F and P Washer
I am from New Zealand and am now living in London
This F and P washer was produced in NZ in 1967, under the name of Whiteway, Washrite, Challenge, or Savaday depending on which store you purchased the product from. I was a young boy in 1967 and my Mother had one of these machines. Years latter after visiting the UK, I realised the Savaday was as you say very similiar to the UK Hotpoint. I think in the early days of this machine most people thought it was in fact a new machine made by f and P and did not realise it was made under license. Prior to 1967 f and p used to import the bendix automatic machine, my grandmother had a bendix, I believe it used a lot of hot water and had to be bolted down.
Back to the Savaday machine. It was a great machine and produced in NZ until about 1986 (basically the same machine with a few extra programes and changes to control panel).
The 1967 Savaday washer main difference to the UK HOtpoint machine was that it used hot water from the domestic supply, where the UK Hotpoint heated the water in the machine. So the Savaday could complete a cycle in about 35 minutes. The machine did have a heater although few people used this function as it took about 90 minutes to heat the water to 60 degrees c and cost more than using the off peak domestic supply. The machine had the same agitator as the hotpoint it was also called Spiraclean and handled what was regarded as a large wash load in those days. I recall 4 single bed sheets was a full wash load. The spiraclean agitator had a good action, the machine washed very clean and the clothing came very dry with a 1000 rmp spin. There was a slow spin for drip dry clothing. I remember removing drip dry clothing and spinning the remaing load on the fast spin. There was a filter tray like the GE that collected fluff and held the measured amount of soap powder while the machine filled with hot, warm or cold water.
This was the best automatic washer in NZ at this time. I think the other option was a Norge similiar to the USA machines, made under license also. The Norge was a larger machine on the outside but took about the same wash load as the Savaday. The Norge did not spin as fast and did not have 3 water levels as the Savaday did, nor did it have a slow spin option. So all in all the Savaday was a great machine for it day and by about the mid 1970's it have become the top selling machine in NZ by a long way. By about 1980 the machines were called different names as someone menionted.
In 1896 f and p came out with an electronic machine of their own design which has also proven to be very sucessful. At this point F and P decided to market there machines as Fisher and Paykel as F and P by this time have become a household name. F and P have a web page on the history of their appliances and the company which is interesting. There is a F and P timeline which shows different machines sold over the years.
The matching dryer was also a great machine as your article points out. In fact in NZ you will still see these dryers from the 1970's in peoples laundrys, still working which is a good advertisment.
LG.
