Nilco 220 S Trash Find

Wow what a find! I seen one of these on eBay 5 or 6 months ago, it sold for $150. That one was located in Germany. I am sure someone moved to Canada from overseas and found out it didn't work on the power grid and just threw it out. I'm pretty sure Fakir was never sold in Canada to my knowledge. The cord is not original which makes me think it maybe had a motor swap to work on Canada power, which maybe is what happened when it was in that repair shop. I'd be curious to open it up and see if monkeys were monkeying around in there and put a different motor in it.

If it is a rebadge, you can usually find the parts for it by tracing down their original company, assuming they did not change the design at all between the original mold and the rebadge. You might have to hunt across the ocean for parts for this one. Put out a call to people in the UK maybe they might know who has the parts. It kind of looks a little bit Hoover Convertible, maybe you might be able to see if anything from Hoover fits it?

Also I always keep a tally on purchase cost vs restore cost on the repair sheet for each of my vacuums. It shows how much work I put into it and something to be proud of doing, just looking back and saying "yeah! good job" to myself. Also when I ever want to sell it people will see that list and be like "wow this is a great one to buy" and will go for the one I'm selling versus others because they see the work done in an itemized list. I have a contest which one cost the most to restore. haha


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Post# 458097 11/20/2022 at 17:37 (520 days old) by funvacfan (Canada)
Checkrate/Likes 3 I found this poor soul waiting to be picked up by the garbage guys. It's such an unusual find I had to have it...The label reads Fakir, and I know that they come in a variety of brand names. General Electric Genie Regina Brush n Beat Fakir Eatons Viking Pye I'm sure the list is longer, please add on! Very "Mod" bag fabric for sure. There is an applied label on the hood that reads: GH Wood, which is a local industrial cleaning company. Here is the pre clean pics: Photos... < > Photo 1 of 4 View Full Size

Post# 458098 , Reply# 1 11/20/2022 at 17:41 (520 days old) by funvacfan (Canada)
Checkrate/Likes 2 *And The Bad News* Is that it is without it's brushroll or bottomplate! I haven't had any luck doing a brief search, but perhaps someone here may know a source. For such a popular machine, you would think there would be lots of spare parts. Eternally an optimist, fingers crossed! View Full Size

Post# 458099 , Reply# 2 11/20/2022 at 18:04 (520 days old) by CT77 (San Bernardino, CA)
Checkrate/Likes 1 I really hope you have luck finding the missing parts! I'm new to this and I don't know much about vintage vacuums yet, so unfortunately I can't be of much help. Just a quick question though - have you tried powering it up yet? You might want to at least test to be sure the motor is ok before you invest too much time, energy, and money into hunting for parts. Unless of course you're already getting attached to it and would be willing to get a replacement motor regardless! That would be understandable, I know in the past I've sunk way more money into fixing something than I probably should have, just because I was getting kind of emotionally attached to it and was determined to get it working again. But it's just something to consider and how far you want to go in repairing/restoring it. - Chris

Post# 458102 , Reply# 3 11/20/2022 at 19:30 (520 days old) by fantomfan57 (Central Texas)
Checkrate/Likes 1 *I like it.* Personally, I like the looks of it. best of luck. Please keep us informed. Chris, I know exactly what you mean about sinking money into a machine to get it back to working condition. More than once, I could have bought a complete and working model for less, than I spent restoring one. Best not to add up what you spent to restore it. You may not like what you find. On the other hand, I like the hunt, problem solving and hobby aspect. So that is why I do it.

Post# 458113 , Reply# 4 11/21/2022 at 17:06 (519 days old) by huskyvacs (Gnaw Bone, Indiana)
Checkrate/Likes Wow what a find! I seen one of these on eBay 5 or 6 months ago, it sold for $150. That one was located in Germany. I am sure someone moved to Canada from overseas and found out it didn't work on the power grid and just threw it out. I'm pretty sure Fakir was never sold in Canada to my knowledge. The cord is not original which makes me think it maybe had a motor swap to work on Canada power, which maybe is what happened when it was in that repair shop. I'd be curious to open it up and see if monkeys were monkeying around in there and put a different motor in it. If it is a rebadge, you can usually find the parts for it by tracing down their original company, assuming they did not change the design at all between the original mold and the rebadge. You might have to hunt across the ocean for parts for this one. Put out a call to people in the UK maybe they might know who has the parts. It kind of looks a little bit Hoover Convertible, maybe you might be able to see if anything from Hoover fits it? Also I always keep a tally on purchase cost vs restore cost on the repair sheet for each of my vacuums. It shows how much work I put into it and something to be proud of doing, just looking back and saying "yeah! good job" to myself. Also when I ever want to sell it people will see that list and be like "wow this is a great one to buy" and will go for the one I'm selling versus others because they see the work done in an itemized list. I have a contest which one cost the most to restore. haha

Post# 458118 , Reply# 5 11/21/2022 at 17:56 (519 days old) by kirbylux77 (London, Ontario, Canada)
Checkrate/Likes *Fakir sold in Canada* Huskyvacs, you might be interested to know that Fakir vacuums have indeed been sold in Canada, but under different brand names. The Fakir S220 canister was sold by Hibbert International, a Canadian vac shop parts distributor, as the Electron Gold S220. And the Fakir Combi 1117 upright was sold as a Electron 1117. Electron is Hibbert's in-house brand that is sold by vac shops. And in America, the Fakir S220 was sold by Centec Systems as the Fakir Flight S220 canister, with the TOL Fakir S250 Supertronic being sold by ProTeam as the CX440 canister. The upright was modified into a backpack vacuum and sold under the Clarke brand, among others, over the years. Fakir has a background mainly in commercial products and manufacturing for other brands here in North America, but in Europe the Nilco and Fakir brands are widely sold and distributed, and are just as popular as Miele, Sebo, Bosch and Thomas. They also have a partnership with the Polish manufacturer Zelmer, some of their vacuums are re-badged Zelmer vacuums. Guy - That is a incredible find you have there! I wish you the best of luck in finding a bottom plate and brushroll for it. That beauty needs to be restored and put back into service for sure!

Post# 458120 , Reply# 6 11/21/2022 at 19:50 (519 days old) by eurekaprince (Montreal, Canada)
Checkrate/Likes 1 The rating plate says 115 volts so this Fakir Nilco was definitely manufactured for sale in North America. Europe requires 220 volts.

Post# 458121 , Reply# 7 11/21/2022 at 19:57 (519 days old) by eurekaprince (Montreal, Canada)
Checkrate/Likes 1 Also, the ratings plate shows that the model has passed the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) tests, so this was definitely made in Germany for sale in Canada.

Post# 458134 , Reply# 8 11/22/2022 at 14:51 (518 days old) by funvacfan (Canada)
Checkrate/Likes *I'm* having no luck finding parts, even overseas...bags, no problem, parts nada. It's such a small thing that I guess I'll keep it around a while!