Here's a pic of an Australian made Dynamatic, as we called them down here. It was the last model in the series of 3 we had. With the only difference being the colour and relocation of the power switch and cord from the handle to the body of the cleaner.

It's production run started in 1975 with the US made DAM Power Drive U6033 going on sale in 1977 as Hoover's TOL cleaners at the time .

Mark

That's absolutely gorgeous!

Congratulations!!

Is that now part of your collection??

~F

I have a Dynamatic in my collection here too, a model 1125A, with tools. I love it!

I always thought they were called "Dynamatic" here, but was beginning to doubt myself as everywhere on this site they're referred to as "Dialamatic". It's nice to know the brain isn't quite as bad as I thought :-)

Which then brings me to wondering why we had the name change in Australia, and whether anyone knows of any other products (vacuums or otherwise) which get given different names in different markets.

My mum set out to buy the original Dynamatic (pumpkin orange and brown) somewhere between 1965 and 1970. While waiting for it to be delivered, the Electolux man called and demonstrated how his product found dirt even after mum had used her old cleaner (a UK Hoover 61/612). Unfortunately, she fell for it and regretted the decision terribly, hating dragging the barrel cleaner behind her throughout the house.

Within a year she'd said "enough" and went shopping again - but this time bought a GE. I've seen pictures here, but don't know the model. Extremely noisy (even compared to the Dynamatic) and not very reliable.

Suffice to say she got it right on the third go, buying what I'm assuming was the second Dynamatic model released in Australia. It was still the orange/brown combination, but had the carpet height adjuster which wasn't on the original, and the power switch in the handle.

Interestingly, some 12 years later when it needed a repair, they refitted the switch and power cord to the body as shown in Mark's picture.

When that machine finally failed a few years ago, she managed to find a Hoover upright, but I don't know the model. Green, plastic case. There are virtually no Hoover-branded cleaners available in Australia now, so if you want an upright, Dyson is pretty much all we have.

Nick

More than likely the name change was because some other company in Australia or elsewhere had that name copyrighted in and/or including Australia for some other product not necessarily a vacuum cleaner either. Probably 90+ percent of US products in Canada carry the US name but there are a few exceptions. For example the American highend Viking stoves/fridges were called UltraLine in Canada because the Eatons Department store brand of white goods were called Viking. When Eatons was bought by Sears and closed they must have sold the Viking name rights since the UltraLine name disappeared and now US Viking fridges/stoves etc are called Viking in Canada as well.

All I can say is WOW! I really like the color and of course the name change.

Nick...sorry to hear that your market for uprights is so limited. I know that here the dyson brand did not do too well in testing. I wondered if your version of the dyson was better than what we have? Do folks in Australia prefer canister types to uprights?

--Tom

Tom,

Our Dyson's are pretty much the same as the US one's. As for upright vs canister in Australia, up until the mid to late 80's the upright ruled and Hoover was the brand of choice.

Due mostly to large homes that where fully carpeted, but that has all changed now with more people switching to timber or tiled floor's and the growth of apartments in the major cites.

As Nick said Hoover here is now just a shell of what it used to be, the whitegoods side of Hoover (or the brand name) is now owned by Electrolux who stopped all production about 2 years ago. With the Floorcare side owned by a Vacuum cleaner retailer called Godfrerys, who import crap from China with the Hoover name on it and a few Hoover US machines.

If fact the Lark name is back on there newest baggless upright. Here's the link to the Hoover Floorcare website.

http://www.hooverfloorcare.com.au/index.html

Mark
P.S don't die of shock when you see the price they charge us for the US machines down here, like a SteamVac Agility with a RRP of AU $899.00 (US$790.00)

Nick,

I understand Hoover went with Dynamatic for the name as the Dial A Matic name was trademarked to a company called K Tel who used it of a food slicer.

Hoover also where unable to use the Convertible name on like in the UK as that was name used on all of our Seniors after the 652.

Mark

Jeff,

Glad to see you have saved another 1125A for your collection. I noticed in one of your pictures on another posting that you have what looks like a few OZ made Hoover's ?? What have you got.

Mark

Mark,

I had completely forgotten about all the K-Tel branded stuff back in the 60's and 70's. The term "Dial-A-Matic" in that context definitely rings bells!

I'm a bit confused about the "Convertible" name though. I thought all our uprights were either "Convertible" or "Lark", matching the UK "Senior" and "Junior".

BTW, what were our "Larks" called in the USA?

Nick

That's a beautiful Dynamatic! Looks similar to the European U5002/5010 (I think the difference there was merely whether or not you got tools with it), but yours looks nice with the Seal Greige bits, which Euro machines didn't have by then.

Nick, I think what Mark is getting at is that this cleaner was called a Convertible in the UK, as opposed to Dial/Dynamatic. It makes it difficult for Euro collectors, as of course USA and Aussie Convertibles are a different machine, which doesn't help matters of International understanding :-)

Incidentally, my late model 1124A from November 1974 has the original cord and switch arrangement, but a later body with mouldings (although not opened out) for the later rocker switch and flex grommet. I do wonder if it has a replacement body or was a crossover model!

Si

Mark and Nick,
I have several Aussie models all sent from my friend John Grieve who lives just outside Sydney in Eastwood.
So far I have:
Dynamatic 1125A with tools
Convertible 652 or 6525(I can't remember the letter, its two tone green)
Convertible U4008(gold)
Convertible U4128(plastic base, tan/brown with the candy-cane bag system) This also has the different motor in it, not like the US models had.
Turbopower Lark, recently pictured in another thread.
912A
U7008 in pristine condition, found on Ebay Australia. The seller was in Brisbane and the cleaner was local pickup. I emailed her and asked if she would be willing to ship the cleaner to Sydney, which she was, so I bid and won. She shipped the cleaner to John who then forwarded it on to me. Later on she emailed back and told me she'd found the owners manual, and mailed that to me seperately!

I am not at home until tomorrow afternoon, I can grab some pics then and proper model numbers.