Got this Scott Fetzer refurbished Kirby $10

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Great score!

That is a very nice looking machine, I'm sure you will enjoy it.

 

I've got a number of Kirbys in my collection, the G4 and G5 get daily driver status, one on the main floor the other on the second floor.  The G5 was a real score at GW, $40 -virtually every attachment, the owners manual, a video, plus a very kind person also included the original receipt in the event I want to someday get it renewed. Had to belong to someone's mother who passed, very well cared for.

 

Panthera, glad to see you posting again...
 
What a great score Keven! It’s just like new. My Mom bought a brand new Kirby in 1955 from a Kirby saleslady going door to door. I believe it was $400.00, a fortune in ‘55! I was home during the demo, was always fascinated by any vacuum. I remember Mom saying she couldn’t afford it and the saleslady saying, “Well theres a convenient coin slot at the top of the handle, so any spare change you come across while vacuuming, just deposit it in the slot and before you know it you’ll have that months payment saved”, I kid you not!

Mom didn’t dare tell my Dad that she’d paid that much for a vacuum cleaner. So, since she went to the beauty shop once a week and the bill was sent monthly to my Dad’s law office for payment, she worked an ingenious, “I Love Lucy” type of scheme out with Bonnie, her hairdresser to add the amt of the monthly payment to Mom’s monthly beauty shop bill and Bonnie in turn gave the monthly payment amt. to Mom every mo. so she could pay off the Kirby. I learned about this when I was a teenager and Mom regaled us with how she’d gotten over on Daddy and managed to get her Kirby too!

She used that Kirby until 1980 at which time my stepfather bought her a Riccar upright to replace the Kirby.

I know you will enjoy using your just like new Kirby.

Eddie
 
Thanks to everyone!

We have quite a few Kirby's. My favourite is a little red number from the late 1950s (I say 'late 1950s as we had to repair a few major parts).

I'm also partial to the Heritage/Legends.

My partner loves the G4 which has a different transmission speed than all the other Generations. I've got a 2000 with the half-speed switch which seems to be the smoothest running of all the new Kirbys.

First step, though, is fitting a micron magic bag. I don't change the appearance, but I've noticed these HEPA bags really make a difference in the, shall we say, exhaust of these otherwise perfect vacuums.

There is just something soothing about their motor.
 
Speaking of Kirby bags I remember that Mom’s ‘55 Kirby had to be emptied over a couple of sheets of newspaper. Kirby’s didn’t have disposable bags yet in ‘55. It did have that little tray that you could empty the days vacuuming dirt into, but we never did that. Mom would wait until the bag looked like a big dog ready to have a litter and then would “deliver” a couple of months of household vacuuming dirt onto the newspaper. I learned to do this myself as by the time I was 11 I was doing a lot of the vacuuming myself.

We had the floor polishing head and it worked great on the hardwood and cork floors to buff out the paste wax. But you sure had to hold onto the sucker with a tight grip or that Kirby would go rouge and be flyin’ all over the place.

What wonderful memories this post has brought forth. I haven’t thought about this Kirby in years!

Eddie
 
Early memories, Eddie - Yes!

My dad's mom had a '59 Kirby. It was a joy and a delight to run. Cleaned.

Might be why I'm so partial to our late 50's little number in red.

And, they do clean - remember that YouTube video where one from 1935 outcleans a brand-new Dyson (well, to be fair, there are no old Dysons)?

I got the bag fitted and took her for her first run.

Joy!

Still a bit of a puzzle. The tag says she was refurbished in 2001. But - the Saniemptor is dust free, the bag obviously never used and the belt which was off the spindle (as it should be for long term storage) is fresh. Not 20 years old. Either somebody did this for gramma and she wasn't interested or...?

Anyhoo - be fun to run the tools later. I know all the nonsense about how dirty fan motors aren't good at sucking, but there's more than enough airwatts there to do any reasonable amount of suction cleaning. It's not as if somebody with a real Kirby is going to be driving a turbine head (and I love those).
 
We too had a Kirby in the early '60s.  Even had the sander/polisher on a long flexible cable. Polisher head and carpet cleaning setup too.  The guy doing the demo left his attachment where they put a clean paper towel in and replaced the bag with it to show just how much dirt the Kirby pulled out of the carpet.  Still have it tucked away in the basement somewhere.

 

At this point I believe I have 5 Kirby's in my collection, don't however have the one my folks bought in the early '60s.  It had issues and it was replaced in the early '70s with a hard body Hoover, still have that.
 
We gave away six

Generation Kirbys this summer, all Sentria. We needed space for a few 1950's/60's Eureka Princesses. I was so glad to make people happy with them. We have six pre-Generation and four Generation Kirbys. Except for the 2000 Diamond edition, I rarely use them. These Sanitronics and earlier just are perfect for our jam packed home.
 
Been a Kirby fan since I was born when a Kirby system ws sold to my Mom and Dad the year I was born-1951.Have a Large collection of them-except a 510 or 511 that would date to 1950-1951.Used that Kirby when I was a kid to do vacuum duty roster jobs and clean my room.
 
That is beautiful, you found it in this condition?  Amazing what's still lurking in closets and attics out there.  I wonder if (she) never liked the cleaner?  

 

We evolved into a Kirby "family" as well, I use one for in an office with a particularly difficult carpet texture, a battered G5 handles it with ease.  Mom has a G4 parked in her hall closet, despite being 84, it's easy for her to plug it in and back it out of the closet with only a light touch.   I have a Diamond G, love that two speed motor option for some of the handmade rugs.
 
Now You Tell Me

Saw what one believes was a Kirby vacuum on curb with rubbish a few years ago now. While it looked interesting darn fool previous owners cut the cord right near where it enters vacuum. This was in front of a townhouse so it wasn't as if a superintendent of large multifamily did it, just people being mean. They didn't want anyone else to have that "old" vacuum.

Anyway it was late, had hands full and had rained earlier. Toyed with idea of taking, but thought if water had gotten into things might have gotten shock of my life after putting on a new cord.
 
Well for a novice like oneself all noticed cord was cut rather close, and that was all. Didn't want to be seen standing in front of a private home going through their rubbish. It was obvious they knew someone might want the thing, so they disabled it to put people off.

Could have fetched the thing home, but it was rather heavy, and as stated already had arms full. That and already have a vintage Hoover upright that has sat sitting since brought it home years ago now. Think have used it the once and get constant grief over "why is that still here if you don't use it?".

Since got a "new to me Miele" late last year probably am going to get rid of the Hoover, an Oreck (that cannot stand), Mighty Mite and maybe the Eurkea Electric Broom. All were finds so didn't pay a dime, but they aren't used and the Miele C3 is best of lot.
 
My Mom’s ‘55 Kirby had an attachment for cleaning uncarpeted floors that had felt pads on it and attached to the bottom of the head. Then you disengaged the belt and only had suction coming from the nozzle. The felt pad attachment had openings in the front so as to attract the dirt and vacuum it up. The felt facilitated dusting of the bare floors.

We had a large ranch style house from winter of ‘58 to spring ‘62 and it only had WW carpeting in the master bedroom. The rest was either asphalt tiles or cork floors. On major weekly cleaning days Mom used the Kirby with the bare floor attachment. In between major cleans she used either the Regina Electricbroom or a dust mop. The Kirby worked pretty good with the bare floor attachment when you have a large area of bare floors to clean.

Eddie
 
Kirby attachments are mostly long gone, didn't like most of them.  I kept the hose, the dusting brush, crevice tool and the "massage" tool as the dog seems to like that one.  Everything else, including the storage carrier went into the bin.  I prefer using a canister vac for "above the floor" cleaning, the Kirby is too cumbersome and the hose is too short.

 

I made an effort to desensitize the dog early in his young life to the vacuum, leaf blower, etc.  He loves a good (gentle) vacuum with the Kirby tool now and then.  The only downside to his vacuum/blower attraction is that he's in playtime mode when it's time to work.  lol

 

 
 

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