Getting very interested in vintage 60's Hotpoints:

[bajaespuma]

These machines are so cool. Neat innovative designs, lots of bells and whistles, very colorful. IMHO CU is responsible for helping GE kill off Hotpoint, they were always slamming them.

Does anyone collect these? I haven't seen any since the sixties. Two aunts had Hotpoint Silhouette pairs. If anyone out there (Gansky, Tomturbomatic) has any brochures, or cut-sheets, I'd sure be interested in them.

 

[bajaespuma]

And here's my latest dream machine: a 1967 Hotpoint that was the predecessor to the GE Versatronic ( I had one friend in the industry who used to claim that GE used the Hotpoint Chicago factory to test new features on the Hotpoint line before they incorporated them into the GE's.)

 

[bajaespuma]

Here's what I think is/was the last real Hotpoint washer. It's a GE cabinet with what looks like a GE control panel but with Hotpoint features and a true Hotpoint lid. Paired with an oversized dryer that, according to you folks, was originally a Hotpoint, then became a GE and, here, is obviously a rebadged GE. This is from a 1976 Hotpoint Calendar. Every other appliance on the other months of this calendar are rebadged GE models.

 

[revvinkevin]

WOW..... I LOVE seeing photos/ads/etc on these older washers & dryers!! I do remember hotpoint, but do not remember these.... Maybe this was the time I lost touch with my interests in washing machines and found my interest in cars???

 

[spinout]

Baja--

You know I own and use one of these real Hotpoints (branded as a Penncrest)--It's a '67 mol machine.

 

[toggleswitch]

WAIT WATI WAIT..Hotpoint dryers became GE? As in GE's main engineering?

What did a GE dryer look like, then, before Hotpoint's engineering was abducted and rebadged as GE?

 

[peteski50]

Hotpoint

We had a Hotpoint simular to the first photo. It was more basic and had the goose neck adj. Cleaned clothes well but was had problems. Transmission went after 6 years. My parents purged it and got a filter flo GE.
Peter

 

[gyrafoam]

The Hotpoints with the "straight-vane" agitator were very aggressive and fun to watch in action. Gansky's early sixties model always gets a workout from me when I go to visit. It also makes that distinctive (solid-tub Hotpoint) sound when throwing out the water.

I once knew people with a 1972 TOL pair. The washer had a beautiful white enamel tub with a turquoise agitator and white filter. Even though that spiral agitator had a pretty lame wash action those were really kool machines.
Too bad they did not have a "straight-vane" burping agitator in turquoise!

I, like so many others, have been looking for a solid-tub Hotpoint. I have heard that they were not very reliable, and the mechanisms were changed pretty often, so they are pretty hard to find.

I almost got one on e-bay when beginning my collection however someone else out-bid me. Don't remember who it was but I'm sure they were glad to get that machine---it was in great looking shape. I seem to remember they might have been along the gulf-coast somewhere. I hope they and the machine are all right after Katrina!

The closest I've gotten is a turquoise lint filter!
Mark H. has a turquoise agitator.
Somewhere there are old Hotpoints hidden in a dusty old basement or warehouse. Hopefully they can be rescued before they end up in the krusher.

 

[lonestar1947]

Hotpoint

I work at the Detroit VA Hospital, the PX there sells a Hotpoint washer and dryer set. What are these machines?

Does anyone know where I can find information about Youngstown Dishwashers? thanks!

 

[gansky1]

Beautiful machines, aren't they? That '76 gold pair is a total GE clone under the hood - they kept the side-hinged lid on the TOL Hotpoints until about '78. There was one model - maybe this one - that had a box for dispensing detergent into the main wash cycle after a pre-wash/soak cycle. It had a small tab on one side activated by a solenoid and flipped open, dumping it's contents into the basket after the spin. We had some friends that had this machine and the matching monster-dryer. A step down (or two) in the model lineup and there was a scrub board on the lid in place of the dispenser-box (mentioned in a brochure in another thread) for rubbing collars and stains clean.
Those huge dryers were (originally) built at the Hotpoint factory and also sold under the GE & JCPenney brands as well. I had an electric GE version of one from around 74-75. I thought it was a great size but it was slow, the electronic control wasn't too accurate and the airflow was pitiful, leaving lint all around the door opening that the dry clothes picked up as you pulled them from the drum. They used the same blower in these that were in the smaller, GE built machines and it probably wasn't enough to keep the air moving fast enough around and through the drum. The big door opening is fantastic but you couldn't put a laundry basket in front of the machine before opening it or the door would push it away. A minor annoyance, but it could be a struggle in tight spaces.

 

[bajaespuma]

Gansky, we were going to buy one of those TOL big dryers in 1973 and the GE salesman actually dissuaded my Mother from buying it and steered her toward the TOL standard sized GE dryers(one of the best I've ever used--fast like the old GE High Speed Dryers and the electronic sensor was dead-on accurate). He said exactly what you did; the dryer was slow and not accurate in the automatic cycle. It sure was beautiful,though. The catalogue I posted in Rodrigo's thread lists the collar scrubber feature.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Hotpoint always seemed to have more features than comparable GE models. Even though they were a subsidiary of General Electric, they had some autonomy in design. Their dishwashers were historically different and somewhat more advanced than GEs, at least through the early 60s. I believe that their ranges went to infinite controls before GE ranges. With their Customline of kitchen built ins, they offered many more choices than GE. They had water dryers and GE never did except for the combo. Speaking of combos, the Hotpoint combo was such a successful machine that it infringed on so many of the AVCO/Bendix patents that they were all taken out of service and destroyed to settle the suit. It must have been cheaper to destroy them than pay the royalties. Needless to say the Hotpoint combo was a far better attempt than the GE. GE washers had the mini basket, but only Hotpoint had the small tub on the agitator that had its own water supply so that you could wash in two different temperatures. You could even use bleach in one tub and wash colors in the other because the water did not mix, not even during the drain.

Everything Greg said about the giant dryer is true; sad, but true. Another thing about the dryers that came out of the Chicago factory was that every wire was yellow -- terrible for service people.

A coin laundry in the Peachtree Hills area of Atlanta had some Hotpoint machines with a sort of chunky agitator that was a dark burgundy color. One time a friend of mine took his laundry there and I guess the big old queen thought she was Julia Child and decided to alternate layers of laundry and powder detergent. When the machines finished doing what they did, the detergent was still undissolved between the layers of clothes.

The 1967 pair in the picture showed the infinite speed washer. Several brands tried them in 1967 and they shared a fatal flaw: the infinite speed mechanism did not last. Most used a magnetic clutch. I briefly used a Frigidaire with this feature and it was fine for one cycle, but if you set it for an extra rinse, the very warm magnetic clutch did not transmit enough power to even completely empty the solid tub in the final spin.

 

[gansky1]

I was so excited to find one and so disheartened the first time I used it.

 

[gansky1]

Door open

 

[gansky1]

The double tub! I'd love to see one of these...

 

[bajaespuma]

I remember seeing one of these "Duoloads" at Gimbel's on 33rd street back in 1970. I was trying to take it apart to see how it worked when one of their pesky salespeople chased me away. They had the whole 1970 line there: I remember the versatronic and turquoise agitators with white filter pans in either white porcelain or dark speckled blue porcelain tubs. Hotpoints rivaled Philcos and Frigidaires for being the most colorful vintage machines ever built. Does anyone out there have any idea of how the mechanics of the Duoload worked?

 

[westytoploader]

Very cool Hotpoints indeed, I LOVE the styling of the late-60's/70's machines, especially the "Lady Executive" which appears as a POD on here from time to time. That would be great to stumble across one of these at an estate sale, especially that Duo-Load model! Doesn't someone on here have a 1969 Penncrest/Hotpoint as their daily driver?

If I'm not mistaken, Todd in New Orleans has the eBay Silhouette pair; he posted a while back that none of the vintage machines were touched by Katrina. I definitely want to see one of those Fountain Filters in action.

I played with the spiral agitator on Greg's '63 Co-Axial during the Convention, and I didn't think it had much in the way of action. The "long-neck" performed much better with a decent-sized load, and much to my surprise, the turnover was great! I don't know if it's the case with all of the Co-Axials, but the tub didn't really index per se on that machine; it more or less 'free-wheeled' like the F&P.

--Austin

 

[sambootoo]

I too really like these washers. My sister had a Hotpoint around 67 or 68. Had the turquoise agitator with fountain filter and the white solid tub. I also remember an EASY with the same control panel as the Hotpoint. Was there a connection? I have 2 Hotpoint dryers from that era. One is #LB620 "Hotpoint Decorator Dryer" that is too far gone for restoration...even the blower housing has holes rusted through it. The porcelain drum is still, however, in excellent shape! This dryer doesn't resemble any GE dryers that I've seen. It has a unique filter that you have to unfold to clean. The other dryer is #DLB6810LDLWH. This one is GE all the way except for the control panel which resembles the ones in this thread. This is the quietest dryer I've ever heard, even quieter that the Kenmore Elite I use every day. If anyone has info about either of these, I'd like to know more. I too would love to find a washer to match, or at least resemble.

 

[filterflo]

Ive had this Hotpoint washer for a short while, and currently dont have a spot for it to be hooked up. I think its approx a 1963 model, but not sure. Love the design and operation of it! Not sure Im going to keep it as I dont have the matching dryer for it yet.....and so many others sets waiting for restoration (with not much room to put those either!) Walt sold this to me, bless him, he seems to be the Hotpoint expert!........Jimmy