Holy turquoise!

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mistereric

mistereric

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Mar 2, 2006
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1,522
Location
New Jersey (Taylor Ham)
How very unexpected.

Our second day of estate sales after a truly hideous week. One last sale before we head back home to hide from the snow. A house in Bergen county, lovely 50's style home with a pool and mature landscaping and an absolutely eyewatering tax burden.

After scouting out some cool pieces on the first level, wander down the basement stairs and come face to face with this.

Dammit. We're buying a washer today.

mistereric-2024011521061803874_1.jpg
 
The machine made it home and down the basement today. Let some hot water sit in the tub for a while, and we are agitating and spinning with no drama, scary noises or leaks.

For some reason, the hinge balls are missing. Also, the lid switch seems to be non functional. Lastly, something has happened to the bleach dispenser and I need to take that out and get that squared away.

More photos to follow. I'm over the moon. My first turquoise machine!

TA702, SN 210549MQ which I think is May 1964.

mistereric-2024011521135900842_1.jpg
 
Congrats!!

That machine looks like it’s in immaculate condition considering it’s age. With a little maintenance, it’ll probably run for many years to come. Beautiful color, too.
Thatwasherguy.
 
Nice score!

I was at that estate sale the first day and stumbled across that washer, it wasn't in the listing photos.

Also, there was a 70's SOH dryer still in service upstairs. I was going to mentioned it here but didn't think anyone locally would be interested and I don't have room for anymore orphan washers. Glad you rescued it.

How much did you get it for? The lady who runs that estate sale company tends to over price things IMO.
I've passed on some items because of that and seen others do the same.
 
looks like it’s in immaculate condition

That was my impression in the dim lighting , little to no rust or excessive wear, it was well cared for.

Here is the sale listing.
No washer photos:

Loading…

www.estatesales.net
 
1964 turquoise Maytag next to top line

Good, save Eric, wonder how many years ago they stopped using it when the upstairs laundry was added it’s always need to find these older machines that were not used much.

The lid balls, likely disintegrated, the plastic that was used for them, and the motor rollers was an inferior material that tended to disintegrate they improved the composition later on and never had trouble with them after that.

If the machine isn’t rusty on the bottom and shows no sign of transmission, oil leaks, you may have gotten a good one, I often find, however, that Maytag at this age when you start using them, they will start leaking oil from the transmission because the rubber O-ring in the transmission is just hard .

Hopefully you’ll have some fun with it.

John
 
how many years ago they stopped using it

Late 70's would be my guess.

A gold console SOH dryer was in service upstairs next one of those junky top loaders Maytag put their name on before they went under.

So they were probably on their 3rd Maytag washer and 2nd dryer since 1964?
 
WHAT A FIND!

I can only imagine your reaction when you walked down there and saw that thing. That is museum-worthy, and the turquoise...just perfection.

My grandmother did estate sales in NorthJersey for many years before retiring at the start of COVID, so this makes me think of her. I can only imagine all of the treasures she must have found in houses over the years.
 
"My grandmother did estate sales in North Jersey"

North Jersey is estate sale city.

Hit a few good estate sales and one could set up and nicely furnish an average size household in short order for a fraction of retail cost and with better quality items as well.
 
"A house in Bergen county, lovely 50's style home with a pool and mature landscaping and an absolutely eyewatering tax burden."

*LOL*

That pretty much sums up many areas of Bergen county. However it is lovely up there with some great views. Area has some of the highest housing prices in NJ if not USA which goes with those steep property taxes as well.

Post WWII there was a huge housing boom in many areas of Bergen county (spurred in large part thanks to George Washington Bridge), so it's not surprising home you visited was from 1950's era.

Congrats on your find! Don't you just love estate sales?
 
Thanks all!

I was so very lucky to have a mid twenties friend over who was willing to use his strong back to help us move the beast.

The machine is in better condition than I expected. Still cleaning and whatnot, new photos soon. The one you see is in the original home. There is so much beefy copper drainpipe in north jersey! One could retire on the scrap.

Douglas, how funny that you saw it too! I bought it for $50. There was no price on it, I suspect they were surprised someone wanted it. I did well on two other items there too. The upstairs machines were apparently not for sale, and I didn't see them. I wanted that amazing console radio!

Thanks for the insights, John. I suspect I have some hinge balls someplace. I hope to not have to break down and buy them, they seem like they are $10 each or $3 with $25 shipping. Compared to most of the other Maytags I've seen, this one seems to have low milage. Not much oil on the bottom, not too much rust. I'll keep an eye out on the oil.

Jack, I was just delighted. I ~never~ find any color machines in the area. And to find turquoise, and such a nicely featured machine!

I think my favorite part is seeing so many homes and seeing some of the absolutely wild places that people live in. Our home is 50% estate sale items.

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There were several crunchy layers of tape here and I was worried there was a hole in the outer tub. I peeled the layers off and it seems like it was just there to "insulate" the tub from the bolt that's stuffed into the bleach dispenser. /whew/.

I'll pull the entire dispenser out after the machine is installed and see whats going there. Perhaps I can glue it all back together and get it back in service.

I've got to source hinge balls, one of the little mushroom lid bumpers, and perhaps one of the unobtanium lid switches.

One thing that blew me away; the starter for the console light is a genuine Maytag branded part.

mistereric-2024011718205001859_1.jpg
 
$50 is steal for that, looks to be in nice condition. It will definitely need a full teardown and rebuild for daily use. I wouldn't use it much until the damper pads are lubed (gear oil for these) and the transmission oil is replaced. Hard to tell if the bleach dispenser is original or not with all of the tape hiding it but the originals like to crack just looking at them wrong. Most were replaced with the 06 style dispenser which is a direct bolt on and much sturdier replacement. Unfortunately, the 06 dispensers are getting tricky to find now.

The 02 series was the first to increase the spray rinse from 30 seconds (going back to the '49 AMP) to 45 seconds. With the proper timer motor (Mallory and Kingston), you can extend that to 1 minute if so desired along with a slightly longer deep rinse.
 

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