2 Maids showed up at my house this morning

[bajaespuma]

Jackie Dempere is adorable!! Very intelligent lady; we talked about Venezuelan and American politics (she knows more about American politics than I do) while her dog, Cuca explored the property and then somehow knew when she was ready to go and popped back up into the cab of a huge truck her mistress was driving.

 

Anyway, here they are: #1 an SP-40R (1958) courtesy of Gansky who must have spent hours detailing this beautiful little machine (either that or no one has ever used this thing):

 

[bajaespuma]

Interior is mint:

 

[bajaespuma]

and, best of all, I have finally and old-style "fudgy-the-whale" style magnetic detergent dispenser which is so brilliantly designed, I can't understand why they changed it. There must have been some service problem that GE grew tired of:

 

[bajaespuma]

Even the faucet adapter, both hoses and the power cord are coral-pink! And, unlike my other Mobile Maid, of similar vintage, the rubber on all of these is still pliable and not flaking away in big chunks. Somebody will have to explain this all to me someday. After I test it, I think this machine is going into the museum. It's just too pretty to mess with.

 

[bajaespuma]

Did I mention that it has one of those fabulous red and blue control dials?

 

[bajaespuma]

The younger maid, Thank You Doug!!!!, wasn't in such great condition, but all she needed is my favorite chore, a deep Vera Donovan cleaning. This one is from 1965 and it's an SM301A and I've already bonded with this dirty little machine:

 

[bajaespuma]

Underneath all the grime, the racks are in remarkably good condition:

 

[bajaespuma]

It has the Rinse-Glo dispenser that you have to "cock" before each load. Maybe one of you can explain this to me, there's only a fill spigot, where and how does this empty out into the tub?

 

[bajaespuma]

I filled the tank with about 1 gallon of boiling water; after 30 minutes the level remains the same, so no leaks in the sump which has some rust and some yick around the wash arm/pump base:

 

[bajaespuma]

I will agree with Consumer's Reports here: the hoses are ridiculously short. Thankfully, the power cord is long enough to allow the machine to be moved as close to the kitchen sink as possible.

 

[bajaespuma]

Spoke too soon; there is a leak that has occurred as soon as the cycle started. It's pretty certain it's not in the sump. I'll have to remove the front panel and see if it's the inlet hose, the solenoid, or some other reason. Quarts of water have leaked out and the machine sounds like it's still washing so I'm thinking that it's coming from some branch of the water inlet.

 

 I don't know why they ever thought the Silver Shower was necessary; the wash spray is powerful enough to bounce the empty silverware basket all over the bottom rack. More later when I have her cleaned up.

 

[gansky1]

Great pics, Ken. Those starbursts on the top are so 60's, that's going to be a really cute all cleaned up. Glad you like the pink girl, it was pretty grease-laden when I found it years ago. It was at estate sale next to a gas stove so naturally it needed a good detailing.

Have fun with your new maids!

 

[norgeway]

That floor..

Is fantastic, those colors just cant be duplicated today!

 

[turquoisedude]

Wonderful finds Ken!! There's nothing like the roar of a Mobile Maid as you try to watch TV after dinner... LOL

 

[ovrphil]

so nice so retro so jealous - haha...enjoy and congrats....thanks for sharing...I like these Mobile Maids alot.

 

[bajaespuma]

Thank you Hans. That's VAT kitchen tile circa 1956 and I put a hell of a lot of work into this floor which is disintegrating as we write and read. It was under two layers of hideous vinyl which, fortunately, came up together. Many pieces are missing and I've replaced a few with red VAT tiles that I found at a salvage store 8 years ago, but unfortunately, every time a dishwasher leaks or some other catastrophe leaves water on the floor, more tiles bubble up and disintegrate and this floor is not long for the world. I'm hoping I can find some  sort of "retro" replacement, but Plan A is to move the kitchen to the ground floor so I'm not going to waste a lot of time on this right now.

 

Back to the 1965 Mobile Maid:

 

[bajaespuma]

After scrubbing with bathroom scale remover and then a hot bath with Lime-Away, she cleaned up pretty well, I think:

 

[bajaespuma]

There are very few blisters on either the tank or the racks, so just a tiny bit of patching will be needed. The next goal is to find the leak, which is fortunately definitely NOT from the bottom of the tank which held a pool of water overnight. The fill hose wasn't attached very tightly to the solenoid; wouldn't that be great if that was the problem?

 

[bajaespuma]

The other issue is the unusual Rinse-Glo dispenser which I'm going to have to research. It has only one hole inside the unit which is where it's filled from. Looking at the contraption from the front, it seems that it has a plunger at the bottom of a plastic cylinder, sorta like a Maytag Bleach dispenser, only you have to set the plunger, and when the cycle dial comes around to the final rinse, it trips the plunger rod which must, in some way, pump a dose of rinse-aid into the tank. It looks like there is/was a clear plastic tube that feeds into the top of the Rinse-Glo fill trough. There must be hole on the top of that valve that allow the rinse-aid to piddle out under the cap and get sloshed into the final rinse water? My question is: has this tube been cut, or is it supposed to be that way to act as a vacuum break? There's a tiny spout at the bottom of the main cylinder that would seem to be the outlet feed for the dispenser? Any of you experts have any experience with one of these? All opinions welcome.