It was a Frigidaire day, and a clamshell day to be exact!

[Unimatic1140]

Wow Ben, great finds. I noticed in the first money shot you did that it was a 8lb tub, because the rim is smaller in the earlier tub. I thought what the heck is going on there! Interesting information for sure.

Great rare finds, congratulations!

 

[appnut]

Awesome Ben!!!!!!

 

[hippiedoll]

aw man!!

those look GREAT!!!

the control panels on the 63's do remind me of the center-dial maytag control panels. they have a similar shape. but it looks like your 63 frigidaires have more of a dramatic flair to them!! but they are pretty similar in style/shape.
LOVE 'em!!!

)

 

[philr]

Oh Ben, these are great finds! I'm a bit jealous!  

 

Seriously, I'm really happy they got to you!  One day, I'll get a set of clamshells! But for now, I have plenty of projects, the first being to pile stuff up in my garage! 

 

[jetcone]

Banner Frigidaire Day Ben !!

Amazing to find the dryer and then right next door the original washer kept from the Krusher all these years!

 

See now you understand the importance of nicotine too !

 

[whirlcool]

Aren't those 62' machines? My parents had the Custom Imperials set of those.

Ours were located in the rear mud room where you would come in from the garage and before you entered the kitchen. We used to use the lights from those machines as "nite lights" to light up the room. And they did a good job of it.

The thing I notice most about your machine is that it seems to have a 1-18 style agitator in it. On my parents set the agitator had those multi-colored rubber rings on them.

Very nice catch on those machines. I think they are some of the most beautiful washers ever designed.

 

[swestoyz]

Allen, the '62 set your folks had featured blue on grey accents, where the '63 models have yellow on green accents.

Below is a shot of a '62 set that trainguy had for sale a few years ago.

 

[swestoyz]

A shot of the '63 CI panel. The link goes to a thread where the 61-63 washers were discussed in depth.

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www.automaticwasher.org

 

[brainardcooper]

Wow!

That absolutely took my breath away when I saw this thread. I am so envious & excited for you. I have that filtrator dryer we spoke about earlier this spring. Now I hope I have the luck / fortune to find a washer to be a close match.

Congratulation!

 

[joelippard]

Nice!

Good for you Ben, I'm glad you found these and they'll get a good home with you

 

[hydralique]

Awesome!

I just love, love, love the design of the clamshell console: so very elegant, it really harkens to the best of American mid-century design. I know the 1-18 is mechanically a superior machine but all that fussy fake woodgrain does nothing for me while the clamshells do everything.

 

I'm very happy to see these go to someone who knows how fine and rare they are!

 

[whirlcool]

Ben:

You are exactly correct about the color differences. The set my parents had was the blue & gray. I always thought the clamshell design was a one year only thing, but I guess not. Thanks for letting me know the differences. I don't think there are many sets like this left out there.

Any idea who got Trainguy's set?

 

[bluejay]

That's a beautiful set!  God, Frigidaire made some sexy appliances back then!

 

[jetaction]

Nice to see!

The rare finds are getting fewer and far between, congrats on this. How fun to find something like this!

 

[philr]

The real clamshell was on the 1961 models. That year, the lighted panel could be folded on the controls. In 1962-63, it was fixed. In 1963, some knobs were also changed so they would extend more, the Custom Imperial washers and dryers kept the 1962-style knobs for a while and then changed to the new style during production. Some economy 1964 models were made with the 1963 looks. 

 

Ben, are your new machines 1963 models or 1964? The WIA-63 and 1964 WIAS-2 are quite similar but your washer looks more like a 1964 WIAS-2.

 

EDIT: I had completely missed your post #12! It's a 1964 model indeed and those scans I have attached show the same pages as yours!  Being a 1964 "special" model probably explains the painted side panels on the washer. 

 

[swestoyz]

Hey there Phil, the machine I found is a WIAS-1, not a WIAS-2. The '63 models are the "-1" and the '64 models are the "-2". Confusing, I know! These are somewhat rare outside of the standard models.

I wish I had docterine that talked specifically about the WIAS-1, but alas I do not. The owners manual is also dated from the fall of 1962.

Thanks again everyone! I ended up spending several hours fiddling with the '63 washer tonight. I figured out what is wrong with the timer, and I need to stop by the hardware store tomorrow to pick up a new set of belts. If isn't going to take much to get this old girl up and running (thankfully I've been gathering multimatic parts for quite some time.)

Ben

 

[pdub]

YAY Ben!

Cool machines you found there. All of them. I have the exact same gas dryer with the WIA-63 matching washer. They are both 1963 models. You will have so much fun with these machines and others are always drawn to them.

I found belts at Ace Hardware for them. The replacement belt numbers I bought were 3L280 and 3L320 and they fit perfectly.

Patrick

 

[philr]

WIAS-1?!

I also miss that document! And I don't think we had anything like that in Canada! 

 

 

 

[toploader55]

Great Finds Ben

Glad they're in good hands.

 

[jetcone]

My first restored washer 30 years ago

was a WCD-63. Loved that machine, it had the three ring agitator in the 12 pound tub. Nothing before or since in Frigidaire moved clothes like that combination!! Holla !