Infectious

[ovrphil]

So, I never collected anything or appeared to be collecting(my current mantra)...til I found aw.org.
I've always been interested in gadgets, appliances, and so much, I wasn't like some of you who just KNEW you were going to collect washers, dryers, appliances, or work with them at the age of 2(as soon as you could, i.e.)

I didn't have a clue about what existed today in appliances, didn't know where the interest would take me, but I just showed up at a few Thrift shops and Goodwill...and if you don't mind, I'd like to show what all of you have done to me! haha! It's a work in progress, and there will be adds and deletes. In an apt, there's no room to store washer and dryers. I am so impressed with some of the collected appliances you all managed to find and care for. Thanks for the infectious interest. So, I'll post a few pics - hard to combine all.

 

[ovrphil]

Infectious - 2

with waffle/grin irons

 

[ovrphil]

Infectious - 3

Some vacuums - nothing great, but I really like the Celebrity II Elite and Hoover Concept II (amazing power)

 

[ovrphil]

Infectious-4

Love the Made in Japan carafes - great styling, too - the white CorellDesigns carafe keeps coffee very hot for up to 6 hours or more.

 

[ovrphil]

Infectious-5

A not-to-often found Vitantonio Five of Hearts Waffle Maker - about 1991-93 is when they last made these...it's cool, because you don't have to cut anything to get the heart shape, as some units.

 

[ovrphil]

Infectious - 6 and last

Parting shot - one of the three Amana's I was lucky to find..still needs some refurbishing, but overall, works perfectly.....and thanks again...aw.org has been a lot of fun.

 

[mixfinder]

Now There's a Concept

We're all enablers that make our collecting an acceptable pass time. Welcome and let me tell you, small appliances are a lot easier to buy, sell, move and find parts for. I'd take the Concept II in a heartbeat.
Kelly

 

[hooverwheelaway]

Wow! Very nice collection! I love kitchen small appliances... Osters are fabulous blenders. I have a thing for hand mixers aas well. So many types and varieties!

That Concept II is incredible. One of the best vacuum cleaners ever made. Yours looks to be just *mint*.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[mattl]

Yes this site will get you collecting!  I just picked up an unneeded by me - but great to have, Hoover Dial -A -Matic with Power Drive!  Need to get the correct belt for the power drive, picked one up but it broke almost instantly.  Added it to my collection of an original Dial A Matic from '68, Kirby Omega, Panasonic hard body, Sears Powermate, Hoover Spirit, Royal Prince, Dirt Devil hard body and a few other units.

 

They opened both a Goodwill and a Salvation Army outlet near where I work and I wander through each once a week on lunch and see what is new.  Luckily most everything is cheap, got the Hoover Power Drive unit for $3.50

 

[frigilux]

Great collection! I had the blender pictured on the far right for many years. It was a workhorse. Welcome to a lifetime of looking for additional shelf space, LOL!

 

[drewz]

What no Waring's? You've just got to have a band leader blender! Aren't those Kenmore canister's Panasonic?

 

[gansky1]

Great pictures! You have found some nice appliances. I've been trying to pare down my small appliances lately, would you like to start an iron collection? LOL

Glad you're having fun, like Kelly said, small appliances are fun to find and bring home. They make good gifts too, my mother and sister both have some of the best smalls ever made and they're happy to oblige my periodic clean-out phases. You won't ever get too overloaded if you spread the joy around once in a while and make room for new finds!

 

[petek]

I started with one old blender and now I'm swamped in stuff.  Have fun.   Great find on the Concept II, they're less common than the Concept which didn't have the little  hand vac attached. Other than being a bit loud they and the next gen Power Max upright were imho the best performing Hoovers ever made. It was downhill after them.  Just make sure you carry it by the handle on the body,, never lift it using the sliding handgrip or you could damage/dislodge the self-propelling mechanism inside it. 

 

[ovrphil]

Raison d'etre

Mixfinder and HooverWheelAway: I nearly walked away from the Concept II but the variable motor lights were toooooo intriguing...and when I plugged it in, all the lights and motor speeds worked. It didn't move by itself, but it glided with ease. It was later, at home... took it apart and found an unattached drive belt to the wheels that I was amazed to learn - it not only moved forward on its own, but backwards, too...just with a push/pull of the handle. "this is da-bomb". Last night, perusing vacuumland.org, I learned that Hoover made this model in a non-powered option, that some prefer. My college jobs were cleaning schools and office buildings... this Hoover trumps anything I used. Only thing - it's pretty loud. I wonder if the non-powered is quieter?

MattL: Your Dial-a-Matic is on my want-list. What model is your Hoover Spirit - is it like a 900? I passed up a similar Royal Prince at the thrift shop, and it was in excellent working and physical condition.( Can't buy everything). Do you have pics of your collection - would enjoy seeing some /all. Goodwill stores are popping up everywhere, have you noticed?

Frigilux: That was a 7-speed Hamilton Beach Model 600/330 watts...like new, only the plastic top has a crack(how did they do that?). I have used it and all the blenders...for me, it's like having a few washers, only no water magic.

Drewz: I know, I know...there are Warings out there calling, but so far, no luck in finding one yet at the Thrift or Goodwill, or CList. Who made the Powermates? Good question. I attached a link to vacuumland.org...look at Post 32119 on this page and a guy named hoover1060 answers that question, going back to the 1950s. (Whirlpool made the 80's Powermates models, and then Panasonic later, but I don't know how to determine the year of manufacturer - guessing mine were the 1980s.

Gansky1 -LOL! No irons! Thankfully, that's one appliance that hasn't bit me. I share the same perspectives! I'll be donating/gifting or selling to open gaps for new things. I have some typewriters, radios and electric knives that will join the rest in rotations. I don't want to have a bunch of stuff with no where to put them and eventually getting a feeling of, "someone needs some of these things...I can't hoard all this stuff" Only, I gotta keep a few I really covet.

Hey Petek, I sure appreciated seeing all your blenders - too many for the room I have here...but that's collecting...it's like a tide. Oh you said it, I don't carry it by the handle - did that once and stopped myself knowing that's why they plastered a big lettered, CARRYING HANDLE, where it is. Thanks for mentioning. I didn't know at the time, how lucky I was to find one of the best made Hoovers.

All: if you've already posted anything you cared to share, please let me know where to see them.

Thanks for the comments and ideas...appreciate it!

Photos are from left to right 1) Hoover Spirit 900 belonging to a vacuumland.org club member, 2)Hoover Elecronic 1000 that I'd like to find, and Hoover Concept II ad. [this post was last edited: 2/13/2013-10:05]

Sears Kenmore Line ->1979-1980

After posting the little bit I did from the Sears brochure last night I got a few email requests to post the whole booklet, so here it is... The cover

www.vacuumland.org

 

[kevin313]

Great collection!! Thanks for sharing the photos. I'm loving the Oster blender collection - these are great machines!

 

[mattl]

Ovrphil,  The Hoover Spirit is marked on the bottom as S3271, that's all I really know about it- haven't researched it -yet.  I picked it up as a clearance item at I believe  Best Products,  one of the catalog warehouse stores from the '80s.  I really like the metal Royal Prince, bought it new in the 80's too, only really use it on upholstery now.  Someday I should assemble my collection, I do have some odd and unique stuff, all but a few recent things were bought new by my folks and me over many decades.

 

[danemodsandy]

You're On Your Way....

....But you're still in the early stages of the affliction!

Wait until you start moving back in time - you'll soon learn that '70s appliances are usually better-made than '80s ones, and that '60s ones are better-made than '70s ones, and that '50s ones are better-made than '60s ones....

You'll really be in the throes of the disease when you realize that vintage major appliances are better-made and more reliable than new ones. I'm currently working on a set of Maytag 806s from 1968 - like I didn't have enough to do already. But it's worth it to me to have old-school Maytag dependability, plus styling no one has matched in the last thirty-five years.

It has gotten to the point where I won't even consider present-day stuff. Once you've had your hands on a Farberware stainless percolator from the '60s, no current drip coffeemaker will satisfy you, no matter how many features it has or how much stainless trim is on it. There is no comparison in how well-made vintage stuff is.

You need to know three things about this affliction:

1) It's incurable.

2) We are your support group - BUT:

3) We're enablers - don't look for us to twelve-step you. ;-)

 

[ovrphil]

Maybe it's not too late

...to take up knitting ...knew how when I was a kid...forces me to keep my eyes and hands in front.

Kevin313 - since you're from my hometown area, I gotta say - you need a Tiger Stadium size area to take a comprehensive photo of your amazing collection of stuff. I can't imagine ..and better not...what you have rescued in appliances! I think your stove and refrigerator collection is some of the nicest, and I've only seen a few things.

Danemodsandy: But you're right - as a kid growing up in the fifties, I already had a sense, but til I came here, it was like a time warp. Coming here, it's a reminder how good things were once made before the USA manufacturing system got loose in the screws with a "Profit at ANY Cost" wrench. Nice - a pair of A806's have such clean timeless lines. Hope that works out as you like. I agree - few if any products are made to last at all - a year is beginning to be a miracle for some items.

I didn't know what a 12 -step program was, til I looked it up. Hahaha! Funny! Funny!
Ok, just for that, I rewrote the 12-step for aw.org.

ATTENTION - I HAVE FRIENDS AND FAMILY WHO WERE ALCHOHOLICS... SO THIS ISN'T TO MAKE FUN OF AA or IMPLY ANYTHING NEGATIVE TO THEIR CAUSE.

The Twelve Steps of Sane Collecting - How to Keep Your Head and Love It

1. We admitted we were powerless over collecting —that our collections can become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that another appliance, greater than the other, could inspire and bring sanity to our world.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to visiting Goodwill and Thrift Shops, Craigslist, ad inf.
4. Made a searching and fearless inventory of our appliances -but not too often to scare us into reality distortion.
5. Admitted to aw.org of being the exact nature of the rest of you.
6. Were entirely ready to manage these misunderstandings identified as defects of character.
7. Humbly asked my spouse, friends, family or significant others to pardon my collecting habits, as they trip over the next washer, dryer, stove, and refrigerator.
8. Made a list of all persons who might have old vintage items and became willing to call or email them all.
9. Made direct but senstively polite pleads to such people wherever possible, except when to do suggest imply we were attempting to extort/bribe/etc. them out of family memories.
10. Continue to take all appliances and other items... inventory and then...promptly admit when I had too much, maybe. sort of.
11. Sought through meditation and playing old 78rpms to improve my social skills, as they wane in the collection process, and pray I don't forget that my family, friends and spouse are there, since we become lost in our interests and determinations.
12. Having had a mid-century (and later) awakening as the result of entering the bowls of aw.org, try to keep a perspective that life exists beyond the java and hyperlinks, youtube videos and repairs, ablation and rescuing of appliances and to practice..living life apart, once in a while.

Unrelated - I found an ad of some Hoovers from March 11, 1981 (my Celebrity II with Powermate is there)...
What would these be in today's dollars?

Thanks for the comments and humor - got the warning.

 

[twintubdexter]

things I should have kept

I had one of those Hoover Electronic 1000 cleaners years ago, purchased at a college flea market for $20 and practically brand new. I think the cleaner said made in France on the bottom and the bags were from the UK...or it could have been the other way around. It was a great vacuum, quiet and very powerful. The type L bags were difficult to find (no internet then) and I remember a vacuum shop telling me there was no such thing. I think the 'L' meant you were lucky to find them. When we bought a home with a built-in vacuum system I gave the Hoover 1000 away...big mistake.