1963...

[brandonkoons]

What would be the most commonly found washer inside a home in 1963?

 

[SactoTeddyBear]

Re: Toss-Up:

I would say that it would be a "Toss-Up" between either a Top-Load Kenmore, Whirlpool or GE and maybe a Front-Load Westinghouse Bendix Washer. My area where I've grown-up here at, between our Friends, Neighbors and Relatives, they seemed to be almost equally seen in the homes. There was also actually quite a few Kenmore and a couple of Philco Combo's as well.

Peace and Good Luck with your interesting era time Search, Steve
SactoTeddyBear...

 

[frigilux]

Well, in 1963, of the 5 houses on our block, 3 had Kenmores, one had a Maytag and one a Frigidaire. My vote is for Kenmore.

 

[SactoTeddyBear]

Re: Toss-Up:

I would say that it would be a "Toss-Up" between either a Top-Load Kenmore, Whirlpool or GE and maybe a Front-Load Westinghouse Bendix Washer. My area where I've grown-up here at, between our Friends, Neighbors and Relatives, they seemed to be almost equally seen in the homes. There was also actually quite a few Kenmore and a couple of Philco Combo's as well.

Peace and Good Luck with your interesting era time Search, Steve
SactoTeddyBear...

 

[petek]

Probabl Kenmore in my hometown as they were the only dept store we had. There was an appliance/tv store that sold RCA's and another one that sold Admiral and Frigidaire stuff. Thing was that many people bought at Sears back then because of their credit card, this was long before Visa and Mastercard came on the scene. And if they didn't have a Sears account they always had one of those 4 equal payments deals going to get you to buy something. Going to a small appliance store meant you probably had to have pay outright with cash or check.

 

[gyrafoam]

Atlanta would have been a dead heat between Frigidaire and Kenmore, with Maytag not far behind.

 

[appnut]

Kenmore, GE, and Frigidaire in Houston.

 

[JerseyMike]

Maytags, Maytags, and more Maytags

My family and I lived in a 44 unit apartment building in 1963. Just about everyone had a Maytag. You could count the non-Maytags on one hand -- a GE Filter Flow, a Norge Time Line and a very early Frigidaire. That's it. 41 families owned a Maytag!

 

[SactoTeddyBear]

Re: OOPS, sorry Robert:

I had a problem with my Thread Posting, getting it to confirm. It took quite a long time, then I had a prompt telling me to re-do my attempt. If you would like to delete one of the duplicates, I'm sure that you don't want them to remain.

Now, about my info shared, I had forgotten when I was commenting about both M. Wards and Sears, actually being close to each other, we also had quite a few Wards Signature Appliances, besides several Maytag's also.

Peace and Good Times, remembering the Past of Appliances, Steve
SactoTeddyBear...

 

[angus]

Hmm = 1963....

In my area of Brooklyn, I would say an even split between Kenmore and Speed Queen. Right behind would be GE and Maytag

 

[stainfighter]

1963, neighbors around the block...

neighbor to our left had a Norge, we had a GE FF, two on the other side had RCA/Whirlpool, next had KM, then GE FF, next Frigidaire, and then GE. GE and KM were big in So Jersey, at least in our neighborhood...Best friend's mom had the '59 rainbow pushbutton w/rapid advance timer (sigh)

 

[rinso]

In rural Eastern Idaho where I grew up, people preferred to trade with local appliance stores rather than big department stores. Two outlets had Frigidaire and Maytag as their low and high-end offerings, respectively. A third was a Whirlpool dealer, a fourth GE and Hotpoint. Not too many Kenmores around. Most people I knew, opted for Maytags.

 

[mayken4now]

Geeze - O -

I was such a baby boy,a mere 2. But I guess I knew what we had and the neighbors had.
1- Kenmore/because of the Roebuck Co.

2 - Maytag and Frigidaire/not Sears

 

[Burpalator]

I was born in '63 so really can't comment there, but by '66/'67 when I began to take notice of such things, Kenmore was the most popular because of the local Sears catalog outlet that stocked appliances. There was also a Western Auto so a few bought Wizards. By '69, we had a new furniture store that carried Frigidaire appliances and many people opted for those since they now had a choice. I remember one family in the early 70s who built a new house and all the new appliances were Frigidaire in Poppy. Our local phone company was independent (not part of the Bell System) and while our rented rotary dial phones were manufactured by Western Electric for Stromberg-Carlson, we had a few colors that Bell didn't offer on all of their phone models. These new folks with the Poppy kitchen had a blindingly bright orange rotary phone on their kitchen wall with a 25 foot coiled cord (not to be confused with "Rust" that Bell offered on their Trimline phones later in the 70s). I remember being so impressed because most people in our tiny town (population less than 1,000) had one phone in the house, generally on the wall in the kitchen, with the standard 5 foot cord and almost always in black because our little phone company charged a one-time "color charge" of $8.50 which everyone thought was outrageous. (Sorry, I know I went off topic, but this got my memory going.)

 

[Hometechdoc]

Industry Reports

I looked through some old files of saturation levels and market share data. In 1963, Whirlpool had the largest market share and more than three fourths of their product was sold as Kenmores. Therefore, I would have to say Kenmore was the most common brand sold that year. GE, Maytag, Frigidaire, and Speed Queen followed in that order.

 

[drmitch]

Here in West Tn.,a more rural aera the stores handeled mostly GE and Maytag but this was a poorer part of the country so a lot of people were still using there wringer washers. Question, Did International Harvester make a wringer washer or sell one made by someone else. I had an old photo of one of our stores with winger in the window and an IH sign. The sign could have been for the friges they sold.

 

[hoover1060]

My parents built their first house that year

Mom chose Westinghouse appliances for the kitchen, stove and fridge, and an ISE disposal.
Mom was pregnant with me for a good part of 1963, and dad wanted to buy her an automatic washer and dryer, but mom would have none of that.
She chose and got a Maytag wringer.

 

[scott55405]

Jeff, what year did she switch over to automatic?

 

[sudsmaster]

By 1963 our old '47-or-so Bendix front loader had given up the ghost, and my Mom tells me that they started driving to a laundromat in town instead. Then we moved to the Big City and used laundromats within walking distance. All the kids wound up doing their own laundry... and when we moved to a flat with a GM Frigidaire in the basement (around 1965) that was a real treat. I learned how to make rope with that machine ;-)

 

[frigilux]

Drmitch-- I seem to recall International Harvester's name on a line of appliances when I was very young (early 60's). I could swear I recall an automatic washer with that branding. And we had an IH upright freezer in our basement. Anyway, wouldn't surprise me a bit if a wringer washer also sported the IH brand.

 

[toggleswitch]

Hi Doc Martin!
Good to see your post!

on my block there was

WP
GE
We-stink-house
Maytag

Believe it or not I had never seen a Fridinaire in my area-
Queens, New York City.

I thought Frigidaire was a southern thing-builders special IIRC. (Now I know better, LOL )

 

[tomturbomatic]

In 1963, there had to be a large number of GE washers in Atlanta because Rich's, the leading department store, sold the GE line; Norge also. I knew homes that had a Kenmore at first, but then after doing most of their shopping at Rich's, they switched to GE. Kenmore was probably tops, like it was most every where else. A lot of people had Maytags, but department stores did not sell Maytags until more than a decade later when Davison's (Macy's owned back even before 1912 when the Titanic sank) started selling Maytag. The Georgia Power Company picked up Maytag in maybe 1960. They also sold Hotpoint in the early 70s before the energy crisis threw a wrench in things and all of the appliance sales by utilities came to a stop. For years Davison's had Whirlpool, Westinghouse and for a while, Hotpoint. I think it was after they dropped Hopoint, that they picked up Frigidaire, because they had Frigidaire in the 60s and 70s. There were a lot of Westinghouse washers in Georgia because The Georgia Power Company sold Westinghouse for decades. In the early years of rural electrification, the electric utilities pushed appliances and the utilities let you pay on your electric or gas bill. When you went through small towns, there was almost always the very distinctive facade of a GPC office with retail space and often you would find a Sears catalog store, too. Many people in the area worked for GM in Doraville and they and their families had Frigidaire appliances. They received a discount on them. Years after the fact, I found out that a friend's father owned the Frigidaire dealership in Waycross, GA.

 

[DADoES]

Overwhelming majority in my town-of-birth would have been Whirlpool. A few Kenmores, one Philco that I knew, perhaps one or two Easy, and and maybe a few Maytags.

 

[norgeman]

washers in1963

Where I lived in western New York and north central Pennsylvaina on my mom's side of the family most of them had either a wringer washer or an Easy Spindrier. My Grandpa Joe had one and my Aunt Hazel had a Speed Queen Wringer Washer on her back pourch. My Aunt Margie had I believe a Norge set at first but by 1963 she got a new Hotpoint set, but for many years when she and my uncle were first married she had a Easy Spindrier. My mom had a Easy Spindrier as her first washer then she got her first automatic washer which was a Kenmore which they bought used and we had that machine for a few years. Then dad bought mom a brand new Kenmore in about 1963 or 64. But getting back to the question I would have to say growing up in western New York south of Buffalo in Springville probalily would have to be Kenmore the most sales as Sears gave credit to my dad and most everyone else and usually had the best pricing of anybody in the area and most people went to Bullalo to do most of their applance shopping. Although dad did buy mom an electric clothes dryer in Springville at Campbells it was a G.E.

http://[email protected]

 

[jamiel]

Tom, a slight correction...there are still some utilities selling appliances. Alabama Power still has appliance stores. Commonwealth Edison in Chicago sells light bulbs (!) Several gas utilities sell gas appliances (Laclede Gas in St. Louis comes to mind)

JL

 

[user 12105]

Most of the washers i seen in my neighborhood were either Ge, Hotpoint or Kenmore. A few families had Frigidaire washers. Several relatives also had Frigidaire appliances.
I only knew of a few people who had Maytags-mostly saw those in laundromats.

 

[norgeman]

Re: washers in the central states

When I moved here to Nebraska the two main brands were Maytag
as most farms and ranches had a maytag wringer washer or Speed
Queen this was in 1971 and for the most part it still holds today. But I would say that Fridigiare had some of the market also but not like Maytag or Speed Queen. What I wish is that Speed Queen would go back to building washers like they used to in the 1960's and 1970's when they were made by
Mcgraw-Edison co. The only thing they needed to do was have holes at the bottom of the washbasket for sand disposal, all it would have taken was like two rows of holes and the problem would have been solved.

http://[email protected]

 

[gyrafoam]

Tom-------

Atlanta Gas Light Company sold Maytags-----and allowed their customers to pay them off any way they could. Many a blue collar family were able to afford a dollar a month for their appliances -----terms the department stores certainly could not match and those families were glad to have 'em!

I just do not remember many GE's in my old neighborhood although I do remember them at Rich's. I remember Dr. Robinson's wife had a pair and she was a BIG Rich's person. Our neighborhood was mostly Maytag early on (most likely because of the Maytag store right on the square in Buckhead) but after Sears opened nearby they really took a chunk of business. Saw lots of LK Combo's. Rich's at Lenox must have sold some GE's as well.

My friends over in N.E. Atlanta were in a sea of Frigidaire as were my friends in Decatur and south Atlanta. There were about six MAJOR Frigidaire dealers back in the day. Sharp's in "Little Five Points", Frank Hudson's over in Decatur, and Hawthorne-Colloms in East Point (also a Maytag dealer)just to name a few.

Castleberry's up in Chamblee did all GE/Hotpoint and I'm sure sold a lot of them up there in spite of the GM plant right up the road. J.C. Penny sold a lot of "Penncrest"(Hotpoint) too. Come to think of it, back in the day, I saw a lot more Hotpoint around here than GE.

Other than coin laundries I hardly ever saw a "Rustinghouse"F/L although I'm sure they were around.When the T/L Westy's came along I saw plenty of them. Saw lots of Norge and Philco and the occasional Speed Queen, Wizard or Bradford. I even remember a few Thors, and Easy's but don't remember a Blackstone---at least around here. Only Apex I saw were in Miami in the mid 50's.

Thats about it for what I remember. Oh yeah, the Philco-Bendix "Sunshine" laundries that popped up everywhere a Zayre was------big surprise (but not to those of us who knew the Sunshine family!).

 

[jeb]

popular washers

I was born in 61 but being from Mansfield Ohio the large majority were westinghouse slantfronts. Everone who was anyone worked at westinghouse or knew someone who did. They had employee discounts for all westinghouse employees to purchase thier products plus a scrach and dent store for employees only. My grandmother told the story of how they bought the washer at the scrach and dent store and grandpa borrowed a truck to bring it home, when he got home he suprised her with the matching dryer, The dents were on the sides of them so when they were put side by side you would never know. People can from around the neiborhood to watch them work throught the windows in the doors- soon the neiborhood was full of Laundromats and dryers. ( she never called them washers they were laundromats)

 

[neptunebob]

Pittsburgh liked the top loaders

Here in the Pittsburgh area many people worked for Westinghouse, but there were very few front loaders - mostly the top loaders. If you didn't work for Westinghouse then you owned Sears Kenmore. I never saw other brands until the late 70's, although one friend of my mother's had GE - I think she still has them.

I am puzzled as to why Westinghouse built top loaders if the front loaders were better.