Here are some oddball Maytags:

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The 883 is a builder's model, only difference is styling. Also, did y'all notice that some of these control panels look like they're "constructed" from retouched photos? Gives one the impression that these machines were made ad hoc with whatever surplus parts Maytag had left over. I wonder if that was a commom practice with a lot of bona fide appliance makers. As I've posted on this site before, a lot of my beloved GE filter-flo's don't appear in stock catalogues and seem to be ad hoc oddball models.
 
Interesting brochures...especially those control panels! I think Greg was referring to the A104 when he told me that in addition to the black control panel, there was a BOL machine that didn't have it. Can't remember if it had ivory buttons or not. Has anyone else noticed the different capacity designations? I saw standard capacity, large capacity, extra capacity, and extra large capacity!

Another strange thing that I noticed is that all of these are the "traditional" helical-drive and not the Orbitals since they mention the Power-Fin. I say strange because Maytag made the changeover to the Orbital around 1988-1989. With the Orbital came the PowerFlex, first in turquoise and then in the boring white we saw in those 90's machines.

--Austin
 
Those models in question ran from about 84/85 til 1990. Except the 104 and 105. They hung around a few more years under a different model number. These models were only made for certain stores. There were a few local department stores here that caried some of these models. The 482, 883, and 884 were extremly popular here in Cincinnati Ohio. 87' is when maytag introduced the orbital trannsmission which was around series 11 in most of these models. The machines in the above brochores are pre-series 11. If you look at the warranty it only 5yrs on the tranny. Orbital had 10yrs until about 03'or 04'????.

Just my .02 worth
 
I can tell you what made them different....

Around the time that these machines were made was when my family was going to get another Maytag to replace the really old one that my Mom had. One was sold by Fretter/Silo, and the other was sold by everyone else. This was circa--1987-88-89, the blue tub,shiny model.It was their claim at the time that they would price match anyone, however, they did not have the exact model # of machines, hense, making it impossible to do so. Perhaps that was part of Fretter/Silo's downfall.They were nice machines, I would take one. Alot of companies now a days, namely Sears, have machines that are all theirs with the Maytag name on them,not that it makes them bettter;if I was deperate, uninformed, and had a Sears card in my possession, it would look tasty to get one.My two and a half cents worth.
 
Some of these remind me of models that were at Monkey Wards. also, we had a very small Lowes here in the early 1990s and I remember a couple of these looking very similar panel-wise.
 
Not necessarily builders models

But they were junk nonetheless, both from a performance and a reliability standpoint. The A882 was my first washer. Blue tub. Blue power fin agitator modified for the orbital transmission. I bought it at Silo in 1989, a big box retailer that went out of business a number of years ago. The A882 had that wonderful heavy, classic Maytag feel, but it was a hunk of junk. Due to the side fins added on the agitator barrel and the short stroke without the Whirlpool type corkscrew, roll over was poor. It always tied sheets up into a long rope, and couldn't pull them down if they air bubbled, so they didn't get clean. The rinse didn't last long enough to even roll the clothes over once. The lid rusted out so badly in less than five years that rust crumbs would fall into the wash and stain laundry. It sounded awful from the beginning. The service man could never figure out why. I did finally. It was a loose rivet on the motor slide. Oh, let's see...I only had a few minor problems with it: the water pump failed, the tub got a rust spot and had to be replaced, the tub seal boot failed twice... Within five years I had spent more than the purchase price on repairs. I suspect a lot of people were less patient than me and junked their Maytags of this era after only a couple years. The matching dryer didn't break down per se, but it got annoyingly loud after a few years. The service man replaced the reduction pulley, which solved the problem, but the noise returned within 6 months. I hated those machines so much that I finally just gave them to someone at work who had 5 kids so she would have two washers and dryers to get all that laundry done. I bought another Maytag pair in 1997 or 1998 (insanity?!), but I absolutely love them. They perform beautifully, and they've been pretty reliable.
 
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