Questions have been brought up more than once regarding the history of automaticwasher.org and its membership.
The true history starts with a People Magazine story about Chuck (Laundromat here on aw) back around 1980. We will have to record that history from the guys who know more about that. At some point I would like to make a special page on the history of the club and the website.
So anyways, lets step back all the way to 1997. The very first wash-in occurred in Boston in July of '97, I attended that first wash-in and talk of the internet was non existant for something like this, at least as of yet. There were probably 8 or so of us there, we thought it was a huge gathering, LOL. At that point I had recently discovered the Aberdeen Farm. I had invited everyone to come to Minneapolis and take a drive to South Dakota to experience this wonderland of vintage appliances on the prarie.
We planned for the trip three months later. As the guys arrived we had our first Minneapolis Wash-in that evening and then got up at 6am and made the 6 hour trek west. Robert (syndets2000) had brought his HUGE and now vintage VHS-Camcorder and filmed the entire event. A big thank you goes out to Robert as now 14 years later we can relive this wonderful experience and have a record of our history.
I have two videos to share. I have better equipment and software now and was able to digitize these VHS video into as clear as possible recording. YouTube has also come along ways in allowing us to share such large video files. The first video is of the wash in and this is ready to go. I'm still working on the farm video, which hopefully will be done soon.
This first video is of the evening wash-in before our early morning trip to the Farm. I was living with my now x-partner at that time. I had about 14 or so machines in my collection. You'll see many of my washers running, you'll hear some playful ribbing (it was all in good fun) and the excitement of the prospect of going to the farm.
I was able to digitize the video in high definition. On YouTube you can set the video quality by selecting the setting as shown in the image below. For those with high speed broadband you can select 720p or 1080p. At 1080p you can full screen the video and it is still quite clear!
The true history starts with a People Magazine story about Chuck (Laundromat here on aw) back around 1980. We will have to record that history from the guys who know more about that. At some point I would like to make a special page on the history of the club and the website.
So anyways, lets step back all the way to 1997. The very first wash-in occurred in Boston in July of '97, I attended that first wash-in and talk of the internet was non existant for something like this, at least as of yet. There were probably 8 or so of us there, we thought it was a huge gathering, LOL. At that point I had recently discovered the Aberdeen Farm. I had invited everyone to come to Minneapolis and take a drive to South Dakota to experience this wonderland of vintage appliances on the prarie.
We planned for the trip three months later. As the guys arrived we had our first Minneapolis Wash-in that evening and then got up at 6am and made the 6 hour trek west. Robert (syndets2000) had brought his HUGE and now vintage VHS-Camcorder and filmed the entire event. A big thank you goes out to Robert as now 14 years later we can relive this wonderful experience and have a record of our history.
I have two videos to share. I have better equipment and software now and was able to digitize these VHS video into as clear as possible recording. YouTube has also come along ways in allowing us to share such large video files. The first video is of the wash in and this is ready to go. I'm still working on the farm video, which hopefully will be done soon.
This first video is of the evening wash-in before our early morning trip to the Farm. I was living with my now x-partner at that time. I had about 14 or so machines in my collection. You'll see many of my washers running, you'll hear some playful ribbing (it was all in good fun) and the excitement of the prospect of going to the farm.
I was able to digitize the video in high definition. On YouTube you can set the video quality by selecting the setting as shown in the image below. For those with high speed broadband you can select 720p or 1080p. At 1080p you can full screen the video and it is still quite clear!
lol
