Why?

This looks like a vacuum shop rebuild from the past and not anything recent. Mom and pop vacuum shops that did rebuilds under Kirby's authorization I think must have been told by Kirby to do this. I have a mom and pop vac shop rebuilt Kirby 500 series from the 80s and the model tag was ripped off of it too.

This shop might have lacked the tools to remove the tag or did not want to do it because they cared about vacuums but still had to abide the policy. They also did their best to match the bag too.

The idea was to stop people from selling rebuilt Kirbys as new vacuums in the future or at that time period. Without the tag present with serial number, the owner or the scammer would not be able to exploit the company's rebuild program, as they would not know what they had, or Kirby would know it's already been rebuilt once.

I think it's a dumb idea because they could have just had an engraver to put "rebuilt" into the chassis under the tag very deep and it would have achieved the same purpose without destroying the tag. I have a 500 series that I have no idea what model it even is now without playing Indiana Jones and hunting out all the design cues to ID the model - thank god Kirby always did new things with their vacuums each year and each model enough that they can be ID'ed just on features present.

But yeah that seller is just 100% dumb - being from LA I am not surprised. They have the shipping listed as $5 and that they will ship it first class. First class is for letters and small parcels under 13 ounces. This Kirby weighs about 20 lbs+. Shipping would be about $75+ from LA to here.


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Post# 420181 2/18/2020 at 18:15 (1,529 days old) by Hoover300 (Kentucky)
Checkrate/Likes They want $300 for this? The vac shop even scratched the model number off of it! https://www.ebay.com/itm/vintage-kirby-w...

Post# 420188 , Reply# 1 2/18/2020 at 19:12 (1,529 days old) by huskyvacs (Gnaw Bone, Indiana)
Checkrate/Likes This looks like a vacuum shop rebuild from the past and not anything recent. Mom and pop vacuum shops that did rebuilds under Kirby's authorization I think must have been told by Kirby to do this. I have a mom and pop vac shop rebuilt Kirby 500 series from the 80s and the model tag was ripped off of it too. This shop might have lacked the tools to remove the tag or did not want to do it because they cared about vacuums but still had to abide the policy. They also did their best to match the bag too. The idea was to stop people from selling rebuilt Kirbys as new vacuums in the future or at that time period. Without the tag present with serial number, the owner or the scammer would not be able to exploit the company's rebuild program, as they would not know what they had, or Kirby would know it's already been rebuilt once. I think it's a dumb idea because they could have just had an engraver to put "rebuilt" into the chassis under the tag very deep and it would have achieved the same purpose without destroying the tag. I have a 500 series that I have no idea what model it even is now without playing Indiana Jones and hunting out all the design cues to ID the model - thank god Kirby always did new things with their vacuums each year and each model enough that they can be ID'ed just on features present. But yeah that seller is just 100% dumb - being from LA I am not surprised. They have the shipping listed as $5 and that they will ship it first class. First class is for letters and small parcels under 13 ounces. This Kirby weighs about 20 lbs+. Shipping would be about $75+ from LA to here.

Post# 420190 , Reply# 2 2/18/2020 at 19:16 (1,529 days old) by huskyvacs (Gnaw Bone, Indiana)
Checkrate/Likes Also December 1998 rebuilt

Post# 420199 , Reply# 3 2/18/2020 at 20:49 (1,529 days old) by Hoover300 (Kentucky)
Checkrate/Likes Also not sure why it has a 1cr emtor on it. Not sure if you know, but 516-518 had screw on brush covers like the early 500 series while 519-562 had wired caps. That should help narrow it down.

Post# 420209 , Reply# 4 2/18/2020 at 21:23 (1,529 days old) by Lesinutah (Utah)
Checkrate/Likes *White out* It looks like white out. I zommed in and it's 4 amp motor. It looks 516-560. The bag, wheels and trim are classic 3 color. The no dust company made bags for American Lincoln super sweep 180 circa 1984. Weird how Bojack Kirby's are everywhere. It's like eBay has maybe 1 in 5 of the older 13 inch nozzle Kirby's are correct. It's funny when they put on the bag backwards. They think since it's old it's worth alot. If they knew their vacuum is worth maybe $10-$25. If you buy a new brush roll it's worth more than the vacuum. Les I got the cord thanks.

Post# 420217 , Reply# 5 2/19/2020 at 00:36 (1,528 days old) by MadMan (Chicago, IL, USA)
Checkrate/Likes You sure the serial is scratched out? It looks like the serial is right there (~321107). The model tag either has a splotch of paint on it, like Les suggests, or the plate has been rubbed so much that those areas of black have been rubbed off. But yeah, it doesn't look like it's worth $300.

Post# 420218 , Reply# 6 2/19/2020 at 00:42 (1,528 days old) by tolivac (Greenville,NC)
Checkrate/Likes 1 The vacuum is not cleaned up or polished-and has a bojack bag.Would only pay thrift shop price for this---less than 50 bucks.Kind of a sloppy "rebuild" job.