Thread Number: 30003  /  Tag: 50s/60s/70s Vacuum Cleaners
GREAT UNIVERSAL CATALOGUE 1977/78 SCANS 		[Down to Last]

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Post# 333547   9/9/2015 at 09:52 (3,143 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2)        

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For those interested: Great Universal UK Autumn & Winter catalogue sweepers & vacs page 1
(Apologies if they have appeared before).


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This post was last edited 09/09/2015 at 10:16
Post# 333548 , Reply# 1   9/9/2015 at 09:53 (3,143 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2)        
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Page 2 of catalogue

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Post# 333549 , Reply# 2   9/9/2015 at 09:54 (3,143 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2)        
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Post# 333550 , Reply# 3   9/9/2015 at 09:55 (3,143 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2)        
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Post# 333551 , Reply# 4   9/9/2015 at 09:56 (3,143 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2)        
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Post# 333552 , Reply# 5   9/9/2015 at 09:57 (3,143 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2)        
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Post# 333553 , Reply# 6   9/9/2015 at 09:57 (3,143 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2)        
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Post# 333554 , Reply# 7   9/9/2015 at 09:58 (3,143 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2)        
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Post# 333643 , Reply# 8   9/10/2015 at 13:29 (3,142 days old) by paulc (Edinburgh)        

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Love this thread, thanks for posting !!

Post# 333748 , Reply# 9   9/12/2015 at 08:19 (3,140 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2)        
GREAT UNIVERSAL 1979/80 AUTUMN WINTER

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Post# 333749 , Reply# 10   9/12/2015 at 08:20 (3,140 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2)        
GREAT UNIVERSAL 1979/80 AUTUMN WINTER

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Post# 333750 , Reply# 11   9/12/2015 at 08:21 (3,140 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2)        
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Post# 333752 , Reply# 12   9/12/2015 at 08:25 (3,140 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2)        
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Post# 333765 , Reply# 13   9/12/2015 at 08:43 (3,140 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2)        
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Post# 333766 , Reply# 14   9/12/2015 at 08:44 (3,140 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2)        
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Post# 333767 , Reply# 15   9/12/2015 at 08:45 (3,140 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2)        
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Post# 333796 , Reply# 16   9/12/2015 at 10:26 (3,140 days old) by paulc (Edinburgh)        

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Surprising to see the Moulinex upright cheaper than the 170

Thanks again for posting all these wonderful scans.

Post# 333814 , Reply# 17   9/12/2015 at 15:07 (3,140 days old) by Vintagerepairer (England)        

PaulC you make a very interesting observation.

Whilst at face value your comment is light-hearted -that the bigger and perhaps more modern-looking Moulinex cleaner is cheaper than the Elecrtrolux 170- the whole scenario runs much deeper.

It is fair to say that both Hoover and Electrolux were heavily reliant on their respective reputations in order to both gain the sale AND gain the price they demanded. This came, I suppose, from the 1960's - a time when a number of smaller appliance manufacturers went bust, when others were sold off to bigger rivals, and when some decided to stop making vacuum cleaners altogether.

The 1970's really saw the start of the imports, but in plenty of cases for vacuum cleaners(and I have Which? reports to confirm this) the retail price of many was not always competitive enough to win the loyalty of the UK consumer. Yet by the end of the 1970's and into the 1980's -a time when money was very tight for a good deal of families- the rise in the imported goods and the ever-lowering price tags was a great temptation.

We have to remember of course that even the "cheap" vacuum cleaners were still very expensive, and to that end consumers could well be divided; did they pay less for a cheap purchase which offered so much value for the money, at the risk of it going wrong much more quickly, or should they wait & save a little longer so as to "invest" in an appliance which was built by a name they knew and trusted?

Ultimatly, people would fall into both camps, depending on their mind-sets and budgets. However, whereas someone who purchased a cheap vacuum cleaner which quickly went wrong could easily be told by others that a fool & their money are easily parted, it did seem to me at least that people who'd invested in a well-known brand name that turned out to be what we knew as "a Friday afternoon job" were saying the very same thing to themseleves, on the basis that spending the extra money hadn't been worth it in the end.

I have written here before about a woman who bought three turquoise Moulinex Master cleaners into my shop for repair, two of which she'd told me were purchased on the same day for not much more than she'd planned to spend on one Hoover Turbopower. Having been let-down by what she'd called an expensive Hoover cylinder, and having felt one cleaner was not enough for her large home, she'd intended to buy an upright and to get the existing cylinder repaired. Such was the choice she could make at the point of sale, she decided to chance her luck on two cheap uprights.

She must have been impressed too, as the third cleaner was then purchased for her mother.

But in another twist, the likes of Hoover and Electrolux would always have some loyal followers, and as long as there were club-book catalouges like we see here and Electricity Board showrooms, all of whom offered favourable payment terms (albiet on prices which were higher than in the high-street chain stores like Currys and Comet), there was always the possibilty that a consumer might opt for paying slightly more for slightly longer so as to buy a more established brand.

Post# 333829 , Reply# 18   9/12/2015 at 16:45 (3,140 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2)        

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In my experience, Moulinex products have always been cheaper to buy though. I recall my gran had a Moulinex hand mixer bought from Woolworths in the early 1980s because nothing else was cheaper at the time. It lasted more than ten years, well after she had passed away. That and Moulinex can openers and even their steam irons being cheaper to buy than the nation's favourite "Morphy Richards." Philips products however, were not as cheap to buy - but they were from further afield in Europe, from NL.

Post# 333839 , Reply# 19   9/12/2015 at 18:20 (3,140 days old) by Vintagerepairer (England)        

Well that's just what we were saying, Sebofan, that Moulinex was cheaper all round. In small appliances, Moulinex began selling in the UK in the mid 1960's. Cylinder & stick vacuum cleaners followed in the early 1970's, with the upright cleaners coming to fruition at the end of that same decade.

Quite why Moulinex started in the UK with small appliances I don't know - was it simply that they only made small appliances, or did they in fact carefully select what came over here? Either way it worked. They started with appliances which a good deal of consumers would probably never wear out - food mixers, blenders, coffee grinders, hair dryers - all of these being the sort of thing that people aspired to, would not perhaps use a great deal, and in fact would quite likely be replaced as a result of being dropped on the floor or some similar folly. All of which meant that consumers would see a lot of value in buying a cheap appliance from the Moulinex range and thus their name became one of the most well-known in the UK low-budget ranges.

Then the vacuum cleaners crept in. I don't think they were all that popular when it was just cylinders and stick vacs, as the prices were not wildly cheaper than some of the other cleaners around, like Goblin. But the upright vacuum cleaners were something else altogether, and the number of features they boasted was really rather clever, because it became impossible for anyone to really say where they fitted in.

Let's take the Moulinex Major; it was advertised heavily on TV in the early 1980's, showing all of it'd features in full glory. It had more bells & whistles than any of the Hoover cleaners of it's time, and certainly many more than Electrolux cleaners had, the tool kit had all the attachments of any cylinder cleaner, the hose connected in an instant & the cleaner could easily be pulled round, and of course it was practically the only UK upright cleaner to have a cord rewind.

All this on a vacuum cleaner with a price tag much lower than any of the "quality" names. The Moulinex sought to compete with so many cleaners at so mant ends of the scale. One thing that must be said however was that few Moulinex appliance were ever awarded the BEAB seal of approval and without it those appliance could never be sold through the Electricity Board showroom chains.

But you make a very good point Sebofan about how the Philips appliances were not always at the cheap end of the market, despite being imported. In this instance Philips was able to gain a reputation for being of good quality whilst remaining a none-UK manufactured appliance. This was done by carefully selling products with different features for different needs, with something at practically every price-point in some cases.





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