Thread Number: 736
Does anyone have vintage machines that aren't so pretty? 		[Down to Last]

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Post# 7389   1/4/2007 at 21:45 (6,318 days old) by myhooverco ()        

I am not sure where I am going with this but here it goes...I have machines around the house that run perfectly and are very useful as carpet cleaners. I don't mind using them and if they get marked up I don't worry. They have plenty of battle scars already. I also hate to part them out or throw them away since they are still useful. I thought it might be fun to have a thread devoted to these vintage machines no matter what the brand they might be.

Here is the first...

My parents bougth this 1969 Hoover model 1020 at an auction some 25 years ago. My mom used it for a long time and it was beat when we got it. Now I use it mainly for cleaning up after messy projects like saw dust and for vacuuming the "museum". It has a lot of hood trauma and underneath it has a super strength spring holding the rear wheels in place. I put on a longer bojack cord and a zippered Hoover bag to make it more useable. Poor thing...however it runs top notch!

Post# 7390 , Reply# 1   1/4/2007 at 21:46 (6,318 days old) by myhooverco ()        

Here is a close up...

Post# 7391 , Reply# 2   1/4/2007 at 21:48 (6,318 days old) by myhooverco ()        

Here is the bottom...I put in a four brush agitator so it grooms a little nicer...oh and the rear wheels are wore down to pactically nothing! This is an early one too according to the serial number...just past 10,000...

Post# 7392 , Reply# 3   1/4/2007 at 21:50 (6,318 days old) by kirbyultimateg (Troy Ohio 45373 USA)        

1978 Hoover Concept U3103
I found it in the trash in 2002. I put a new cord and new agitator and new bottom plate on it and it runs just like new! It looks rough though.

Post# 7393 , Reply# 4   1/4/2007 at 21:51 (6,318 days old) by myhooverco ()        

Here is my model 29...I put on a coat of Brasso and I still cannot get the paint spatter off of the hood. It runs great and has a "C" bag retro fit with a genuine Hoover vinyl zipper bag. I put on a black bojack cord again to make it more useable. The under side is very rusty though it does not show in the photos as much. I wonder what sort of history this machine had. I have had it a few years now and I use it mainly to vacuum the "museum" and my workshop. It runs again beautifully. It seems that there is a pattern...they look beat up; they run great...they look mint when I find them; they run awful. Just a thought...

Post# 7394 , Reply# 5   1/4/2007 at 21:51 (6,318 days old) by myhooverco ()        

A closer look...

Post# 7395 , Reply# 6   1/4/2007 at 21:53 (6,318 days old) by myhooverco ()        

And the underside...yes that is a 62 agitator...the original was toooooo rusty to save!

Post# 7396 , Reply# 7   1/4/2007 at 21:58 (6,318 days old) by convertible68 ()        

I have many (such as my Model 65) that aren't so great but I thought I'd share my 20's Hoovers. The 103, which is the worse-looking one of the two, runs perfectly. The 105 doesn't run and needs motor brushes. The tufted brushrolls on both are in fantastic shape, which I find very strange.

Both are in dire need of a full restoration!

Post# 7397 , Reply# 8   1/4/2007 at 22:01 (6,318 days old) by myhooverco ()        

Very nice Hoover Special...with its original bag I see too...when was it rebuilt? The date is stamped on the bottom.

--Tom

Post# 7448 , Reply# 9   1/5/2007 at 10:34 (6,317 days old) by rexairman ()        

Most of my old vacs fit in this category ! As far as dates stamped on the bottom of old vacuums, particularly Hoovers, these are usually misleading, as repair shops, presumably Authorized Hoover Service facilities would use a rubber stamp to stamp the date they worked on a machine. It took me a long time and looking at a lot of old Hoovers to figure this out. I have never, however, been able to determine a date when a Hoover Special was rebuilt by The Hoover Co. If someone else knows how to determine this, I'd love to know.

Post# 7449 , Reply# 10   1/5/2007 at 10:46 (6,317 days old) by myhooverco ()        

Clay...

Stamped into the metal on the Hoover Specials is a rebuild date...they are not always in the same place but they show the year and the month (i.e. 2 49 February 1949). This is different than the ink stamped service dates. When they were reconditioned the company actually stamped the date into the base of the cleaner on the underside.

I am guessing that Austins Special is after 1950 because of the Hoover logo on the tag.

--Tom

Post# 7450 , Reply# 11   1/5/2007 at 11:03 (6,317 days old) by ohio_tuec ()        
Hoover Citation model 64

 Actually, that Hoover 29 doesn't look all that bad. That perforated vinyl gives the machine a new (and not bad) look. I would love to find a model 64 Citation. Is the vinyl as brittle on the Citation as it is the convertible 65? I found a model 66 thrown out a few months ago with the original bag. Chances are it has the original paper bag inside, and the zipper is rusted. It looks as though it sat in a damp place for long periods of time. But it still runs.

Post# 7453 , Reply# 12   1/5/2007 at 12:57 (6,317 days old) by thunderhexed (Edmond, OK)        
Although...

 thunderhexed's profile picture
Although seeing and owning a vac in new or like new condition is fun and rewarding, I sometimes like seeing vacs that have been used heavily and show drastic signs of wear. It adds somewhat of a kind of character to it. Like seeing old Kirby classic's in flea markets or church broom closets, there is just something about seeing an older vac in that state that I find facinating. You know that there is some sort of history there... These machines have been put through he--, and have stood the test of time. They are loyal workhorses!

Post# 7455 , Reply# 13   1/5/2007 at 13:48 (6,317 days old) by vinvac (Dubuque IA)        
I love this thread

vinvac's profile picture
Tom,

What a great Idea.....this thread has been wonderful.

Not all of our vacuums that we truly like are like new machines....and yet there the ones we have so much fun with

Morgan

Post# 7456 , Reply# 14   1/5/2007 at 14:10 (6,317 days old) by charles~richard ()        
I was just about to post the very thing that Thunderhexed sa

 ... he took the words right out of my mouth! While there is clearly a beauty and desirability around a vintage machine in glistening-new condition, it's not the way most vacuum cleaners were that I remember. Most of them were well used. Kirbys in particular are absolutely stunningly beautiful when all buffed out and glistened, but how many in that condition did you ever see in someone's home?

I only remember two cases --

When I was about five I guess, we visited one of my Uncles in Richmond, Virginia. I went looking for the vacuum cleaner of course, and found it -- a gloriously beautiful brand-new Kirby. The year would have been 1961, 1962 at the latest, so it would have most likely been a 561. It had red and gray trim and the dark gray speckled bag. It was standing in the corner of their bedroom and just glistened like a mirror! I was at once attracted and frightened --- at that time I was still afraid of Kirbys so I kept my distance, but I clearly recall how beautiful it was. That was the first time I had seen a new one.

The other one was a certain Dual 50. You can read about that on the link below if you haven't. It's a fun story!

All the many other Kirbys I remember were dulled out. Most did, at that time, still have original bags and trim however. So that, in a way, is how I like my machines to look --- all original, but not shiny. And that is, I suppose, why I don't get more ambitious about buffing them all out. Beautiful as they look, they remind me more of the "sweepers from my youth" when they look like they're being used!

And of course there is my "special" (e.g., mentally disturbed haha!) obsession with my Aunt Dabney's Kirby -- I've spoken of it many times -- a well-used machine that was, from as best I can recall, a 514 or 515, that she used most often with the hose and wand, but with the rug tool from her green Eureka Roto-matic canister. I only recall seeing her use the Kirby once as an upright, and then one time when I was there when she was babysitting me, she was polishing the bedroom floors upstairs with it. Another story I've told probably too many times!

I do not know why she preferred using the Kirby in that way. The suction in the early single-speed motors was pretty weak, and that Eureka nozzle was hardly the greatest thing available! It really did not do a good job of concentrating the suction.

And the length of the single gray Kirby wand with the Eureka nozzle, even with the long neck, was fairly short and my Aunt was fairly tall, so she was obliged to stoop over and sort of scrape away at the carpet, vigorously going to and fro with the nozzle, which would make the hose jiggle about and in turn cause the bag and handle to wiggle!

When she would tug on the hose to move the machine, the handle would dip backward slightly, taking the bag with it, then when the machine stopped the handle would jerk back up again, pulled back in place by the taut, fat bag.

I have replayed that scenario over and over with my 515! (Okay, you can call off the men in the white coats, thank you!!)

To this day, I love setting up my 515 with the hose, wand, and, yes, the green Eureka nozzle. Something about just seeing it standing that way in my living room really makes my heart start pounding! And I am very particular about this --- it has to be arranged only in the ways I remember seeing it, or it doesn't "look right." I am sure no one else here can identify with this, hahahahahahaha!!!

And here's a REEEEALLY strange thing I like doing, while I'm on a tell-all rant.......

I =LOVE= to start up one of my old Kirbys and then go outside and walk around the house listening to the sound from out of doors.

I just wish someone was actually in there using the machine so the pitch of the motor would go up and down, but actually just hearing that very distinctive Kirby Whine emanating from a window is quite a thrill!

I like doing the same thing with an Electrolux Model E with the polisher attachment. There's no other sound in the world like the eerie, high-pitched warble and hissing that the Electrolux polisher makes, and it's a big kick to go outside and hear it running from the inside, pretending someone is in there using it!

If you've never done this, try it -- it's great fun! But would be best, probably, to do it when you're home alone lest you elicit concerned stares from family members!

But back to the topic ... I guess I do in a way prefer to see old machines that LOOK old, even though they are, granted, far more beautiful when looking new.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO charles~richard's LINK
Post# 7461 , Reply# 15   1/5/2007 at 14:38 (6,317 days old) by ohio_tuec ()        
Charlie

 What I miss so much from your cyberspace vacuum cleaner museum is the sound byte you used to have of a Kirby as you entered. Have you had any thoughts about bringing it back? There truly is nothing like the high-pitch whine of a Kirby. It's something I think we can all relate to, just like that familiar smell you get sitting in a vintage Volkswagen. In my house growing up, we used to have a Kirby 560 and a Hoover Dial-A-Matic 1149. I came to grow quite fond of these machines, and still have them today.

Post# 7467 , Reply# 16   1/5/2007 at 16:00 (6,317 days old) by ian88 ()        

"that familiar smell you get sitting in a vintage Volkswagen. "

Ah have the heat exchangers rusted out? ;p (causes a lovely carbon monoxide (exhaust) smell)

lol

Ian

Post# 7483 , Reply# 17   1/5/2007 at 18:12 (6,317 days old) by charles~richard ()        
Kirby sound

 I took that off my web site, along with all the other audio files I had on there, because bandits kept putting unauthorized links to them in their web sites and blogs, causing my bandwidth to soar thru the roof. Which caused me to incur overage charges and, twice, my site being shut down. (This is the same reason I am so adamant about eBay sellers not linking to my site.)

If there is a way to add the sound file to the "movies" section of this site, I can send the file to the Webmaster and have him add it in.

It is a "hallmark" sound, isn't it!


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