1969 Kenmores in the Ephemera

[kenmore71]

I don't wish to create any controversy here, but yesterday Robert posted an owner's manual which was listed as the 1969 Lady Kenmore Manual.  I love these manuals and I downloaded it.  I have no regrets about purchasing the download but I am a bit confused about what model is actually in this manual.  The manual shows a "900" series machine which is largely identical to the 1966-67 Lady Kenmore machines, BUT it is only a 2-speed machine and the Ladies of this era were ALWAYS 3-speed.  What is curious is that his machine has the Vari-Flex agitator, which to my knowledge was introduced with the 1969 line in the fall of 1968.

 

This question is especially for Gordon, was there a brief time in the late 1960s when there was BOTH a 900 series machine AND a Lady Kenmore that were different? The styling of this machine is identical to the 1967 Lady Ks but by 1969 the Lady K had a slightly more "sleek" panel and was 3-speed.

 

Here is a picture from of what is advertised as the 1969 Lady K from the Fall-Winter 1968 Sears catalog:

 

[70series]

The answer to your question is yes. 1n 1968 and 1969 there were models badged as 900s that were sold as second in line to Lady Kenmores, and they did look different.

The set you have pictured here is the Lady K of 1968, and this was when the Vari-Flex agitator first debuted. It may have continued into 1969, same as the 1966 Lady K continued on to be the one for 1967. When the 68 LK emerged, the former 1966/67 LK was rebadged as a 900 model with one less speed and offered as the second model down. They were offered with different agitators; they being Roto-Flex, the Vari-Flex as shown in the manual, and even one version with a Super Rotoswirl. In 1970 this model was further demoted to being an 800 with a Vari-Flex agitator.

Have a good one,
James

 

[kenmore71]

James, thanks for clearing that up for me.  While the catalogs of the era can be great fun I am coming to realize that they are not definitive of what was available in any given year!  I also appreciate the info about the 1970 800 machine.  That machine was in the same owner's manual as my mother's 1970 70 "radio console" washer.  I remember pouring over that manual as a child of 10 or so and SO wishing that we had the 800 with the detergent dispenser and other fun features.

 

[Unimatic1140]

Good catch Mark! I think you are correct, the proper title for this should be just 1969 Kenmore Washer Owners Manual, I'll go and make that change. These Kenmore owners manuals are probably the hardest to pinpoint an exact date as they purposely do not give any clue to when they were printed.

 

[kenmoreguy64]

Mark -

Interesting question!!

James and I spent hours a couple years back trying to figure out what Sears had done in regard to these Kenmore '900' models.

The 1966 Lady K is indeed a 3-speed machine, and its stock number was 26900. This stock number was used in literature as above, on the metal I.D. plate, and in sales brochures, print ads, etc.

There is also however a 26910, and 26920, and a 26930, which James and I were stunned to find when we were playing around in Sears database of model numbers. I am not 100% when these supplemental models debuted, but the oldest I've seen thus far was a '910 from late 1967.

Each of these is a slight departure from the 1966 Lady K. I have a 26910, and it differs from the Lady only in its 900 badge from what I can see, and they used the detergent dispenser covers that were in Kenmore 'vogue' at the time. This model does have a Roto-Flex. I would have to have a 66 Lady and this machine side by side to do a closer comparison. The 26920 as you said is a 2-speed machine. Being that it has a Vari-Flex, it can't be older than a 1968 origin. Someone here found one of these not too long ago I think??? The 26930 has a Roto-Swirl, which is a big surprise to me as to why that would exist, but Sears I think used these models so that they could always have something TOL or nearly so to offer on sale. If not the Lady herself, then one of her clones could be offered on sale, and this satisfies advertising/pricing laws which require a model to be on sale only so many weeks annually without having to lower the list price to sale price permanently. The buyers probably rarely noticed the difference.

Gordon