That worked!!

and had to clean up the best (not rusted) spot, but there it is!

Rick, mine has the same coppery/purpleish brown color body with that mottled effect but not as pronounced as Electrolux hammertone. I have the flip up door at the exhaust end and the polished torpedo head. Otherwise, identical machine down to the bakelite handle and switchplate.

Mine's on an robust aftermarket type of KenKart that seems designed for any long cylinder.

Perhaps not the same color but hard to say under photo lighting. Would have to be side by side.

1), On the machine...Looks Great! and 2). On the photography. You would not believe what I went through to get that Picture! Thanks!

That you are able to just rip them off no problem. Wish I had that talent!!!

Now I'll show you mine. My Ken Cart. All original. Dave - where did that yellow tool caddy come from?

Back view.

Turquoise - Gotta love it!

Of the later Ken Cart. Still looking for the pink one.

That if they are on the cart, there is a foot pedal. Neat!

Currently using a 7 megapixel Pentax Optio W20 waterproof camera, picked up last year for $150 clearence at Circuit City. I use a card reader and in 9 years of 4 digital cameras I've never installed those fussy camera interface cables and bloated flacidware. I continue to use JASC Paint Shop Pro 6.02 for all my photo editing needs on all 5 computers. No reason to be seduced to upgrade.

This camera shoots fantasticly sharp movies underwater as well. No delicate motorized projecting lense to get banged up accidently like that damed Casio or Sony. The telephoto elements reside behind a treated glass porthole so the camera is truly a pocket portable. Did a movie of a friend's Koi pond goldfish in a swimming and feeding frenzy. Scary on a big screen. :-) Pentax has come out with Optio W series with more features but what casual snaphappy person needs a picture resolution bigger than an oversized placemat at Denny's?

I really enjoyed your Roaming Report thread...Have you noticed we have nothing better to do on a Saturday night than talk Vacs? Wait---Not a question! We have nothing better to do on a Saturday night than talk about Vacs!!! Unless it's steam powered equipment...

a steam powered camera....LOL

Sweet machines, Fred. Swooooooon. So nice to have vacuum sets in pristine condition but we fervant beggars can't always be chosers. Thanks for the backside pic; glad to see I have all the correct tools. Around my relatively rural parts I look for Destitute Vacuums in Need of TLC, as Pete can testify. The haul from the roaming thread has been waiting for me to pick up since June then doubled in size along the roadtrip route.

Commander was found with the cart, caddy and tools a few years back. The caddy is quite amatuerishly constructed of thin yellow cotton cloth like tea towelling, almost as if a brave housewife afraid of her sewing machine made it or copied it from a patternbook. And yet the pockets and channels arrange and fit all the tools and wands up front with a wide deep pocket in back for the coiled hose with a snoggle loop for the hose handle. The curved flat chromed springs attached by the wheels tug on the bottom rod through the bag to keep it taut.

Someday I would like to copy and make up a new caddy of stronger canvas.

As for nothing better to do, that's right! And it's bitter rigid cold & windy out here in Canada this weekend.

an off topic...but the pop valve on the camera boiler is about to blow....New Chickering pin blocks.

two hundred and fifty six holes, and mounting back in plate...

It was one and three eighths inches thick, had multiple bevel cuts, (underside not shown) 21 maple laminations, and cost $140.00!! Did not want to screw up that one!!!

Luv your style & committment. Certainly not a 'throw caution to the winds' undertaking. So you understand about the job ahead of my Winnipeg buddy & I re-installing Duo-Art guts into a refinished Steinway.

But with a tubing chart and a test roll, could end up loving it!!I have a cd of Gershwin playing Rhapsody in Blue when he recorded (I think a three roll) Duo-Art performance!!!Fantastic!!!

I got the earlier Ken Kart from Kenny Smith in Indiana. I don't know how he finds these machines in such pristine condition. Here is a shot of the Dual 50 I got from him.

For the Ken Kart.

Wanted to mention, Fred, that I really like your low pile carpet choices. Especially enamoured of that rich looking Forest/Emerald Green with the brown gold (?) flecks. I need to replace all the wall to wall in the first floor rooms and have been leaning toward that green for the livingroom & piano rooms.

Looks just great!!! I started (this time) collecting vacuums--but only a few "representative" styles, a couple Lux's, a Rexair, maybe a Universal. Was not going to get a Kirby---I don't like this addiction. I will be looking for a Kirby starting tomorrow. What the hell? It's only one more!!!

That's really interesting. My brown Commander has a polished aluminum "nose cone" and the body is brown but it's not hammertone, it's a metallic, almost coppery-looking brown. I believe this model was introduced in 1939 and sold until the mid 1950s when the Ken-Kart type was restyled. So I guess there would have been quite a lot of variations on it. I forgot to mention, I have also seen a dark-brown 'wrinkle finish' version as well.

It's surprising this model was sold for so long and was so popular, given its relatively wimpy suction. With the filter just behind the bag, the airflow is already restricted; once the rear-filling bag starts getting loaded with dirt the suction drops dramatically.

I do love the sound of the motor.

Nice looking Kenmores, guys. But I'm starting to wonder, am I the only one that has the one with the burgandy nose cone, handle, and trim? Seems everyone else has the ones before or after mine. Also, does anyone have a silver/gray one? I'm not sure, but I think they were the first.
Charles, I think the reason they sold so well for a machine that didn't perform any better than they did was because back then, just like now, there were people who bought EVERYTHING from Sears. They just assumed that since their Coldspot refrigerator, Silvertone radio, and Homart furnace were excellent performers that a Kenmore vacuum would be, too. Used to be people had that same kind of blind loyalty with Monkey Wards too, but of course they aren't around anymore.
And I also love that "prrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeen" sound the Kenmore makes when you fire it up, although it used to startle me when I was about 3 years old!
Jeff

I have a maroon Commander-on-a-cart. The body is light maroon and the "nose cone" and trim are dark maroon, as are the attachments. Also has a maroon cord.