A visit to the "appliance Junkyard" in Phoenix (actually Glendale, AZ)

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RevvinKevin

Thanks for posting those pictures of you and Gordon's excursion out there Glendale, Arizona.

But I must say that if you are a Kenmore fan just like you and Gordon are (and myself too), then you all (and me too, had I gone) would've had a field day out there. I never saw SO MANY Whirlpools and Kenmores lined up together like that. And in the first photo, I actually saw a 1976 Lady Kenmore and a 1976 #2 Kenmore in the same photo. It's kind of like what you would've saw at Sears many years ago when the machines were brand new.

I also see that there are a lot of 1997 Frigidaire Gallery Front Loaders and Maytag Neptunes out there as well as well as the back of a 1986-89 Lady Kenmore Direct-Drive.

But the one that touched my heart more than anything (and Thank God you were smart enough to bring it home) was that 1967-73 Kenmore Portable Washer. I never knew that those came in other colors other than White. The one I saw was avacado. We had one of those in my family as well. My Aunt (my father's sister) had this machine. She got hers in 1970, and I guess it lasted until the mid 1980's, because my Grandmother ended up with after my Aunt tossed it aside for her because she (meaning my Aunt) needed a bigger washer later on, and she ended up getting a 1973 Large Capacity Model 600 (with all the controls in the center of the console). If you could revive that portable, I would be very grateful.

Again....... thanks for ALL of those photos. If you were a Kenmore fan that day, visiting that Appliance Yard is kind of like being a kid inside a candy store. I've never seen SO MANY Whirlpools and Kenmores lined up together.

--Charles--
 
That Hotpoint is RARE, but the years in the Arizona sun have certainly left it "well done". Sorry, couldn't resist.
The unfortunate thing is that the longer those machines bake in that sun the more things will cook. A shame.
Must have been a very interesting expedition.
 
Well, now I know where I'm going for my next vacation.

Do you have an address and any other contact information for these wonderful people? Would they be inclined to sell and ship parts that they have?
 
Portable & Weather

I think it's kind of funny the affection that people around here have for portables (dish and clothes washers). They're expensive to buy new, they turn cheap when sold used, and then the collectors here have a lot of affection for them later. Good luck with the portable. Considering portables were less likely to be hidden than regular machines, it's a wonder there weren't more of them in designer colors. I guess the fact that they built so few would figure into that. When a machine is a color other than white, is the color painted over the porcelain top, or is the porcelain that color, too?

Aside from the problems that caused these machines' initial retirement, what parts could likely be robbed from one that's spent a while outside? It seems that the upward-turned typical Whirlpool controls would just funnel water straight to the control switches, so those would be bad. The underside would be constantly exposed to moisture, so motors could go bad, too. Tubs might see a steady diet of rainwater, so they could rust. Did I miss anything? It wouldn't take long before there wouldn't be a whole lot worth robbing from one, right?
 
Charles, et al....

We had a blast there, and Kevin noted that at least once I looked like I didn't know what to look at next, as if in "overload" mode.

I had some advance knowledge of what was there waiting for me, and had made some plans regarding what machines I wanted, etc. Later I had changed that to be only one or two. Ha! That lasted less than 30 minutes once I got there. By the time we left, there were 12 to 14 machines that had a yellow post-it-note on them, meaning that I wanted them to set the machines aside for me. I can transport them from Phoenix to Charlotte largely for free, so I figured "what the heck". One machine that really intrigues me is a 1979 TOL (mechanical timer) Kenmore suds-saver machine. I've not seen one in person like that, and it was/is pristine. There is also a nice 1966 Kenmore 600 that looks plausible.

Regarding the portable - I will let Kevin do the post on that machine, but we got it back to L.A. late Friday night and worked on it for hours on Saturday. Shockingly (literally, as it bit me good at one time), it works...sort of. The machine is missing a wig-wag, and I would have never tried to operate a washer without one ordinarily, but one makes due when one has to, so we had a ball with it by moving the cam bars manually. Four hours or so went by like a flick of a finger. The fact that the machine agitates, spins, drains, etc. successfully is a testament to the robustness of a machine that can sit outside (with no service panel no less) for years and still work.

I have come up with some knick-names for the portable, including the "mud-washer", and GBJ (green beast junior). I am giving away Kevin's story though, so I'll stop there.

I am sure there will be more posts to come regarding this trip, and somehow I doubt this will be my last visit there.

Gordon
 
Wow

Kevin,

I never knew that I had a place like this in my own back yard! Thank you for sharing these wonderful pic's and I am sorry I did not get the chance to go with you both that morning.

Christopher
 
What a Stash!

It's good to see that portable Kenmore was saved for there's only a few of them still hanging around.
I have that model in white and the one I grew up with was in Avocado like the one you have.
I wish you the best with that one!
 
Wow

Good to see that place again--nice also to see that the dishwasher area is filling-up again, although it's unfortunate that the plastic tubs seem to be taking over. When I was there last, there was still a pile of KitchenAids, including a KDS-15 (but it had been stripped of wires--ack!)

The sun does a number on everything out there. My '61 Kenmore restoration was a big lesson in how much damage the machines sustain when outside and exposed to the UV rays and rain (many sit full of water). It's a fun trip down memory lane--and a great way to get a tan--but I probably wouldn't pull a machine from that yard again to work on.

The Silhouettes (sad to see the dryer in such bad shape--that was in lovely shape a few years ago) are fun, but that washer is ROUGH. The cabinet on that machine is the outer tub, and you can see where rust is running down the front because it has eaten through at the seam between the tub bottom and the cabinet itself. We did try the transmission and such while we were there, and it does work, but you would be a level-three grand-master of JB Weld, Bondo, POR-15 and spray paint if you took that one on. It might even be worth it, too, but what's really frustrating about those machines is what the UV does to the plastic lenses on the consoles, and you can see how the huge lenses on the Silhouette have turned pee yellow. That was frustrating on my '61--go through all that work to get a machine that looks good except for the yellow-hazed lens :-)

Still, a fun tiptoe through the tulips nonetheless! :-) Thank you for sharing all those photos--it's good to catch a glimpse again, and it is so fun to look at all those machines.
 
The condition of the machines....

I have been there twice in as many months and while little seems to have changed in the "landscape", they seem to be in generally ok condition. Except of course for the various plastic bits, which just get killed by the heat, sun and UV.

What rust there is seems to be surface rust since it's so dry there.

As for standing water in the machines, all that I looked in (and I looked in a lot) did not have any standing water, though many had dirt and looked like water had been inside but either drained or evaporated.
 
The fact that so many obviously had water in them at one time which later dried concerns me. Several washers I've worked on recently have had rust holes in the tubs that I've had to patch.

I just called my vendor in Phoenix and asked about weather patterns - it rained the day we were there, and hadn't done so since Christmas!!! August is their wet month, so I'd say its a fair chance that those machines have simply filled with monsoon rains in August, and dried up, vs. leaking empty.

I hope so anyway!
 

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