Vacuums always reminded me of cars as a kid, and I liked cars. So I think that's where the fascination came from. My mom's Electrolux Diamond Jubilee was, to my child mind, similar to the family Volkswagen Jetta. They were both beige-ish colored. The round, chrome hose port on the blackish background of the DJ's front door was similar to the round, chrome VW emblem on her car sitting in a black grille. I would say that even the taper of the sides of those vacuums was similar to the taper of the doors on a car (widest in the middle, skinniest at the top and bottom).

As kids, my siblings and I would pull out the vacuum to be a "car" when we played. So I think that's where it comes from. I collect Electrolux vacuums for that reason, but I'm only interested in canisters. If I was a rich person, I would probably collect cars instead, but vacuums seem to suffice. I have about 9 in my collection right now. There's one more that I'd like to have, and there are two that I would be happy to get rid of. It's hard to house them though... I don't want to put them in the basement, and there are limited spaced on the main floor to hide away 9 vacuums.