one from the right that I remember using, but with the belt off as the beater bar ROARED during use...who knows what caused that. And one of my aunts had the machine on the right for a while; never got a chance to play with it though.

Tom..

Those sure are some pretty machines! I really like that Deluxe Convertible. Wish my Decade 80 had a nice decal like yours. Most of them I have seen have scratched up decals. Thanks for the pic!

Derreck

Hey Guys

Im hoping to add one of these to my collection at some point I think the way they are narrower at the back is a real throw back to early machines:). I understand they have twin headlight bulbs?? Ive just brought a tool kit from Ebay- just need the cleaner to go with it now lol!!.

Seamus