Favourite washing machine memories.

[candyd10_14x]

Hi everyone!

I thought it would be a great idea to have a thread where everyone can post pictures or memories they have all had with washing machines throughout their life, from their childhood etc.
I have some pretty funny ones, but I'll allow you all to post whatever you may please.

Washing machines have always been a fascination for me, especially as a child being around classic Hotpoint 95 Series, from seeing my old Electra/Servis Gem washer being drained of water and funnily enough replaced by a WM51 First Edition 800 on the same day.

So, feel free to post any of your memories, I would love to hear the memories you have all cherished of your favourite washing machines.

All the best,
Brandon.

 

[philr]

When I was a kid, my parents would hold me sitting on their dryer to watch their 1974 Inglis Supreme washer while it was agitating. My aunt would let me watch her solid tub Speed Queen in the same way and another aunt showed me her TOL Simplicity from the late-1970s. I also loved to watch the illuminated tub and consoles of the Inglis Royal washers of two other of my aunts! 

Later, I remember being amazed by the lint balls that the GE Filter Flo washers made at friend's places! No one in the family had a GE washer, I was 7 years old when I first saw one!

 

There was no one around with a Frigidaire washer to show me so the first one I saw in person was one I bought not that long ago! The first Frigidaire washer I saw "in action" was the one featured in the movie Freaky Friday (the one shown in my avatar!). I couldn't understand how the lid would pop up as a result of being overloaded!

 

 

 In North America, there weren't many front loaders when I grew up (none that I knew of) and watching action in a top-loader meant having some adult to assist you getting there to see what happened! 

 

[bendixmark]

Memories

Watching my Mothers 1951 westinghouse frontloader run when I was four.

 

[candyd10_14x]

Top Loaders

Hi Phil!

That sounds like you had some good memories there, being a UK resident, I've not really seen many top loaders in action, apart from 1 or 2 Fisher & Paykel machines and those 'Maytag Commercial Washers' which, correct me if I am wrong are modified Maytag A806S style machines?

But one memory I can share is asking every person in my block of houses to see their washing machines, at one point I somehow knew every machine someone had, alas all have been replaced now, and very sadly a few of the neighbour's have passed away due to that dreadful, stomach-churning killer we all know as 'Cancer'. But anyway, I look forward to everyone else's memories/stories.

Brandon.

 

[turquoisedude]

Set the Wayback Machine to Hudson, Quebec, 1964...

Although I swear that I remember seeing my mother do laundry in her 1955 Whirlpool wringer washer far more often than in the brand-new GE V12 automatic washer (with matched dryer no less), that GE was the washer I remember best.  The house had troublesome wiring, the plumbing wasn't great, and the appliances were installed on a service porch where the water lines froze in winter.  Well, those were the details my father filled in for me... LOL 

 

We eventually moved to a suburb closer to Montreal and that GE V12 washer was the one I remember watching whenever I could.  I think having the matched washer/dryer set is what got me into my collecting habit of trying to have matched washers and dryers whenever possible.  

 

I loved the sound and motion that the classic GE ramped activator set up and it became the standard by which I judged other machines (yes I snuck a peek or two at neighbour's machines...).  I also remember the day in August of 1973 when the GE was declared 'not worth repairing' and how the replacement washer, although a GE-made product, just didn't seem the same. 

 

Needless to say, when I acquired a 1963 GE V12 in 2012, I felt like I was 'home' again!

 

[whirlcool]

I remember when my parents bought their 1962 Frigidaire Custom Imperial washer/dryer set. It really had the new washer smell to it. While it was running, I'd set my chin on the top of the cabinet with the lid up watching the center post move the water. These machines made a very unique sound. I loved the visual design the washer had with the clamshell control panel. They also had the matching dryer, gas version.

When I came home from college in 1971, I noticed the Frigidaire was replaced by a GE FilterFlo set. I was impressed by what would end up in the filter tray, but it was boring compared to the Frigidaire set. I asked why they replaced the Frigidaire. My father just said "It broke". I asked him how it broke and he just told me to take it at face value that it's broke and leave it at that. Even back then I was interested in why things worked and why things broke. But he wasn't like that at all. For him, things either worked or not, and if they didn't work they got replaced by something that did. They bought the GE at the same place they bought the Frigidaires from, I never found out why they didn't buy a new Frigidaire.

 

[pierreandreply4]

me the washer dryer set i remeber was the one from my childhood it was this set

 

[turnamat]

.....1968 me,3 years old with our Constructa that boiled my nappies with 100 degrees Celsius.

 

[candyd10_14x]

constructa

Turnamat, is that Constructa the machine that you can move around on wheels or am I confusing it for the Bauknecht?

 

[turnamat]

Hi!This Constructa couldn´t be moved at all.No wheels and nearly 180 kg!But there have been similar smaller models(3 kg load)without spin that have been on wheels!

 

[candyd10_14x]

Sounds like you all have shared some brilliant memories in your childhood. Pierre, that washer and dryer set is pretty classic looking. I don't usually see top loaders, being in the UK, but I would like to see something like those.

Seeing as we're all sharing memories, I think it's about time I shared my favourite (possibly quite embarrassing)
washing machine memory as a child.

I use to own a Hotpoint WMA64 Ultima Extra, now these WMA Series have a feature called 'Time Delay', which allows you to set the machine to come on at a later time, but with the programme already selected.
So once I knew my WMA64 had this feature, Dad put his work shirts in....and this is what happened:

 

[michael]

I clearly remember mums Thor washing machine with the glass lid and pedals to suds saver. can remember when it went to spin and the hose would jump out the sink and flood the kitchen!! Then in 1976, we got the Hoover Keymatic deluxe...soo advanced for its time...think that's when my fascination for washing machines started, pushing a keyplate in and the machine doing everything else!

 

[candyd10_14x]

Keymatic

Hi Michael, wow, that Thor sounds like quite a diva of a machine haha, was it the 'Automagic' one that could double up as a Dishwasher as well (Semi-Automatic)?

Which model Keymatic did you own? Was it one of the widebody's or one of the later Matchbox series ones?

Cheers,

Brandon.

PHOTOS: Courtesy of Chestermikeuk and Matchboxpaul
(models 3203, A3008 and A3062).

 

[michael]

Hi Brandon.It was the A3008 matchbox one...exactly as no 2 photo. No, the thor was just a washer, but it did have the suds saver, I remember. That photo of the keymatic is exactly as I remember it... know all 16 programmes off by heart!

 

[candyd10_14x]

keymatic

Hi Michael, wow that is impressive to hear, I bet you enjoyed those clunks and clicks the keyplate reader made when you started it!

As far as I am aware, I think the only Hoover I ever owned was an A3350, however I only vaguely remember this as I was only about hmm...2/3 years old at the time.

Good to hear anyway ! Shame it didn't last till now though.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

late to the party...

I'm sorry I'm late to the party, but I have memories of my GE filter-flo. I'd sit by it for hours on end, especially when it was on normal speed agitating and spinning.

 

[aircub]

GE V-12

Hey tourquoisedude any pics of your GE V-12 that was my mothers first washer and i want to find one so bad, i loved the sounds it made and also the lady that kept me during the day went to the laundry mat every week, I sat on the row of solid tub speed queens in the late 60s and watched every minute of the cycle. love the speed queens too. I guess thats why i love the filter flo and speed queens.I also as someone else said too. I knew the type of washer and dryer everyone whos house i went into had when i was growing up and the different machines they aquired through time. i thought i was the only one that checked that out and knew those things.

WOW thanks for bringing back such good memories and allowing me to tell someone else.

 

[statomatic]

It all started with a 1982 Brandt Statomatic 418 http://statomatic.e-monsite.com/blog/articles/brandt-statomatic-418.html
The machine was in the bathroom between a large wardrobe and the changing table.
Since then I have memories of the sounds of the water splashing and drain pump, the water drops on the glass door after spin and the smell of Lavender softener.
I liked touching the tap of the machine and the selection knobs
My mother said that I even once managed to turn on the machine!

Brandt Statomatic 418

Brandt Statomatic 418, nomenclature des pièces détachées et schémas électriques.

statomatic.e-monsite.com

 

[maytag85]

For me it was the sound the late 90’s Maytag Dependable Care made whenever it went into spin or started agitating. Though the Maytag A806 and A606 are from the 70’s, they still sound like the Maytag washer I grew up with that was left behind when I moved back in 2006.