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

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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!
 
Oh my!

What a cool place! I would love to get my paws on one of those WP dryer doors with a window! I could then a least almost explain why I hang around watching my Inglis dryer when I run it... lol
Kevin, that 67 KM portable is darling!! Keep us posted on the restoration!
 
I used to haunt that place when I lived in Phoenix a few years ago. I managed to pick up a '72 Lady Kenmore and '73 Wards Signature washer. That solid tub Hotpoint almost came home with me until I looked at the insides and found that it was mostly stripped of everything including the motor:(
 
thanks for the photos

To an old man like me (59) most of these appliances look "new." I can't help wonder how many of them ended up in the scrap heap because some greedy repairman said "well lady, parts and labor to replace the pump on this Maytag Highlander will run you $200 plus the service call." But at least they are dying a somewhat dignified death as opposed to being made into Toyotas.

I have never seen one of those Hotpoint copycat Flair ranges. Those nasty GE people even duplicated the lift-up doors. At least Tappan showed a little more respect with their Fabulous 400's.

5-27-2009-15-14-7--twintubdexter.jpg
 
Front Loaders

It is interesting to see a whole row of the new age front loaders already at the appliance grave yard. It looks like to majority are Maytag and there is even a samsung in the pile.
 
On the ninth picture, the portable washer that's two appliances to the left of the grey front loader (or behind the Maytag Atlantis)is a White Consolidated Industries General Electric washer we had a neighbor when I was a young lad that had it, it had the winged agitator (and some models had straight vanes), one I saw running once had a high pitched single wah noise every time the drum indexed. Anyone on aw.org that has ever heard or seen the portable White consolidated industries GE washer before please tell.
 
Alive And In Color:

At last, the pictures of your trip out there. I have been waiting to see these. That has got to be the coolest place ever; like going to a vintage appliance store. The black paneled Kenmores all lined up reminds me of any Sears showroom I visited in the late 70s, and the Whirlpools lined up reminds me of my trips to the Times Square Store in Hempstead NY, as well as Macy's when they carried appliances.

As to whom was in the picture, could that have been you Gordon?

I hope you get the 1966 Kenmore Model 600. That is one of my favorite models. That portable is pretty neat too, and I can't wait to see more of that.

Glad you guys had such a great time, and hopefully there will be future trips to come.

Have a good one,
James
 
Too bad they didn't show you the machines they had in the back room. They won't sell them. Do they still have the pink 50 something GE washer in the showroom?
 
Do they still have the pink 50 something GE washer in the sh

No there were no vintage machines in the "showroom" or in the "back room". Unless they have some stashed directly behind the building (where they work on them) it was pretty much, what you see is what you get!
 
Aw, man!!

Someone removed the motor on the Silhouette? That sucks. It was there the last time we looked, but I also discovered (mainly on the dishwashers) that they must be recycling the copper and other electrical items from some of the machines (they were processing some of them into the big rollaway you see in one of the pics).
 
White Consolidated Industries GE?

I think you could also find them in green as well. I would see those in the 90's every once in a while. Has a pull-up foldable lid. clothes drum(in the one I saw) is plastic. I believe you could still get these new up until 1996(in my area) execpt they would say Gibson instead of GE. Small cute machine, I've never seen one in action before though.
 
Reply to supremewhirlpool

Yes it was white consolidated industries. I remember the pull-up foldable lid too I remember the first time I saw the WCI GE the lid was up and I did not know how to shut the lid until I was five and a half. The main thing about the washer is that it sounds like the White westinghouse pump throughout the wash and spin cycle.
 
One more thing, I found the Gibson version of the WCI GE washer on E-bay a couple years ago while browsing the site and the Gibson version looks alot like the WCI GE.
 
well i know where i am going to spend my week in arizona.

and i was wondering how i might contact the manager or owner of this yard.

if you could give me his number that would be grand.

you can E-mail me. [email protected]

or call me

(home) 909-338-1650
(cell) 909-809-4995

i usually answer the house phone and i always answer my cell

thank you

Chance/ frapdoodle
 
"Energy Guide", Its amazing to see some of those stickers still intact, almost better than the factory finish. What the hell kind of paper is that anyway? :-) Seriously, it was a relief when my last set arrived with the tag simply on the timer dial by a string. #352095 that's a nice old Kenmore at bottom right lg cap. probably a pentavane we had one like it mid 70's i alway's thought they were essential kenmores kind of the bridge between the old die cast console and the center dial on the black panel. Sears must of sold enough of those black panel machines to go around the equator. Nice avocado portable, glad you guy's rescued it. alr2903
 
alr2903 -

The machine that you refer to in pic 352095 is a copy of my mother's second Kenmore. It's a 1974 60-series model, quite feature-filled for a 60-series. It's on my list of machines to come out of there. :-)

Gordon
 
OMG, that Hotpoint set is one of my dream sets. My grandmother had one of those that lasted into the mid-80's. I would love to see and hear one of those in action again!! Too bad it was in such crappy shape though. But it sure sends me back..... Thanks for the pics!!

Joel
 
Hotpoint set:

What year was that washer? We used to have a 1964 model that had a console very similar to the that of the dryer, which must be an earlier model than the washer featured. I think that model washer has come up as a POD. Thanks in advance.

Have a good one,
James
 

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