Best-Selling machines

[akronman]

Does anyone know what overall brand of automatic washers sold best during any specific year or era? In the wringer era, I'm guessing it had to be Maytag first, followed by Speed Queen, but I don't know about the automatic age. So much discussion here of Westinghouse, Frigidaire, GE, Kenmore, Maytag, but who sold best when?

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Well, year, after year it's always been the Sears Kenmore... (50,000 machines in use, according to a poll in a 1969 CONSUMER REPORTS)

But I would suspect at one point or another there were always the "underdog brands" taking over at one or another; the Westinghouse, Frigidaire, Norge, Montgomery Ward, Kelvinator, Maytag, GE, Hotpoint & Whirlpool of-the-day...

It took a new ad campaign strategy ("The reasons to buy a Kenmore" ads) that of course gave the brand a second wind...

That's at least my opinion about it...

Dave (Charles Klamkin Fan!)

 

[qsd-dan]

Yep, probably Kenmore. Lot of bang for the buck on BOL and MOL machines back then.

 

[angus]

Not surprising when you consider that Sears is represented in every state or close to it.

 

[mrb627]

Word!

Yeah.  I was gonna say that Kenmore had better marketing than any other brand.  Speed Queen's were almost unheard of in Florida back in the 70's.  I only knew one household in Florida that had GM Frigidaire's and they moved in from Detroit with them.  I remember when they moved away and left that Rapid-Dry in the house.  The new owner dragged them to the curb day one.  Shame!

 

Malcolm

 

[cehalstead]

top selling brand

another reason that Kenmore was the top selling brand....Sears offered credit, and it was very easy to qualify for it....

 

[mickeyd]

In the Buffalo area

Sears offered a 10% discount to firemen, and maybe others, too; but my Uncle Bobby was one, and that's how I knew.

 

We were all Frigidairians on my father's side of the family, Gram& sons, except Bobby.

 

Every second or every other house, it seemed, had a Kenmore in the basement, but in the non-KM homes, every brand was represented. Saw them all, and wished for every one, including, Philco, Kelvinator, Hoptpoint, Easy, Blackstone, Bendix Combo Norge, Wizards, Westinghouse Slant, on and on.

 

It was the 60's, the high heyday of washer brands. And let's not forget who was making all those Kenmores, and is now making so many other brands as well. For better or for worse, Whirlpool remains the King of the Realm.

 

Sure miss the bounty and the spectacle of 25 distinctly different brands of washing machines.

 

(What's really nice about this place is that no one asks how we knew what washers were in anybody's basements or doubts us.)

 

 

[jasonl]

The VW of appliances

They weren't hot rods, but they made/sold lots of them, and you couldn't kill them...

Kenmore.

 

[whirlcool]

I  think you are right on the money when you say that Sears easy credit put a lot of machines in homes.

 

In Chicago, Polk Bros. did the same thing. But they had all the other major brands including Maytag & Frigidaire.

 

My parents had Frigidaires and GE's.

 

Other relatives seemed to like Norge machines, and of course a few Kenmores.

 

[norgeway]

Wringers

At home Apex was sold by Duke Power, in those days you could have the charge for your appliances added to your power bill, so there were a lot of Apex wringers as well as refrigerators, also Maytag square tubs were popular as well as GE and Norge.