Hello everybody, I've got a lot to tell. I live in southern California, and me and my family have gone on a trip to northern California and went all the way up to San Francisco then back. Along the way, I got 3 vacuums, (mother originally limited to 1, more on it later) went to around 12 thrift stores, and 5 vac shops. I would talk about everywhere we went, and each stop, but that'd be too long. First was a couple of thrift stores, a salvation army in a cool city, very cool building. It had a sanitaire f&g upright, a kenmore progressive upright, and some stick vacs and steam mops. A DD Hand Vac 500 caught my eye, mother said no. We then went to my first GoodWill, and it was disappointing. They had a Eureka Victory bagged enviro-vac, with a backsaver handle, and a Hoover Floormate Deluxe. There was also probably steamers, carpet shampooers, and straight suction bissell stick vacs, but those are not to my interest. I went to another thrift store in Santa Cruz, and it had a rare one! A Eureka Whirlwind Big Cup. It had clear blue plastics, and an odd bin release mechanism. It was $15, and we didn't have room for it. I would've bought it and taken it home to sell to somebody on here or keep for myself, but we were packed for a week of city walking, extreme snacking, and hiking all day. The best part about this trip reguarding vacuums was a certain vacuum shop. I found it the night before going on the trip, and it was a take it or leave it stop. Mom insisted on going, even though we were on a tight schedule. I couldn't thank her enough for that. The store is called All In One Vacuum Center in Vacaville, and Fairfield. I went to the Vacaville shop because it had the word Vac in the city, but the owner Tom told me that was the smaller of his shops. There were vacuums all over, and a couple of rows of vacuums to the right of the entrance. It was a small shop from the front. I looked to the right in a little vacuum canal, and it was basically a vacuum treasure chest. Looking over a small barrier, I saw some gems. They were 90's gems, my favorite decade of vacuums (no judging). There was a DD bagged Broom Vac with Dirt Devil lettering on the bag, unlike the royal lettering on my broom vac. There was a dirt devil classic upright, but it was a deep green. Right next to it was a US spec Electrolux Power System, called the Eureka Whirlwind power system. I can only imagine how rare those are. Tom said that he had a bunch of NOS vacs from a while ago that were never sold, and he just kept. The crown jewel though, was a Dirt Devil on the highest shelf. I asked for him to take it down so I could see it, and I couldn't believe it. It wasn't a dream finally. It was a Dirt Devil Power-Lite, which it a 2x the size of a RoomMate, with a hose, tools, clutch, and swivel glide rear wheels. Since my mother had said 1 vacuum, I was definetley willing to take the hit of not getting any of these vacuums at his shop. I told Tom about my one vacuum limit and he asked what vacuum I was getting. I said I was trying to buy a certain Sharp Twin Energy, but I have backups if not. He said he thinks he has one somewhere in the store. I didn't put 2 and 2 together at the time, And Should've asked him how much he was asking. My only exception to not getting that sharp was getting a Dirt Devil Magnum MVP, and possibly an Ultra MVP depending on the condition. I didn't ask at all about either. I very much regret that. We talked and talked, and it ended up being time to go. Tom had said that he thinks I should take it home and clean up the Power-Lite. Later on he said he looked it up in his database, and it said it was called a HouseMate, which I think should've been the name of it, because the RoomMate is a good size for a room, a HouseMate can do the whole house, with its hose and tools. I asked both parents, and suprisingly they both said yes to getting it and the sharp later on. I loaded it into the car, and was prepared to drive away. Tom had come out and said "you're just going to take it?" At first I thought it was a joke or something, but he looked genuinely worried, so I said no. In my mind I did think he was giving it to me because he said you should *take* it home and clean it up. He said they originally sold for $169.99, but then he said something about $100, then he ended at $50. I was happy to pay that price. He went in the back rows where the gems were, and came out with a NIB DD Car Vac, and said it didn't work and he would gift it to me. I felt really bad for scaring him thinking we would just take it (which we would have, thank god he came out and asked to pay) and so I think he saw that sorrow and felt mutually bad for honestly kind of scaring me with coming back out, so that might've explained the gift of the EXTREMELY rare Car Vac. I'll move on to my Uncle's place, which I think it a temporary living place. The land owner owns about 7 acres of land, and is a hoarder. Hoarding + a lot of space = no good. But the good part for me was that he had tons of vacuums. I got to see some vacuums around, but mostly new stuff. My uncle explained that he had lots of money so he would buy brand new things and just have them, and never use them. But everything was stored outside, and there were only 2 small houses in the middle of the land. This ethic explained 2 new dyson DC07 originals, and a DC14 low reach. I didn't get anything from there. Oh, back to All In One Vac Center, Tom had a NOS NIB Dirt Devil Upright (soft bagged) "commercial quality" with the rare half red half black color scheme on it. Wonder how much he charged for that one. I will call him tomorrow. I later went to another vac shop and he had a custom purple painted Kirby Heritage (?) and custom paint color G5. Didn't get to see the g5 too well. Over the trip, my mom's friend donated me a Shark Rotator Speed in a beautiful green sparkle color, which is my first shark. We got home from the trip yesterday, and I have the Sharp Twin Energy Super Charged Dirt Detective all in the best shape I could get, and the Dirt Devil Power Lite looking perfect (because it was never turned on before, therefore not used, therefore no scraped, therefore no paint marks all over), Car Vac still in it's box, and I have gone downtown today to a street that had 6 or 7 thrift stores in a row (right next to each other) and bought a Kenmore Magic Blue canister for $15, and a Dirt Devil Ultra Hand Vac (early model, non TTI, april 1999) for $5. Both for $20 was nice, and they are great. I need to find Dirt Devil Style 8 belts for the Power lite, since they are rare belts, and are only used on that cleaner. Makes sense because the vac has a clutch, and needs the right belts for the clutch. Tom has them. I am still waiting for the impeller fan to arrive to my local vacuum shop (Nics Vacuums, San Clemente. AMAZINGLY nice owner, we are going to team up soon and I will sell vacs for him, and hopefully hop on his extra bench (he has to sanitize it) and while there got belts for my windtunnel breathe easy, and now I know what it's like to have a s/p hoover. Those things are fast! Tuned for drag racing. I've got videos of me touring all of the thrift stores and looking at the vacuum department, and loads of photos of me and vacuums, me at AIO Vac Center, and pics of the vacs I'm talking about. My vacuum YouTube channel is RettTV II, and new videos of new vacs are coming soon. Life is going good right now! Everytime I come home from a long roadtrip, I do feel a bit of depression, because the trip was soooooo fun, but I think I will be all mentally healed by next week. At the moment, the only vacuum I will buy are vintage dirt devils, and vintage vacs in good condition. I've got my Hoover Sprint on eBay if anybody wants to try to bid on it. Also got one of my Sharp Twin Energy's for sale on that account. It's the only real Twin Energy if you search for one on eBay. Sorry for any spelling blops throughout this paragraph, it's a big type, a big read, and big edit. I can include close pictures of any part of any vacuum that I have, just ask.
A powerlite! I remember seeing commercials for those way back when it seems like so few of them survived. I'd like to see more of it when you've got it cleaned up possibly even a video of it if you're willing their unique design caught my eye years ago.
Post# 428425 , Reply# 5 7/10/2020 at 16:20 (1,382 days old) by RegularRett69(San Clemente California, USA)
Yes, I'm willing to do a video on the Power-Lite. Cosmetically its finished, just need the belts. My local shop doesn't have style 8 belts. Tom at the other shop said they were made for around 6 months. That explains the extreme rarity.
Post# 428432 , Reply# 6 7/10/2020 at 18:14 (1,382 days old) by Blackheart(North Dakota)
Yeah, that tends to be pretty bad when I don't fully edit paragraphs. Also the random capitalization in the middle of sentences. That really catches my attention. Don't know why I do it.
Post# 428444 , Reply# 9 7/10/2020 at 20:49 (1,382 days old) by huskyvacs(Gnaw Bone, Indiana)
@huskyvacs - I didn't imagine that the trip would end up with so many vacuum stops - considering that it was originally just to visit family. I think everybody should do this at some point.
@mieles7 - I never thought I'd get one, because its just one of those vacuums where you see the parts diagram or something, and that's it. There are many vacs I regret not buying. I think a lot of people on here have those types of stories.
Post# 428456 , Reply# 12 7/11/2020 at 00:52 (1,382 days old) by kirbyklekter(Concord,Ca.)
Glad you had a good vacation and made it back okay. I live about 45 min. from Vacaville, so when I can, I'll drive up and stop in All In One and check it out. I'll mention that Rett recommended his store and gave a shout out on Vacuumland as well. Do your parents have any interest in collecting vacuums? I was wondering how many "whole" vacuum cleaners you have, with or without attachments? Do you have a preference for either upright or canister and what is the best you've ever used? Didn't know there would be a quiz today haha.I don't recall seeing you posting before so if your new here,Welcome!
Post# 428458 , Reply# 13 7/11/2020 at 02:01 (1,382 days old) by RegularRett69(San Clemente California, USA)
I think he'd be happy if you mentioned that the shop was on here, if he knows what this site is. I forgot to mention the very unfortunate part of this. Tom said that the Fairfield shop is estimated to close in about 6 months. That'll be a gold mine since that is the bigger shop of the two. My parents do not have any interest in vacuum cleaners, or collecting them. In the past couple of years me and them have discovered that there are rare vacuum cleaners and others collect them. Right now, my collection is around 30. That is really pushing the limits here in this house, and my only options now are to buy a shed to store some outdoors, or sell a majority of mine. Most of my cleaners that aren't rare will probably go for sale. The only exception in my head at the moment will be some Kirbys, and a Riccar Radiance. I'm planning to do a custom Kirby Sentria II with all the parts a different color of the rainbow, but don't know what to do with the bag colors. I've posted here before a couple of times, and just hit 50 posts (but that's including replies to threads, which is a majority.). I have been on here for a couple of months, but considering the age of others' accounts, I'm considering myself new. Also, just became a member of the V.C.C.C. a couple of weeks ago! If you go to the shop, ask the owner if he has any dirt devil ultra mvps or magnum mvps for sale if I hadn't already. Maybe you'd be willing to ship? I'm not sure. Mention that my name is Garrett when you tell him about the whole thing, because he might've remembered my name. Everything's going good right now, and I'm generally happy! Oh, and my preference to either a canister or upright at the moment would be upright, but I saw an old video of me at Kmart looking at vacuums when I was really little, and I said that I loved canisters. Just bought a Kenmore Magic Blue yesterday, so we'll see.
Thanks, Garrett
Post# 428459 , Reply# 14 7/11/2020 at 03:37 (1,381 days old) by huskyvacs(Gnaw Bone, Indiana)
I have seen a few collectors in England that have large sheds for their collection. As long as its waterproof and watertight like a house and has good ventilation (maybe a window AC for summer to keep temps down) it might be an alternative. For me my vacs would have to go in the garage but as long as i have fans running every couple hours (on a timer) it should be OK. I've had a junker Kirby out there for 10 years and it looks mostly the same as it did when I put it in there.
Post# 428481 , Reply# 15 7/11/2020 at 16:08 (1,381 days old) by RegularRett69(San Clemente California, USA)
I've got a couple of vacuums in the garage, which are my Dual Commercial Conquest, and all other vacs I am going to put for sale, or am selling. Also vacuums that are being worked on. I've got a Kirby Sentria II fully taken apart to the main motor tray, and a Riccar Radiance that needs an impeller fan, because the old one shattered from the past owner. New fan should be coming in any day now. We are starting to clean up the exterior of the house, so when I pay off all of my debt, which should happen in the next week, all money will be going to a shed if I get the green light.
Post# 428501 , Reply# 16 7/12/2020 at 00:32 (1,381 days old) by Real1shep(Walla Walla, WA)
That's fine. TL;DR I went on a long roadtrip and got some very cool vacuums. A Sharp Twin Energy Supercharged, Dirt Devil Power Lite, and Dirt Devil Car Vac.
My mind is used to writing the whole thing, then editing the whole thing, and it was like 12:30 last night, so I needed to sleep. Something about the color of the site, or something makes it hard for me to keep track of which line of sentence I'm on. I'm not sure if that's a problem. What is anyone's thoughts on the Kenmore CSV Go? My mind tends to wander a lot, so I can't stay fully focused on one thing a lot, unless I'm in the right mood.
Post# 428525 , Reply# 18 7/12/2020 at 14:32 (1,380 days old) by huskyvacs(Gnaw Bone, Indiana)
Something I learned in school is every paragraph should be made up of 4-5 sentences. then hit enter 4 times, and begin a new paragraph.
that should help you out with your formatting. sadly non-paid members cant edit posts, maybe an admin can make an exception and let you edit it temporarily.
Comes to the Rescue!
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