Thread Number: 6106
Found a Premiere today... don't know much about it.. 		[Down to Last]

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Post# 68280   5/2/2009 at 21:10 (5,471 days old) by hoovercelebrity (Germany)        

Found this at an estate sale today... I seem to recall these being somewhat rare, so I grabbed it. Were these made by GE?

Good machine? Easy to work on/repair? What kind of belt?

I'm curious! It's definitely a keeper!

~F

Post# 68282 , Reply# 1   5/2/2009 at 21:11 (5,471 days old) by hoovercelebrity (Germany)        
Photo 2

 .

Post# 68284 , Reply# 2   5/2/2009 at 21:12 (5,471 days old) by hoovercelebrity (Germany)        
Photo 3

 Wonder why it was sitting in a corner of the basement, looking lite it hadn't been used in a while.

Post# 68287 , Reply# 3   5/2/2009 at 21:39 (5,471 days old) by luxg ()        

Great find Fred and I am sure after your TLC it will be a great machine. I am guessing they were made by GE but not sure about that.

Post# 68289 , Reply# 4   5/2/2009 at 21:51 (5,471 days old) by andy (Boston, MA)        

Wow, great find! I don't think I've ever seen one that color. It looks like they tried to use it on the carpet in the attachment mode?

Post# 68302 , Reply# 5   5/2/2009 at 22:19 (5,471 days old) by xraytech ()        

Nice Find Fred,

There was one of these commercial Premier's on ebay a few months ago that didnt work.
These were made by GE or whoever made the GE uprights, I have never used one of these uprights but grandma Rose had a GE one for a while in the late 70's and early 80's and she loved it.

cant wait to see it after it's cleaned up.

Sam

Post# 68304 , Reply# 6   5/2/2009 at 22:38 (5,471 days old) by petek (Ontario)        

Yup they're GE made.. .and that looks like a meeces nest to me

Post# 68317 , Reply# 7   5/2/2009 at 23:56 (5,471 days old) by tolivac (Greenville,NC)        

Its as the name says--made by Premier.Used to use one at a workplace under the name "Mastercraft"Was a HORRIBLE machine-always breaking-the plastic housing broke a lot. Also the fan.At that radio station replaced it with a Royal.The royal is a much better vacuum.The attachments for these are useless-no airflow or suction.The very early GE-Premier machines are MUCH better than thse later "pancake" style ones.Oh yes it was years ago-was glad to see that horrible Mastercraft meet its death in the rear of the EZ-Pack trash truck!I can see why Premier went out of business.Hope you do have better luck with the machine than the one I had at that radio station.Was used at the transmitter site to vacuum the floors there.

Post# 68340 , Reply# 8   5/3/2009 at 01:32 (5,471 days old) by rugmaster37 ()        

Hi Fred,

As usual great catch. After you work your magic, you should have a great machine to play with and have for your collection. You're right these machines were not common then or now, and so finding one is definitly a coup. I don't know if you remember or not, but I had mine at convention last fall, and the only difference that I can see between yours you've found, and mine is that yours looks to have a molded black hood, and mine is a chrome finish; and your cord is orange, and mine is grey, BUT mine Is a replacement because I put the newer cord on a few years back. Mine of course was a wonderful special gift from Jeff Parker.

These machines are NOT that bad, unless your using one in a very rough enviornment, and have a quite distinct motor noise that you can hear from a mile away if your good at such things. The fans are a stamped steel and cut and bent as you will notice in a strange fashion. The belt I use on mine and have had no issues is a Singer Twin Fan belt, or one I've found that works even better is a Oreck belt. Yep an Oreck belt.....great tension, and is wide enough to not pop off the motor shaft, which is a strange cone shaped affair..

Tool suction is low at best yes BUT; so was any competitor in the 1972-1980 timeframe for a dirty air upright. In fact If you have a good hose, and the seals are good, it's enough to do dusting or whatever you needed it to do. The attachments at first 1972-1973 were a carbon copy of a standard GE canister or upright from before. After that (1974-1981), the hose end ferrule connector was still GE, and the attachments were cheap plastic replacement style fare, with a blow molded hose, but still got the job done (1975-1981).

As to the history of PEC, as far as I have found, these machines were produced totally in Cleveland Ohio by Premier Electric Company or (PEC). After General Electric disbanded their vacuum cleaner division in thier Bridgeport Conneticut facility in 1972, all dies and molds and so forth were transffered to Premier's facility in Cleveland Ohio. GE made a killing on the lexan base material which most all GE uprights of this format used until they were discontinued; yet lost millions onthe vacuum cleaner market. This line of uprights was introduced by General electric in either 1960 or 1961.

Premiers continued to be manufactured until 1980 or 81 when they were discontinued. Someplace I have a letter from Premier Electric dated 1988 or so when I was hounding the companies for information on their old models, and that is when they stated they stopped production. PEC I believe became more of a parts manufacturer than a manufacturer of the entire unit after that point. What I am unsure of is whether they went totally out of buisness, or if their assets were purchased by another manufacturer. That was not stated.

All early 1972-73 Premier advertising states that these machines were designed by G.E.

IIRC from years of gleaning bits here and there, Premier was a offshoot of Electric Vacuum Cleaner Company which made both GE and Premier cleaners before World War II. After the war, General Electric made a deal with EVCC to stop producing Premier brand machines, and focus totally on G.E.'s new bid to usurp Eureka and Hoover from thier lofty heights, even to retrofit a factory in Bridgeport to help with the manufacture of their floor care line. Eventually GE made most of their own stuff in Bridgeport, with Cleveland suppling parts and some models only.

G.E. After throwing millions into the vacuum cleaner pond (1950-1972) with no Premier Cleaners being built; decided to give up in 1972, and sold ( or gave back for a song ) the division to Premier Electric Company. And of course if you add that to the above, will kinda give a rough idea of Premier's actual history..


Here is a shot of my two Premier's at convention. The TOL home model, and the Commercial like Freds above...

( P.S. Most of this information was supplied by my copy of "The Housewares Story", which was printed in 1973. It gives a wonderful look into the early days of the AHAM "American Household Appliance Manufacturers", including a VERY indepth look into the early years of AHAM, who was in charge, the holding of the shows early on in Atlantic City, thru it's move to Chicago in 1960; and also gives a wonderful indepth look 1967 fire at Mc Cormick Place in Chicago, the day before the AHAM was to open for that year) Look for a copy if your a true appliance lover for sure)

Post# 68357 , Reply# 9   5/3/2009 at 09:49 (5,471 days old) by petek (Ontario)        

But who then was making the identical looking GE uprights to that Premier throughout the 70's, I'm cornfused

Post# 68360 , Reply# 10   5/3/2009 at 10:58 (5,471 days old) by hoovercelebrity (Germany)        
That's where I saw them...

 I knew I had somewhat recently seen some Premieres... but I couldn't place where or when. Now I remember they were yours, at the convention.

Thanks for all of the great info... I sort of planned on digging into it sooner than later, but with all of my things still packed up in boxes... it's gonna turn into later rather than sooner.

I'm glad I picked it up, though. Yay for finding good things at estate sales... I love digging through dead ladies' things!

~F

Post# 68387 , Reply# 11   5/3/2009 at 20:54 (5,470 days old) by hamiltonbeachbo (Milwaukee )        
I love digging through dead ladies' things!

Great Line!!
That kinda' sums up estate sale romping ...
Great Fun ... the treasure of "things used"

Post# 68400 , Reply# 12   5/4/2009 at 01:40 (5,470 days old) by clothbag (West Springfield, Ma.)        
Owned one at one time

 I too had one of those Premier Commercial vacuums back in the late 1970's and traded it for a Kirby 560 in 1988. I must admit that it was a great cleaner. I bought it at my local J. C. Penney store in Holyoke, Ma. on sale for around $100. I sometimes regret trading it in for that Kirby, but I was short of cash at the time.

Post# 263980 , Reply# 13   1/18/2014 at 18:28 (3,749 days old) by stricklybojack (Southern California)        
Did your Premier every get spiffed up Fred?

 stricklybojack's profile picture
saw the ad below then found this great thread to bump back on to the big board...

Post# 263986 , Reply# 14   1/18/2014 at 18:46 (3,749 days old) by kenkart ()        
Re Premier

 These were made after 1972 when GE sold off their vacuum division, probably one of the best uprights ever in my book, most of them have a stamped steel fan and a steel lined fan case...at least my 1964 GE does, looks like someone tried to vacuum with the selector set on tools!LOL, really, these have won several cleaning competetions, the GE I have also was a gift from Jeff Parker years ago, one of the few upright machines I like.

Post# 263987 , Reply# 15   1/18/2014 at 18:49 (3,749 days old) by kenkart ()        
RE GE

 Mine is a 1964 and it has a cast aluminum base.


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