Admiral

[paulg]

Having been born and raised in Chicago, one brand I've not been able to avoid (and actually grew fond of) is Admiral. Now I know that probably nobody really cares about Admiral appliances. However, I am in the electronics industry partly because of them. Our 1958 Admiral console was so unreliable that I HAD to learn about electronics!
Admiral's (Maytag) Galesburg plant just closed. Sad. I believe Admiral purchased that plant in 1944 from Stewart-Warner. I have some data on 1950's Admiral ranges, they appear to have been made by Universal (Cribben & Sexton), who was in Chicago too. Almost everybody in Chicago had a Universal range and Admiral's seemed to look just like them.
I know they had dishwashers in the 1960s and the other stuff they probably purchased from vendors.
I'd like to pick up some vintage piece, perhaps a pre-1970 dishwasher or frig. Stuff after the 1970s seemed bland. I hope Whirlpool does something good with the brand so that Ross Siragusa's work wasn't for naught. Whirlpool probably is brand-saturated and will tuck that baby away. Comments? Did I get my data right?

 

[westytoploader]

A 1970's Admiral washer would be a very neat find as well...basically a rebadged Fedders Norge.

Around that time, was their dishwasher line yet another brand made by D&M? I know the Magic Chef DWs were...

 

[appnut]

I remember the Ice Cream Maker you could put in the freezer but I don't remember if it was "tied" in with the ice maker.

Friends of mine here have an Admiral fridge from the 70s that aws a top freezer unit with ice & awter dispenser on the door. GE now only offers this feature in a top freezer unit.

 

[kevinpreston8]

Admiral....

The first TV I remember having was an Admiral console. It was B/W, but wow I loved that set. It was brown and glossy and the finish NEVER wore off. I mean never...never got thin or dull or anything. I don't know what kind of wood or veneer it was, but it must have been the best.

The 2-13 tuner was a see-saw type rocker mounted horizontally for UP or DOWN channels. It activated a motor. You "programmed" a channel by pushing pegs in (I don't remember what that looked like, Dad's secret) to create a "stop" at that channel. It made a marvelous motor sound as it moved the channel wheel, and it was lit up green in a window.

I mentioned this on another thread...the remote was sensational. It was a gloss black, almost square with rounded corners. It used that miniture tuning fork technology in its pushbuttons...there were no batteries. You could go up and down channels, on and off, and step up the volume 2 or 3 steps. The remote fit into a magnetic socket on the side of the set.

It was a really fine TV that never gave us trouble. When we finally gave it away (technically I think we left it at the house we moved away from) it was still working.

I can still hear that motorized channel selector, and the way the tube would just go to a spot of light when you turned it off.

 

[panthera]

1963 color admiral

In 1963 my parents bought their first color tv - an Admiral. It had a magic function: When the TV repairman was in the den, it worked. When he left, it didn't.
I had always thought the colors were somehow better than the newer sets. Last year I saw one in Denver set up next to a Plasma, an LCD and a conventional Trinitron in a sales display.
The colors *were* better. Just as good as the plasma. Wonder if it was the care they put into rebuilding what, by then, was a 40+ year old set - or that many sided color tube just had better convergence and phosphors. Any ideas?
Oh - ours lasted until 1980, the breakdowns got less and less through the years as the my dad replaced one circuit after another with solid-state. I recall the tuner and rectifier being the biggest problems he solved that way.

 

[lavamat_jon]

Admiral in the UK

Admiral actually sell toploaders here in the UK for years, although I believe that they are rebadged Maytag Performa's. They also have quite a large share of the American-style fridge freezer market here in the UK.

Jon

http://www.we-sell-it.co.uk/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/value/prodpages/admiral-appliances/admiral-washerdryerp.html?L+here+spth3438ff135913+1147198095

 

[lavamat_jon]

ugh... pardon my crap English!!

"Admiral actually sell toploaders here in the UK for years" should read "Admiral have actually sold toploaders here in the UK for years".

God knows how I managed to get A's in my English exams 2 years ago.

Jon

 

[maytagbear]

That's all right Jon-

We all like you no matter what.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[panthera]

if only the English would learn to speak...

Jon,
Don't sweat it - I live in terror of the day one of my students stumbles upon one of my two o'clock in the morning postings.

 

[paulg]

SON-R remote

I think kevinpreston8's family had almost the same TV set we did. I know of that automatic tuning bar at the top. Ours also had the same green indicator light (upper right), except ours did not have the exclusive "SON-R" remote control - but ours had a phonograph in the bottom (which stopped working in 1961 and never worked again). Admiral got sued over the remote design they stole from Zenith. Admiral lost and they had to give Zenith their stamping plant. On an appliance note, our first house had metal kitchen cabinets by Admiral (same logo). I remember this so clearly. As a child I wondered why the heck would the TV maker manufacture kitchen cabinets? I heard later that Admiral had purchased a metal cabinet maker to make metal TV cabinets - but for a time still made kitchen cabinets under their name. In the 1950s, Admiral also made power tools (drills and saws). I have a brochure on those. I want to scan some photos of stuff but I haven't jump-started my new scanner. Soon, soon. Still - if anyone has cool Admiral appliances near Chicago - give me a jingle..
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