WP DWs
WP did build an electronically controlled DW in this time period with their name on it, but it was not WPs first ECDW. Their first machine was the 1980 SHU9900 with a cool tilt-out control panel. This machines control system pretty much just mimicked the same cycling of the timer controlled machines, the only real advantage was that it had up to a 9 hour delay that could be used on any cycle. This DW still had the big round filter in the bottom with the [ stinky ] removable trap that could be lifted out and cleaned at the sink, funny how we are now going back to stinky DWs LOL.
When WP came out with the SHU9900s my brother and I bough all six machines that had been used in the local training meetings. We sent one to my Mother & Father in Minnesota Jeff kept one and Michael and I got another. We sold the other three, and I still have one customer that is using one.
WPs last DW with a rapid advance timer was made in the very late 1960s in the prior generation of DWs with the light blue speckled interiors. They did build a KM version in the late 1980s that did have a rapid advance timer, this was the machine that had a thumb-wheel controlled separate timer for setting the delay wash time where the time you set showed through a little window.
One of the other ingenious things about these WP built DWs was they had absolutely the best designed detergent dispensers ever. Not only was it a reliable design that had a real seal that kept the detergent in till it released but it also was designed with a built in gradations for measuring the correct amount of detergent for different water hardness and the cups were BIG enough for use in hard water areas.