Well I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with you on some points Joseph and here are my reasons why. I have spoke to many old time authorized Frigidaire service people in my day, and 90% of them all have the same story. They told me that the Unimatic was so rugged you could shoot a bullet through it and it would keep running. They said the Multimatic and Pulsamatic weren’t quite as good, but it was more reliable than the Rollermatic machines. With each redesign the mechanisms were produced with slightly cheaper parts which lead to more reliability issues. Now with so many completely different designs, service personnel had to be properly trained otherwise the machines were not properly maintained and that only made matters worse. Most service people were not interested in keeping up with new designs and like to work only on machines they were very familiar with, such as Whirlpool or Maytag which had not change their basic design in decades. I've worked on all these machines within the past 10 years and not one of them really is any easier to work on than another if you know the machine inside and out. All of them have made me say some naughty words at times. Personally if I had to pick a washer to work on it would be a Unimatic, that is because I know it so well I could do it in my sleep.
As for market share, in the 1970's the Whirlpool design was first, Maytag second, General Electric third and Frigidaire was fourth. With a market share of 4th that leaves us with a lot of washers out there to find. I'm not sure what the market share in the early or mid 1950's was, but I suspect Frigidaire was second, maybe even first at times.
Personally I have found at many estate sales, 1-18 Frigidaire that were hooked up and still being used to that day. I found quite a few solid tub Rollermatic that were still being used, two Multimatics and even a 1949 Unimatic, when I found it in 1998 the little old lady was still using it, she said it had not needed a repair since the 1970s. The only reason it was time for a new washer for her was the timer motor had finally given out and she tried to get it repaired unsuccessfully.
I do not think that the general population treated their washer differently by brand. I do agree however that for reliability, the Whirlpool and Maytag design would win over a Rollermatic, as for a Unimatic or Multimatic, I suspect they could hold their own.
