A 1947 Thor Washer - Never Used!

[Unimatic1140]

A big thank you goes out to my friend Shane who found this never used 1947 Thor on Craigslist and quickly forwarded the link to me. The ad had only been up for 2 days. It was located about an hour south in the town of New Praige, MN. We drove down last week and got the machine. Apparently it was sitting in a basement of an old appliance service and parts store. The machine had been in its crate for all these years until they had a flood in basement which ruined the bottom of the crate so they pulled it out and put it on CL. Here are the pictures from the Craigslist Ad…

 

[Unimatic1140]

And here it is in its new home, I love how primitive it looks. The washer even though it was clearly never used had many problems. The transmission and motor pulleys we both completely seized up and would not budge. The rubber drive belt was cracking and the wires all needed to be replaced as the insulation was falling off. After I got the pulleys turning it would agitate fine but it wouldn’t spin properly. I had a Thor briefly about a decade ago and it too wouldn’t spin properly. So I didn’t keep that machine figuring the clutch was bad. Now I knew with this never used Thor showing the same symptoms that the clutch was most likely fine and I suspected it was the oil. So I drained the oil out of the transmission, it has turned into this watery mud. The old oil clearly had broken down over the years. I cleaned the transmission and refilled it with 96 ounces of air compressor oil and now the machine works absolutely beautifully!! The machine is date stamped March-1947 and its serial number is in the 70,000s which means it was in the first 70,000 Thor washers to ever be made.

 

[Unimatic1140]

The AW mandatory money shot!

 

[Unimatic1140]

Control dial, you push it in to turn it.

 

[Unimatic1140]

Tub removed clearly this machine was indeed never used, it just shines.

 

[Unimatic1140]

The balancer ring that the tub sits on top of...

 

[Unimatic1140]

The shiny Bakelite 6 vane agitator

 

[Unimatic1140]

The beautifully clean outer tub. What is interesting is in the early models they did not use any sort of boot to seal the outer tub. The outer tub is deep enough to hold one spin-tub of water below that metal ring in the center. However if any article of clothing got out of the spinning basket and blocked the pump drain, I have no doubt it would flood. With the next model they installed a boot I suspect for that very reason.

 

[Unimatic1140]

Since I didn’t want to have to install manual water faucets to fill the Thor I decided to rig up a control box that I mounted to the wall. I installed a washing machine water valve in the Thor. The timer controls both the machine and the water valves. I can set the timer for 3 minutes and turn on the fill. When it stops I can set the timer again for the amount of minutes I want it to wash and it will stop automatically now. I can control the entire cycle this way.

 

[Unimatic1140]

The new water valve is the red part on the upper right hand side.

 

[moparwash]

Amazing!

A once-in-a lifetime find!...as seen in Lustron Homes everywhere!

 

[rp2813]

That is one lucky machine!

It couldn't have ended up in better hands!  That is a nifty timer system you rigged up for it.

 

Congratulations, Robert!  

 

[revvinkevin]

 

 

WOW, it's incredible that hings like this are still out there waiting to be found!   I agree with Ralph, it couldn't have ended up in better or more deserving hands!

 

CONGRATS Robert!

 

[turquoisedude]

Wow!  What an amazing find, Robert - congratulations!!  So, are you going to be on the hunt for the dishwasher tub now??  LOL 

 

[pulltostart]

Congratulations!

How sweet!  It looks so right at home in your kitchen, too.

 

lawrence

 

[chestermikeuk]

Thor Automagic

Wow, great find there Robert, and MIB what better ha ha....great machines to use and the workings are so simple but effective when you see how it works, we found one over here a few years ago and had a mini restore at a meet we had - spin rinse the automagic way...

Thor Automagic Washing Machine & Dishwasher (1955)

I had a call last year from a gentleman in the midlands who had this Thor Automagic washing machine, it had been in his family since new and he remembered it when visiting his gran, at christmas it was his job as a child with his dad to lift out the washtub and drop in the dishwasher attachment...

www.automaticwasher.org

 

[stricklybojack]

.
I beg to differ...not primitive looking to my eye at all. Some really sweet industrial design is all i see.
Great find, living amidst all those skin-flint Minne-so-tuns has it benefits.
Hey, i don't want to here it...is your son named Chaska? Do you know why i ask?
Those with 'ears to hear' do...ar ar.

Enough about me, just glad to see Unimatic on the boards, his posts are always fantasteesh, emiright?

 

[mayfan69]

So shiny!

So shiny Robert
Very very nice.

Congrats.
Leon

 

[maytagmike]

WOW nice catch

Hey Robert, Gotta tell ya, the Appliance Gods are still with ya. Nice machine enjoy.