1957 Fridigaire Imperial Control Tower Washer

[freewestinghous]

When my parents divorced in 1957 my mother moved us three kids to a different city. We brought along the 1951 Westinghouse slant front washer but it had a problem right away. So my mother bought a new 1957 Frigidaire Imperial washing machine and I was totally in love with it. I was only 8 years old but the style of the lighted control tower and all the neat chrome on the machine was out of this world. My mother really did not like the machine as it twisted the clothes into a tight donut and sand and dirt was left in the bottom of the tub. In 1964 the machine had a problem and a repair man said it was not worth fixing.
So my mother went to Sears and bought a new Kenmore washer. We did not have a lot of money but I talked her into paying $10 more to get a turquoise machine. It was not the Lady Kenmore, but the model right under it and with the optional suds saver. The dial on that beautiful machine also lighted up which I loved. It went to my brother and his wife in 1981 when it was replaced with a new washer. In 1988 it had a problem and was traded in.

 

[aldspinboy]

Randy welcome...
That is one of my faverite Frigidare washers PERIOD.
That styling was sooo FUTURISTIC very modern.
I had a oppertunity to see up close and personal.
Here is our webmasters machine in all it's glory.
What a beauty !

 

[aldspinboy]

Video.
Robert's 1957 Frigidare Tower Control washer spinning at 1140 RPM !
I transferd this load from Granpa lol The NORGE TIMELINE.
Late night as Fred was working on his vacuums, you can here him in the end pounding away.
Me I was transfixed.
You might have to open this one up.
The video I mean.
Thanks Robert that was an experiance.

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Darren k

 

[tomturbomatic]

Women sure did not like the look with no control panel, nothing to stop clothes from falling behind the washer or the dryer and the alien-looking control tower. Dealers I've talked with reported a drop in sales. Of course, these are many of the same reasons men love the look.

The family of a friend in elementary school had the drop in Deluxe model with the Unimatic mechanism, a model not in the original lineup. The father worked at GM up in Doraville. There was something wrong with the escapement mechanism in the timer. It was set to start in the usual way and went through the wash and first spin OK, but then the timer started moving backwards and the cycle ended, as it began, with the pointer in the wash period. It did all of the proper rinsing and spinning, but with the pointer moving backwards. When the cycle was through, the timer pointer was turned 360 degrees clockwise to set the wash time to start a new cycle.

They had the 1956 Imperial Filtrator dryer.