early 70s jc penney's washer

[jbellafesta]

I grew up using this set. It's been about 30 years since they were replaced. Any members have these? What's your opinion on performance? i thought the removable agitator was a nice feature. my mom recalled the salesman telling her they were made by GE.

 

[appnut]

Jessee, I don't think anyone has either of these in a collection.  These were actually made by Hotpoint, albeit still a GE design.  There is a Picture of the Day with the same Top-of-the-Line JC Penny washer, just a different year and the control panel was slightly different hue of colors and graphics.  I bought a GE set in April/May of 1977 and it had the big-door dryer with electronic sensor auto dry. 

 

[appnut]

And today's Picture of the Day (POD) is what I was referring to. This updated version of the JCP washer you were asking about.

 

[eurekastar]

Very cool! I never knew that J.C. Penney marketed their own line of major appliances. Was the entire line made by Hotpoint?

 

[appnut]

Yes, made by Hotpoint. 

 

[circlew]

While the JCP machines were based on the Hotpoint models, by the time the ones in this thread and in the POD were made, manufacturing had been consolidated at GE Appliance Park in Louisville, KY.

 

[iowabear]

In 1979, when our JCP moved from its old downtown location to a large mall anchor location they had room for a full showroom of appliances.

 

The also carried a very large selection of in-house "MCS Series" (Modular Component System) stereo components and speakers.  Most were pretty decent and sourced from Panasonic/Technics and NEC.  It was my first introduction to stereo and I bought several MCS components over the years.

 

We had a couple of hifi specialty stores in town but for the most part they were very snooty and couldn't be bothered with some kid who had to save lawn mowing money for a low-end cassette deck.  So it was JCP for the win!

 

[toploadloyalist]

Cycle settings

Anyone know the temperatures and speeds for each cycle number?

 

[jamiel]

Since you brought up JC Penney in Cedar Rapids (assume it was Lindale), I've got a funny JC Penney story. In 1992 or so, I saw a Bassett sofa at JC Penney that I really liked, and that I wanted to buy. I'd recently started a job in Chicago which had a rotational component to it so I would go and admire this sofa while I was traveling around the US--places like Bangor, ME; Greenville, NC, etc. I ended up being transferred to Des Moines, IA after the rotational assignment, and so was now ready to buy this sofa which I had so admired. Off I went to Valley West, the big mall in town that had JC Penney. Imagine my surprise to find no furniture there. When I asked, they said "no furniture here, it was in Cedar Rapids (2 hrs east) or Omaha (2 hrs west). I had little reason to go to either, but was sad that it couldn't be mine. Several months later, I headed to Kansas City (3 hrs south--I had lived there before and had friends/family there) and again admired the sofa at Oak Park Mall. I told the sales person there my tale of woe, and he said "oh, I can fix that--we get our furniture shipped down from Minneapolis, so they can just drop it down at your apartment in Des Moines along I-35, and voila! Alas, it was not so simple, as when completing the 10 week custom order to get the fabric I wanted, it emerged that the Minneapolis distribution center was closing in 6 weeks, so the shipping solution that they came up with wouldn't work. One year after that I was being transferred back to Chicago, and I went ahead and got the sofa there, finally....

 

[iowabear]

Well you got the sofa in the end!  The Cedar Rapids JC Penney in question was the new one at Westdale Mall.  It was a huge well-run store for a long time.  It's the only store that remains of what used to be Westdale Mall.  The other anchors are gone (Montgomery Ward was torn down, Younker's just closed and Von Maur was subdivided for other tenants.)  The entire interior of the mall has been demolished.

 

Attached are "before and after" pictures of the JC Penney from the same side.  The store was completely remodeled, inside and out.  It's really nice but given the latest JCP results it's anybody's guess if they're going to make it.