POD

For those who don't know the V.C.C.C., it was founded in January of 1983 and was nothing more than a newsletter sent out to a handful of members. The club was created as a resource center for the few of us who had a lifetime of hearing "you collect what?" Each of us thought we were the only ones into this and therefore leaned heavily on each other. 5 hour phone calls were common but the only source of information was the newsletter.

In November of 84 a member suggested a meeting. "Who's going to travel across the country to see some old vacuum cleaners?" I asked him. His response was "put the question in the newsletter." I did and the result was the first meeting the first weekend of May, 1985. That was a major turning point because we set the ground rules and took the club in many areas not just a newsletter.

In August of 85 I bought a house in Naperville, Illinois, and made it the official club headquarters. Then I turned my private collection into the club museum and devoted one room to the collection using it for meetings etc.. In time the collection outgrew the room and was transferred to my garage.

Why meetings not conventions? basically we were too small, but all the other things were in place. Annual business meeting, repair seminar, outings, banquet and awards. There was even a club mascot, my cat Caligula (pictured above).

Contrary to what some believe, the club is the same as it always was, the only reason we have conventions is that it grew like a weed and now as many as 75 members attend.

As to the location of club headquarters it was the ideal spot, there was a motel on my corner, also a Dunkin Donuts so I could provide breakfast for everybody, rental store a block away for folding chairs, coffee urn, movie projector and so on. There were restaurants galore and we held our banquets at a place called Rascal's.

So you see the club John Lucia and I created is still alive and kicking, in fact it's better than either of us could ever have imagined.

This post was last edited 04/17/2017 at 13:04


Forum Topics & Rules Manuals & Literature	New users Click-here to sign-up

Post# 370837 4/16/2017 at 18:00 (2,558 days old) by kenkart ()
Checkrate/Likes That compact picture was featured in one of the early VCCC newsletters, Ruth Hollander told me she knew that dealer but I cant remember his name or where he was from, Wouldn't you love to have that pile of trade ins!!Electroluxes, a Westinghouse, Kirbys Airways and a Lewyt!!!And a Hoover thrown in for good measure.

Post# 370838 , Reply# 1 4/16/2017 at 19:21 (2,558 days old) by Caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut)
Checkrate/Likes 1 *Cover of a newsletter to be exact.* Hi Kenkart: We used this as the cover for the post meeting issue of the 1993 Newsletter, but there was an added feature. As I'd appointed Charles Richard Lester our editor thus relieving me of the task I'd done since drafting the first one in January 1983. Charles did me very proud with that newsletter. So just what was the added feature? Charles took the face of everybody who attended the meeting and fit it into the picture. But the great thing was that these pictures were so faint that you needed to look for them thus not altering the main picture, or having faces that were overpowering. It was a stroke of genius. I have one of these but the faces don't reproduce well. For those interested the date of publication was June, 1993, and along with the Hoover issue in 94 and the Electrolux issue in 95 are the finest newsletter the V.C.C.C. ever produced. As I've said before and no doubt will say again Thanks Charles Richard. Alex Taber.

Post# 370857 , Reply# 2 4/17/2017 at 08:36 (2,557 days old) by Oreck_XL (Brooklyn, New York 11211)
Checkrate/Likes I had seen another photo like that from Electrolux, IIRC from the Super J era showing a mountain of trade ins. What saddened me most was all the Hoover Dial-A-Matics in that pile. Is that also a POD?

Post# 370872 , Reply# 3 4/17/2017 at 12:12 (2,557 days old) by Caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut)
Checkrate/Likes *Hi Kenkart, you know this story but other don't.* For those who don't know the V.C.C.C., it was founded in January of 1983 and was nothing more than a newsletter sent out to a handful of members. The club was created as a resource center for the few of us who had a lifetime of hearing "you collect what?" Each of us thought we were the only ones into this and therefore leaned heavily on each other. 5 hour phone calls were common but the only source of information was the newsletter. In November of 84 a member suggested a meeting. "Who's going to travel across the country to see some old vacuum cleaners?" I asked him. His response was "put the question in the newsletter." I did and the result was the first meeting the first weekend of May, 1985. That was a major turning point because we set the ground rules and took the club in many areas not just a newsletter. In August of 85 I bought a house in Naperville, Illinois, and made it the official club headquarters. Then I turned my private collection into the club museum and devoted one room to the collection using it for meetings etc.. In time the collection outgrew the room and was transferred to my garage. Why meetings not conventions? basically we were too small, but all the other things were in place. Annual business meeting, repair seminar, outings, banquet and awards. There was even a club mascot, my cat Caligula (pictured above). Contrary to what some believe, the club is the same as it always was, the only reason we have conventions is that it grew like a weed and now as many as 75 members attend. As to the location of club headquarters it was the ideal spot, there was a motel on my corner, also a Dunkin Donuts so I could provide breakfast for everybody, rental store a block away for folding chairs, coffee urn, movie projector and so on. There were restaurants galore and we held our banquets at a place called Rascal's. So you see the club John Lucia and I created is still alive and kicking, in fact it's better than either of us could ever have imagined. This post was last edited 04/17/2017 at 13:04