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Thread Number: 31978
/ Tag: 50s/60s/70s Vacuum Cleaners
My Kirby's |
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| Post# 352321 5/17/2016 at 20:43 (2,900 days old) by ED209 (Nebraska) | ||
Hello! I'm pretty new to the vacuum collection hobby but I thought you guys might like to see my two Kirby vacuums that I've cleaned up.
The first one is a Kirby Tradition that I found at a thrift store for 15 bucks that came with a mostly complete case of attachments. Did an alright job at polishing it up as best as I could, washed the bag, cleaned the fill tube and blew out the dust from the motor. Then took it to the Kirby shop here in town to get a new light bulb, belt, and some disposible bags. While I was there the owner of the shop gave it a free inspection and shared some tips and tricks on how to polish them up better plus he taught me quite a bit about the history, how to do adjustmnets and during the inspection explained to me exactly what he was doing and even taught me how to properly use it. I ended up going back a few days later to see if he had some of the accessories I was missing (like the hose and some extensions) and he had everything I needed. Even ended up coming home with a Rug Renovator and a Zip brush. All in all there are a few things I could have done better in terms of polishing it but I think I did pretty good for my first attempt. The next vacuum I got is a Kirby Classic III. Found this gem while browsing craigslist and found an ad for a Kirby vacuum for 50 bucks which included some attachments and the handi butler. When I got it home I found that it had just about every attachment I could think of plus none of them had been used. I even found an unused bottle of Kirby Instant Suds from the 1970's and still sealed bottle of Odoriffic along with a letter in an envelope from the dealer who sold the original owner the Kirby with a little cloth bag that says Kirby Classic silk screened on it. This time I learned from my tradition and took the owner of the Kirby shops advice and used some 000 steel wool and some polishing compound and disassembled and hand polished the entire unit. After I had polished and waxed it I took it to the Kirby shop again to have it looked over and to see how I did at doing an inspection on a Kirby on my own. After some time looking it over and replacing the head lamp bulb and the o ring on the emptor we fired it up and tried it out. Had a loose wire on the head light which we fixed and then she ran perfectly. I think the Classic has to be my favorite of the two mainly because I love the red trim on it. Makes it look like a car from the 50's or a space ship and the other thing I love is the sound of that aluminum fan. Think I've gotten the addiction now since I'm all ready thinking about the next one I want to redo. Eventually I would love to find a Kirby Dual Sanitronic 50 to restore but in the mean time I think these two will serve me well. Hope you guys enjoy the pictures. Had a blast redoing these two | ||
| Post# 352325 , Reply# 1 5/17/2016 at 21:09 (2,900 days old) by cb123 (Mobile, Al.) | ||
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| Post# 352326 , Reply# 2 5/17/2016 at 21:16 (2,900 days old) by ED209 (Nebraska) | ||
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| Post# 352334 , Reply# 3 5/17/2016 at 22:29 (2,900 days old) by cb123 (Mobile, Al.) | ||
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| Post# 352335 , Reply# 4 5/17/2016 at 23:17 (2,900 days old) by Brando_husky (Las Vegas Nevada) | ||
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Welcome to the club! And another hello to a fellow Nebraskan!! Beautiful tradition and classic III you have there! Are you in east or west side of the state? | ||
| Post# 352337 , Reply# 5 5/18/2016 at 00:19 (2,900 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
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| Post# 352342 , Reply# 6 5/18/2016 at 01:19 (2,900 days old) by CharlesKirby66 (Manteca, CA) | ||
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| Post# 352387 , Reply# 7 5/18/2016 at 21:17 (2,899 days old) by ED209 (Nebraska) | ||
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| Post# 352650 , Reply# 8 5/22/2016 at 21:56 (2,895 days old) by Brando_husky (Las Vegas Nevada) | ||
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Hey Alex I sent you an email. Would love to chat some time! | ||
| Post# 352662 , Reply# 9 5/23/2016 at 07:25 (2,894 days old) by vacerator (Macomb Michigan) | ||
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I see another classic in your driveway. "Dodge Dynasty" Like Sally Field drove in "Steel Magnolia's. | ||
| Post# 352709 , Reply# 10 5/23/2016 at 21:09 (2,894 days old) by ED209 (Nebraska) | ||
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Good eye vacerator! Yup that's Discord my 92 Dodge Dynasty. She has a few rust spots and a sagging headliner but I've done quite a bit of engine work on her (new timing chain and a couple new pistons due to broken rod bolts that I discovered after changing the oil pan gasket right after I bought her) and she now runs great.Sure taught me quite a bit about how to work on cars though. Here is a picture after getting some new "shoes"
Brando_husky when did you send the email? I don't seem to see it in my inbox
View Full Size
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Post# 352713 , Reply# 11 5/23/2016 at 22:31 (2,894 days old) by KirbyClassicIII  (Milwaukie, Oregon) |
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ED209
The Dynasty was not only sold in the Canadian market as a Chrysler product, but here in the U.S. Chrysler briefly sold a version of its New Yorker Salon that looked every bit like the Dodge version, which must have confused buyers so much that Chrysler went back to using its traditional stand-up grille and Pentastar hood ornament.
~Ben | ||
| Post# 352714 , Reply# 12 5/23/2016 at 23:09 (2,894 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
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Yeah, Chrysler was bad about that stuff. They sold the Neon as both a Dodge and a Plymouth and when they were phasing Plymouth out in the 'late '90s, they actually made re-badge kits available to Chrysler-Plymouth dealers to enable them to take the Plymouth nameplates off of the Voyager minivans and retroactively re-brand them as Chryslers. They didn't take the Town & Country name, though; they were still Voyagers. Why they did it for just that one vehicle is beyond me.
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| Post# 352725 , Reply# 13 5/24/2016 at 09:15 (2,893 days old) by kirbyvertibles (Independence, KS) | ||
My Mom had a 92 Dynasty for a while. It was a gorgeous navy blue with navy blue plush interior. She loved that car. It was so smooth and pleasant to drive. It replaced a silver 1980 Chevy Malibu Classic. She sold the Dynasty a few years ago when I decided to sell my 1999 maroon Buick Century that I had for about 10 years. She LOVED LOVED my Buick so I gave it to her. 220+K and its still going.
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| Post# 352732 , Reply# 14 5/24/2016 at 10:35 (2,893 days old) by Brando_husky (Las Vegas Nevada) | ||
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Alex I sent an email with my yahoo to the address in your profile here | ||
| Post# 352755 , Reply# 15 5/24/2016 at 20:34 (2,893 days old) by ED209 (Nebraska) | ||
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| Post# 352763 , Reply# 16 5/24/2016 at 22:07 (2,893 days old) by Brando_husky (Las Vegas Nevada) | ||
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Hey Alex. I sent two earlier. Then I got one from you with an introduction. I have since responded to that. Perhaps my emails are falling in your spam or junk mail? | ||
| Post# 352786 , Reply# 17 5/25/2016 at 16:32 (2,892 days old) by ED209 (Nebraska) | ||
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| Post# 352923 , Reply# 18 5/28/2016 at 23:03 (2,889 days old) by ED209 (Nebraska) | ||
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Found another Kirby to work on today. Found this Classic Ω on craigslist for 35 bucks. Looked it over when I got home and so far it seems to run nicely, the fan looks like it's in good shape and the only thing I notice wrong with it (so far before I take it apart to polish it up) is it's dirty and the light bulb is burned out. The castings and the rubber are also in pretty good shape so I think this one will clean up nicely
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Post# 352924 , Reply# 19 5/28/2016 at 23:09 (2,889 days old) by KirbyClassicIII (Milwaukie, Oregon) |
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ED209 | ||
| Post# 352939 , Reply# 20 5/29/2016 at 10:27 (2,888 days old) by ED209 (Nebraska) | ||
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| Post# 353460 , Reply# 21 6/7/2016 at 22:05 (2,879 days old) by ED209 (Nebraska) | ||
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Still waiting for some new wheels and headlight lens to come in the mail and need to go to the Kirby store for a new light bulb but the Classic Ω is pretty much done. Got the bag patched up with some iron on patches on the inside which fixed the holes really well and polished it up with some mothers and steel wool again. This one was the worst of the 3 I have and there is still some discoloration that I think I would only be able to remove if I had access to a professional buffing machine. Aside from a small squeak from the brush roller after you shut the motor off it runs pretty good.
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| Post# 353468 , Reply# 22 6/7/2016 at 23:50 (2,879 days old) by Brando_husky (Las Vegas Nevada) | ||
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Looking great! Funny story I actully met Alex here at the local Kirby store by complete coincidence. I was dropping off some generation series machines and trading for a rainbow d3 and he came in with his omega sans bag. Got a good deal on an excellent original bag! | ||
| Post# 353565 , Reply# 23 6/9/2016 at 20:08 (2,877 days old) by ED209 (Nebraska) | ||
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Got the last parts I needed today in the mail. Ordered a new headlight lens and some new wheels. Bought a replacement light bulb from the Kirby shop and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
One question I have though is are the new wheels supposed to be slightly thinner than the originals? The ones I took off were almost touching the axle screw heads but the new ones I installed have almost a 1/16" gap between the screw head and the wheel. | ||
| Post# 353962 , Reply# 24 6/17/2016 at 20:07 (2,869 days old) by vacuumkid47 (Sibley, IA) | ||
Yes | ||
| Post# 354035 , Reply# 25 6/18/2016 at 21:50 (2,868 days old) by ED209 (Nebraska) | ||
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