Frigidaire Equipped Laundromat

[brisnat81]

Whilst Michael has recently been between jobs, he took his mother on a week long trip to Sydney to visit family. It was her first plane trip since 1984, so she was very nervous. With frequent flyer points they upgraded to business class on they way down, and she had an absolute ball. On the way back, they travelled ecconomy, which with her hit and miss grasp of modern slang, she keeps refering to as "Cow Class" instead of cattle

In Rose Bay in Sydney as they were driving along, Michael spotted the following sign.

 

[brisnat81]

This is what he could see from the street

4 years ago, he couldnt understand my obsession, these days he's far more obsessed than I am. God I love him

 

[brisnat81]

The dryers

The Laundromat wasnt open at the time, however these were the dryers he could see through the window. Does anyone know what type they are?

The washers were all almond speed queens.

 

[gyrafoam]

A Frigidaire Laundry and a Le Bonbon next door----who could ask for anything more! Very kool!

 

[brisnat81]

The Building

This is the cute, but slightly seedy building that contains it all.

 

[jetcone]

I love Sydney!

I wonder if the SQ's were solid tub machines?

 

[brisnat81]

The view from Qantas Club on the return trip

And for the Plane buffs, here is a fully restored Qantas 707, getting ready to take off at the Sydney Airport. This is identical to John Travoltas plane.

We watched a documentary recently that showed the restoration process of this plane, and how it flew from the UK back to Australia. Whilst in the US, they met up with John Travolta, and had both planes parked side by side.

This plane which usually lives at the Qantas Museum at Longreach in Queensland and John Travoltas plane, are two of a handfull left in an airworthy condition.

 

[jetcone]

man those 707's had one smooth ride

Did you know they had the longest wingspan to fuselage ratio of any commercial aircraft? We flew those out to Africa and back in '79.
On the way back one of the engines caught fire, the pilot used up all the available fire extinguishers onboard and we had to make an emergency landing in Larnaca Cyprus. We got put up for two days and had a blast there. Great FOOD!

The skyceiling on those planes had little false windows that at night had faint stars projected thru them into the cabine!

Nice Aircraft. With three engines it never so much as lurched coming down!

 

[gyrafoam]

A series 138B specially made for QF. Fabulous!

 

[sudsmaster]

I recall flying on a 707 around 1968 from SF to Portland, Oregon. I was quite impressed with the acceleration on takeoff. Haven't experienced quite the same sense of acceleration since on a plane, although I can get it on a motorcycle. Perhaps because it was my first flight in a plane, let alone a jet, it seemed faster than it really was. Overall a very nice plane, and even though the flight was relatively brief (about 2 hours, as I recall) the food was great.

As I recall the pilots on inter-island flights in Hawaii in the early 80's had the most interesting airborne manuvers. Not sure what model plane they were, they were smaller than a 707 though. I recall one of the flight attendants getting visibly PO'd at the pilot when he banked the jet sharply. "He said he wasn't going to do that any more!" she exclaimed. I loved every second of it. I figured he was probably a former Except for the walls of the plane would flex in and out to the extent that I had to pull my hand from the armrest next to the window, or it would get pinched. A few years later the top blew off one of those planes, due to metal fatigue. I could believe it.

 

[Unimatic1140]

Nathan those are great pictures! I wonder what kind of Frigidaire coin-ops where there many years ago. It would be great to see those machines, maybe Australian Pulsamatics with window lids? How cool would that have been!

 

[laundryshark]

Audio Shots of Frigidaires

It would really be neat to listen to an entire row of classic Frigidaires through a stereo audio recording.--Laundry Shark

 

[whirlcool]

If you were on United Airlines from SFO-PDX, it was probably a DC-8, which was a similar aircraft. UA never flew the 707. Believe it or not, until just very recently Iran Air was still flying 707's!
There is quite a bit of flex built into jet aircraft. They can take a lot of stress. Pilots fly them very conseratively in the name of "passenger comfort". That plane that came apart mid flight was a 28 year old 737-200. That particular aircraft had experienced a huge amount of take offs and landings
(pressurized and depressurized) and this cause metal fatigue which lead to the fuselage blow out.
I have seen JT's aircraft on numerous occasions. He parks it at his house in Florida. I have also seen it at LAX and SAT. Quite a beautiful plane! And by the way, Mr. Travolta doesn't have a commercial pilots license, only a private! He also has a flight crew that flies his 707, and he steps in to fly it himself from time to time.

 

[jetcone]

Allen

What do you think it would take to restore one of these 707's?
You'd have to have a qualified experienced mechanic for sure and they must be getting scarce these days. Unless systems don't change that much over time with the newer Jets parts could be a nightmare.