Can anyone fill me in on the history of Norge?

[captainmoody]

Does anyone know the approximate years that Norge (Borg Warner?) made washers? I had the Monkey Wards version from the early 70's and was told that unit shared many of the same components from the 50's to late 70's. Had to scrap it about 16 years ago due to a hard to find (and expensive) tub bearing and seal. That thing really washed the clothes thoroughly and made some cool noises to boot! Anyway, what years should I look for that were the real deal? I saw one today at the Salvation Army store with the "Norge" label, but passed, as it looked like it was from the late 90's or so..

 

[whirlcool]

In a recent thread someone said that the original Norge got sucked up by the WCI monster. Hmm, further research shows that:

The Norge name was around even in the early 1940s making household appliances. I have seen a wartime ad showing Norge products,(Refrigerators, Washers, Stoves, etc.) as a product of Borg Warner, and this continued at least into the late 1950's. Also during the war, Norge made bullets, gun turrets and airplane parts as part of the war effort.
While Norge products were considered high quality and very reliable, they didn't have a full national distribution until BW stared a national campaign in 1954 to increase the number of dealers selling the brand. It was around this time that Norge was at the height of its popularity.
In 1974, Norge was purchased by Magic Chef (formerly known as the American Stove Company until 1951) when they also bought the Admiral name at the same time.
And then in 1986, Maytag bought Magic Chef, which made Norge a Maytag product. Then in the 1990s all the brands that Maytag owned were really the same machines with different nameplates. The reliability and reputation of the washers from this era went into a decline. Also about this time the manufacturing facilities experiences severe job cuts and jobs were moved to Mexico.

Now as far as what technology Norge used over the years in their washers and dryers maybe someone else here can complete as well as fill in the gaps.

Now when I hear the Norge name, I always think of Chicago. Now I know why, when I was a kid I had an aunt that had a Norge washer/dryer set in her basement. It even had lighted controls!

 

[dalangdon]

Whenever I hear the Norge name, I always think of Lisa Loopner (as played by Gilda Radner) on the original SNL. They had a recurring skit called "The Nerds" (or something like that) and they had a Norge Refrigerator.

 

[westytoploader]

As far as I know, Norge never had anything to do with WCI.

WCI did however, produce Westinghouse machines under the Montgomery Ward name for a while, so perhaps that's where they confused the two.

 

[goatfarmer]

Dan Aykroyd also did a skit,where he was the Norge repairman.

 

[launderess]

Norge Company was a division of Borg-Warner Corporation of Chicago (an automotive parts maker), with plants in Herrin, IN.

Cannot say when, but Magic Chef purchased Norge Corp, and then Magic Chef was purchased by Maytag. Finally Maytag was purchased by Whirlpool.

L.

 

[peterh770]

Norge was purchased from Borg-Warner by Fedders before then being purchased by Tragic Chef.

 

[whirlcool]

Laundress:

1974 and 1986.

PeterH770:
Do you possibly remember what year this was that Fedders bought Norge? For some reason 1964 or so sticks in my mind.

Here is a fun little page I came across while researching this thread. Has anyone ever seen the Frigidare "floating fridge?"

http://www.appliancedesign.com/copyright/aa4d414b54a38010VgnVCM100000f932a8c0____?view=print

 

[launderess]

Yes, meant to add Fedders Corp bought Norge before Magic Chef, thanks for filling in the blank.

It is amazing how many automotive and or automotive parts makers at one time made appliances. Equally amazing how all to a one sold off their appliance divisions. You need a score card to keep up with all the players, but in the end there seems to be only a handful of major players who hold all the brand names.

 

[jasonmarc52]

Thanks, Peter, for the correction of Fedders Corp. buying Norge first! "Tragic Chef"-I LOVE IT!!! Why, I can't even believe I didn't come up with that one years ago! You should hear MY names for stuff! Jason

 

[launderess]

Hope I Get Extra Credit For This

Fedders downsized itself in early 1979 by selling the Norge division, which accounted for 22 percent of its fiscal 1978 sales, to Magic Chef Inc. The very modest purchase price of about $13.3 million in cash and notes indicated that Norge, which had only five percent of the laundry-machine market, was performing poorly. The Norge plant in Effingham, Illinois, was converted to the manufacture of room air conditioners. Fedders ended fiscal 1979 with a catastrophic loss of $36.5 million on income of $176.8 million and lost nearly $29 million more the following year on revenue of only $137.9 million. By the end of fiscal 1980 it had divested itself of the Fedders Refrigeration Co., which made freezers.

A decision was made to diversify into home appliances in 1964, when Fedders signed a five-year contract with the Franklin Appliance division of Studebaker Industries. Under the agreement Studebaker would manufacture a full line of home appliances under the Fedders name, to be sold by Fedders's network of 77 distributors and 15,000 dealers. Fedders introduced a 15-model line of its own manufactured home appliances in 1967. As a result company sales increased from $62.3 million in fiscal 1966 to $88.9 million in fiscal 1967, and net income from $1.2 million to $4.6 million. In 1966 Fedders vacated its leased Newark plant, erecting a large facility for the manufacture of air conditioners at Edison, New Jersey, where it also established corporate headquarters.

Google Search

 

[whirlcool]

It was in 1968 that Fedders bought Norge from Borg-Warner.

From Laundresses Link:

Fedders expanded its home-appliance operations by purchasing Borg-Warner Corp.'s Norge division in 1968 for about $45 million in cash, stock, and notes. Chicago-based Norge, which had sales of $114 million in 1967, was making a full line of laundry equipment such as washers and dryers as well as air conditioners and kitchen ranges. Included in its operations were nearly 3,400 franchised "Norge Village" coin-operated, self-service laundry and dry-cleaning units, containing 20 to 50 machines each.

 

[appnut]

Is taht Frankling Appliances the same with the Frankling transmission for washers?

 

[bajaespuma]

It is amazing how many automotive and or automotive parts ma

An economist friend of mine has suggested that the reason for this is that a lot of those appliances, such as washers and dryers, began as luxury items for those companies and then degenerated into "commodities". Apparently, when that happens the appliance divisions can no longer price their products high enough to remain luxuries. This is a lesson that Miele, Gaggenau, Viking and others learned well when they fashioned their products as luxury items for the stupid American market.
Frigidaire and Maytag might have survived had they been able to refit their products with stainless steel tubs, internal water heaters and extraction speeds well above the norm. It's Darwinian when you think about it.

 

[gansky1]

Has anyone ever seen a "Fedders" branded appliance, other than the later Norge by Fedders units? I never have. It would be interesting to see what models they offered, the washers would have been similar to the "Pig" Wizard that Robert has - all Franklin built.

 

[whirlcool]

The only Fedders branded appliance I have ever seen are Fedders window air conditioners. they were all over the upper Midwest. It seems in the 1960's they had a huge chunk of that market.

I have seen a few Norge window A/C units. The big thing about those was that they were one of those "split" units where the window closes down through the middle of the unit (between the outside part and the inside part"). That was a big draw for those units. You'd see quite a few of them around.

It's kind of strange, but when I was growing up in the suburban Chicago area you'd see tons of Fedders window units, but when I went off to college in the south, you'd hardly see any Fedders units, but Freidrich units were everywhere. I guess distribution at work.

 

[petek]

Re those "split" window air conditioners. I had one years ago in my bedroom. They were made by a company called Heat Controller in Jackson Mich. and were the best thing since sliced bread when it came to window a/c's. When I moved west in the mid 70's I gave it to my sister but she long ago disposed of it, grrrrr. I would love to find another one, they were also sold by the Eatons dept store here under their Viking brand name back then, so I'd imagine they were also sold under various names in the US.

 

[goatfarmer]

We had a Fedders dehumidifier when we were growing up.
I also have a NOS Frigidaire "Ride-Aire". No,it's not for sale.

kennyGF

 

[whirlcool]

Does that Fridgidaire really move easily? That was the first time I had ever even heard of that concept!