Well there's always Oreck, don't forget. The outer bags on them inflate or the cheap rendition, the Hometek Light n Easy if you can find it. I had the Hometek, it was just like an Oreck XL (my parents had one many moons ago) though cheaper made plastics. Still, I found it a much better performer than the lousy Hoover Junior stick vacs I had.

Does it say otherwise? In actual fact when you come to think about it, the Oreck and Hometek both have one up on the old Junior vacs - but you'd have to own one or both to know that they lack beater bars and thus can be used to clean hard floors quite well - without damage.

I don't think that's ever going to happen. 

You have to remember that we, as vacuum cleaner enthusiasts, see things in a completely different light to the general consumer. We notice things about a cleaners build quality, design pro's and con's and performance that your average vacuum user wouldn't. 

Thanks to some incredibly clever marketing on Dyson's part, we're now in a world obsessed with bagless cleaners. Everyone seems to have been fooled into thinking bagless is better. Whereas we know this to not always be the case, the general consumer doesn't (and more than likely doesn't care). Because we all have quite a deep rooted interest, we have taken the time to study these cleaners and get to understand the advantages of both designs, whereas somebody walking into Currys has only seen claims made by a company on a 30 second advert and immediately assumes that to be correct. 

Vacuum manufacturers have also fooled the general public into thinking that higher motor wattage = better performance. So a customer standing looking at 2 vacuums in Currys, both retailing at £100, one that's 1200w and the other that's 2100w is going to choose the 2100w cleaner, because their brain instantly goes "HIGHER WATTAGE, MORE POWER, MORE SUCTION". It's quite a logical approach, but not necessarily correct. 

It was only a few years ago that Maytag relaunched the Hoover Constellation in a slightly more modern format with HEPA filtration and an air driven turbobrush, but they were discontinued after less than a year due to underwhelming sales. 

A 250w, bagged cleaner just wouldn't sell in todays market, so I don't think we've any chances of seeing a return to the older styles. 

It's also important to remember that the companies making these classic cleaners - Hoover, Electrolux etc - are either no longer operating under the same business model or indeed no longer operating at all. Hoover haven't been Hoover since 1995 when Candy bought them out, and Electrolux have had that many move-rounds and re-models, it would be impossible to accurately reflect them all.  

Also, Oreck/HomeTec better than a Junior? *Snigger*, alright then....;)

On the basis that some commercial brands are still producing uprights with soft bags, I think its only a matter of time before Argos, Currys etc bring in commercial uprights. John Lewis are already considering to bring in the Sebo BS series for their domestic buyers. 

You can snigger all you like though regarding the Junior - Whilst I love the Hoover Junior outright, for a more convenient clean around a home, the Oreck models have a much longer power cord, higher filtration bags and a far simpler design. Also, the base Oreck model that is currently selling on the UK market has a 350 watt motor, 100 watts more than what you claim wouldn't sell. If Oreck were doing that badly in the UK, they'd have sold up by now, Chris  - evidently a small portion of UK buyers are buying these machines and Orecks are still one of the alternative choices for hotels. 

As for high suction power, Vacuum brands have just been following the crowd for years - the UK are a perfect example for falling for USP false advertising on a number of things; one reason alone to why Flymo added the word "Turbo" to a lot of their existing lawnmowers - people associated it with cars and car brands themselves tarted up base engine models with cosmetic "go faster stripes," and added on garish spoilers in an attempt to make the base brand model more appealing whilst pushing buyers to consider that a 2.0 engine was the one to have instead of a 1.4. 

And the Maytag Hoover Connie you refer to, the Maytag Satellite came with a 2000 watt motor. UK buyers are conditioned into thinking that the higher the figure, the better it is. (Click link for old QVC video).

Mmm, some obvious choices there - I guess its different for everyone. A decent upright vacuum for me comes down to: 

1. Performance on carpets and if required, hard floors.
2. Easy to handle/steer and a comfortable handle.
3. Ease of removing on board hose and tools if they are built in.
4. Quality of the product
5. Economical costs AND running costs.
6. Easy to replace bags & filters that don't get your hands dirty either with the process of removal or installation.
7. Easy to inspect parts for maintenance.

It is difficult to judge older uprights such as the ones you've suggested from the 80s/90s as they are in short supply and only way of purchase is either from a collector or someone who just happens to be selling an old one on auction sites - but at the detriment of an abused life etc. 

So, moving on from that, let me give you an obvious example of what I consider to be closest to the more modern upright bagged vacuums we currently have, or the machines I once had: Hoover Turbopower 2 U2464 or Hoover Turbopower 3 U2812.

1. Performance on carpets = great but agitator brush bar warnings on hard floors despite hard floor setting and whatever setting you select per carpet height.
2. Easy to handle = with slow progress yes but dependent on height (mes 6ft) stooping is required & handle is short; main weight of the Hoover models determines the speed required to push and pull. I had some difficulty in getting the vacuums to lay flat to clean though and put this down to the central hinge rather than the floor head itself - which seldom deep cleaned carpet when tried as the brush bar would hover over the carpet than properly touch the surface.
3. Ease of removing tools etc = easy and the choices given with Hoover were slightly better user orientated.
4. Quality of the product = The old TP2 and 3 are sturdy machines,  however even in later life the central hinge can lose its natural position and start to bend downwards; sometimes the wheel chassis can break or start to show signs of replacement. Plastic chassis carriage can start to break due to abusive life or made to clean hard, unlevel floors with obstructions such as exposed nails that can pierce the light plastic. Black rubber power cord is easy to damage/top layer condition susceptible to staining or nicks caused by being run over by the upright by accident etc.
5. Economical costs and running costs - fair to average back in the day (1998 etc) but cheaper now and more "economical" to run due to lower motor power. Also spares are relatively cheaper for bags, belts, filters etc.
6. Easy to replace bags & filters = Yes.
7. Easy to inspect parts for maintenance = relatively, yes.

All things considered with the higher grade spec of the autosense etc, my main gripe with the TP2/3 series was largely its weight. I found as I got older and started to grow that when I bottomed out at 6ft, the natural position to use the uprights made me stoop more when pushing and pulling them across carpets and I was never that quick with those uprights when it came to cleaning despite the high power. The handle also "started" to appear smaller as my hands became a bit bigger and thus began to get uncomfortable to grip. 

I think Hoover had the best time at the time when the TP2 and 3's were on sale. However, if they appeared on the market now with a somewhat lighter weight, easier to push design and longer, more comfortable handle, I'd probably be interested, again. The Purepower in my experience is not the best replacement. 

I have never tried Vorwerk but I would like to. The price of the new ones put me off and from what I've read on here as well as reviews, a lot of owners have since traded up to the Sebo Felix, which is understandable as both machines swivel. Plus in the UK, Vorwerk bags can be difficult to source. Its worlds away from the Panasonic upright I bought recently but the two share the same problem of finding dust bags, even if the Panasonic is beginning to get better for bag availability.

That is the problem with a lot of brands - unless they have a large network of spares in place already, it is difficult to find dust bags unless you go for the copy ones and half the time they're never as good as the originals. Some copy bags are good though. I used to use copy bags for my Moulinex Powerstyle cylinder vac in the mid 1990s. This is where the Purepower fights back - plus I had an early one in the 1990s, a Lifetime model that came with a permanent re-useable material dust bag that could be washed, dried after use and refitted.

I also had the Argos bagged upright for a time and it only used exclusive bags from Argos. The upright still sells and though its made of flimsier plastic than the Purepower, its a decent effort for the cost price, not bad suction and wonderfully light to push across carpets. Again though the downside is that you have to buy a lot of bags to make the purchase worthwhile as opposed to perhaps in a couple of months when you may need more bags and then find that Argos have sold out etc. 

At least with Hoover's dust bags (Purepower etc) you can use the existing bags that Hoover sell. They'd have no worries in that respect producing what they already have - but at the same time they could develop a much better bagged upright to replace the Purepower. 

So I bought the Vax VCU-02 for £39-99 brand new. Sealed in a box and took me all of a minute to put together without reading the user manual. Unlike Oreck, you get 32mm pipes with this vacuum that act as the first and secondary spine separated by a grab handle at the rear before the handle is already attached. Thus the suction channels are wider as well as the main dust bag channel before the bag inside the soft outer cover. Following on before with my previous posts, here's a quick report:

1. Performance on carpet and hard floors - great, no beater bars are involved and the brush roll is similar to Oreck in the sense that the bristles are bushy and soft, though you get a plastic roller bar as opposed to wooden with Oreck.
2. Easy to handle - no stooping and even though it has a conventional handle, it is comfortable to hold onto with a rocker switch located at the front for on/off. Main weight is approximately 5.8kg but my bathroom scales state just over 4kg = beautifully light to lift up due to handy fixed rear handle and easy to use generally. No hanging hook or hole though.
3. Maintenance for drive belt replacement - two screws on the underside need to be removed, sadly there is no slide out door like Oreck at the side for belt accessibility.
4. Quality - surprisingly good even though some parts are a bit flimsy - the bottom of the outer soft bag clips onto the bottom of the suction tube and the screw fasteners on the back of the pipes to the rear handle don't feel that well made.
5. Economical costs and running - 450 watt power on hand here and the bags measure 7.5 litre capacity - they are massive, very similar to Oreck but feature a size hole similar to Hoover's dust bags for the Turbopower 2, 3.
6. 2-ply paper Bags are relatively easy to put on, take out and fit on "suction friction fit," with sadly no dust pull seals on the bag itself. No cardboard tongue has been provided either but the fitting is very tight and doesn't feel like it will fall off. 
7. Noise - very similar to our old Oreck XL but lacks a high whine factor. Vax claim it is 70dbl but I feel it is actually quieter.
8. Has proper rear wheels and two small rollers on the underside - means it can be locked up in the upright position and wheeled away.
9. Cleans flat to the floor until the rear handle brushes the carpet - however at least the floor head at the front remains flat on carpets unlike our old XL that used to hover above the pile when made to clean flat (and it didn't have a rear grab handle).
10. Has those daft side fixed brushes but they're a bit longer than Oreck supply and removable via 2 screws either side. 
11. A LONG 12.5 metre cable - hurray! Cord supplied is an H05VVF extension cord with pigtail type 3 pin push connection.
12. The model came with one spare drive belt and 5 dust bags.

Downsides - After running around the house with it, I checked the bag briefly to find that it picks up a lot of dust but sometimes the dust ends up escaping out of the bag onto the black plastic bonding wall that holds the dust channel in. Vax claim that the outer bag is a HEPA type but it feels like a plastic bonding has been added inside the outer bag. In normal use, there isn't that much air that comes out of the bag when it inflates though, which is always good.

Lastly - is it better than a reconditioned Hoover Junior? For all round performance, I'd say yes, but you lose the style that the Junior exudes as well as cheaper running costs and spares. 

Having read a few reviews on this product already, my only fear is that the Vax will either break down in a short time or something may go wrong with the handle as it doesn't seem to have a good reliability record taking the UK reviews into account.

Still for £39-99, I 'aint complainin'!