Silver selection


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Thread Number: 19032
Silver selection

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Post# 209868 12/13/2012 at 23:51 (4,150 days old) by gmerkt (Edmonds WA)
Checkrate/Likes Today was a scrounging day for the vac refurbishing program. I came home with three silver machines in my silver Ford Crown Vic. These all came from two of the local Goodwill Outlet stores, $4, $4, and $6. From left to right. (1) Bissell Lift-Off, the only model of that make that I will refurb simply because people like them for their versatility. These aren't too bad of a machine but to do one properly, you have to completely disassemble it. I put all the plastic parts in one pile, all the electrical in another. I wash off the plastic parts outside with a high pressure nozzle. The electrical stuff I blow out with compressed air. They come apart and go back together pretty easily and quickly. Sometimes I find pinched wires that were done at the factory by the Koreans. One time a bare wire that'd been arcing off the motor housing. I could tell right away why this silver machine was kicked to the curb. The dust container has two side baffles in it. Someone tried to put these in backwards (they only go in one way), even forcing the fit. As a result, the bin wouldn't seal and was blowing dirt out around the edges. The manufacturing date is 2008. I've got one green Lift-Off that's in Purgatory right now. It stinks to high Heaven of curry. As yet, I haven't found a way to completely drive the smell out of the soft plastic, such as the hose. In time, in time. I may have to use a hose and some other parts from a donor machine. (2) Hoover Windtunnel bagged upright. This is a fairly recently-made machine, dated 09 08. It appears to be in pretty good condition, but was missing the bottom plate and the agitator. My guess is someone started to change the belt, gave up, and decided to get a new machine. I've got the necessary parts to put it back together from donor machines. (3) This last machine is one of the much-maligned Hoover Savvys. This example was in pretty good condition. The lower cord hook (part of a duct) is broken off so I will have to fabricate something for that -- already have a plan. I think this one was discarded because you can see one of the dual floor nozzle inlets is just packed with trash. As usual, the wand holders upper and lower were missing but I've got some of those on order at Hesco. The first thing I checked on this one was to see if the power switch worked, which is a weak link on these. These are fairly slow sellers, but I have sold a few so I took this one on. The build date on this one was 06. So how about that license plate suffix, SHT? As my wife says, "Would you like to buy a vowel?" This 04 Ford is my regular driver car and I've found that you can transport up to ten dead vacs in it and still get the deck lid shut.

Post# 209891 , Reply# 1 12/14/2012 at 05:11 (4,150 days old) by gsheen (Cape Town South Africa)
Checkrate/Likes Thats a nice selection of silver machines, I have a purple version of the Windtunnel and a ruby red version of the Bissell. Crown Vic is a nice car, some one I know has one here in SA, Very Rare here, nice big cruiser

Post# 209900 , Reply# 2 12/14/2012 at 08:00 (4,150 days old) by s31463221 (Frenchburg, KY)
Checkrate/Likes *Gary* Nice vac finds! While they will need some work, I would say you should be able to turn a decent profit from them, hopefully anyway! I LOVE the license plate, that is absolutely hilarous! As for the Crown Vics, they are amazing cars, I currently own two of them, I have an 03 blue one that's pushing close to 200,000 miles and still going strong, and I have an 01 blue one that has less than 70,000 miles and is my daily driver. What I like about them is how people will clear out of the way when they see you coming, as they look just like police cruisers around here, in fact a State Police detective drives one Identical to both of my cars! Great post!

Post# 210111 , Reply# 3 12/15/2012 at 23:04 (4,148 days old) by gmerkt (Edmonds WA)
Checkrate/Likes 1 The Bissell Lift-Off is a model 3760-4, well along in that series. These started off with the 3750/6595/6801, and these I believe all had the two pin electrical connection between the canister and the floor nozzle which was problematic. I don't know what the distinctions are between these three models, but one difference can be the hose. On some, it easily detaches; on others, it is more or less permanently fixed in place. The later, three-pin versions of the Lift-Off (Revolution) are the 3760, 4220, 6850 and 6860. There is a latest version now, the model 89Q9 (Multi-Cyclonic) that has a redesigned primary filter. The Hoover Windtunnel self-propelled is not in the original U6400 model series. It's very, very similar but different enough I guess to rate a new model number which is UH50005B. It has diff. wheels, enclosed loop handle, and different finish. While made in Mexico (not China), it has the colored molded plastic components that are made in a base color, then painted the final color. The earlier, U6400 series had the final color tint molded into the plastic part. The motor (and likely the rest of the electrics) is made in China. The Hoover Savvy is a model U8185-900, made in Mexico with the manufacturer's decal saying Newton, Iowa so was made during the brief time Maytag owned the company. Well, my Ford Crown Vic has been an excellent car. This is the only new car that I've ever bought. Not long before I retired, I decided to treat myself to a new car because I anticipated doing a lot of travelling immediately post retirement, which I did. My requirements were for something comfortable and under warranty. I've had the car in nearly every state west of the Mississippi River. You lads in the northeast may be able to touch several states in one day, but it takes all day to cross Montana. The car is an '04 model, but I bought it in early '05. It was left over from the previous year and I got it for a very substantial reduction in price. It has the 4.6L V-8 engine; people look at the car and think, "Gas hog" but fuel economy isn't that bad. Around town, I get around 20 mpg but out on the highway it's usually better than 27 mpg. I drive down to California and Nevada once or twice a year and a couple of times my mileage has been a hair over 29. The last time it was 29.05, very carefully driven. In the years since I bought the car, I've performed all the regularly scheduled maintenance without fail. Only twice has it required a repair outside of routine maintenance. Once, when a catalytic converter failed which was repaired under warranty. They replaced both main converters at the same time because there was a tech bulletin out that one of their vendors had supplied possibly defective cat. converters. The only other repair was a defective coolant temperature sensor. When my check engine light came on, I borrowed one of those hand-held instruments that you plug in under the dash to find out what the fault code says. I fixed that myself. Ford did sell a lot of these cars in the export trade, many to the middle east. They made special export models with different grille work and some other things. Lots of the export cars were made in long wheel base form; the stretch is several inches in the rear doors area. The Mercury Grand Marquis was a sister model to the Crown Victoria, made on the same assembly line in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada. For marketing purposes, FoMoCo divided the export trade in two of their largest selling areas. The Ford version was exported to Saudi Arabia, but the Mercury was exported to Kuwait. Can't get these cars new any longer; last year was 2011.

Post# 210186 , Reply# 4 12/16/2012 at 18:48 (4,147 days old) by Durango159 (State College, PA)
Checkrate/Likes Very nice. I like all of those machines!!!

Post# 210876 , Reply# 5 12/22/2012 at 18:27 (4,141 days old) by FantomFan (Rochester, New York)
Checkrate/Likes *car* Beautiful Crown Vic Gmerkt!!! Love those automobiles!!

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