Lady Kenmore Combination

[pulltostart]

Just talked to the owner of this Lady Kenmore combination for sale on CL, Atlanta.  The unit was purchased new by her parents and comes with original literature about the machine.  It is an electric model.  She is clearing out some things in her basement and wants the combination unit to go to a good home - not the crusher.  You can check out the link and respond to the ad, or give a call/email and I can give you her name and phone number.

 

Lawrence

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/app/2808257493.html

 

[pulltostart]

Here's a close up of the name badge.

 

L

 

[pulltostart]

And here's a shot of the console.  Looks to be in mighty-fine condition!

 

L

 

[pulltostart]

But Wait - There's More

Same seller has this 1952 Kenmore washer - also purchased new by her parents - and for this one she still has the bill of sale, plus the original paperwork.

 

Lawrence

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/app/2808026974.html

 

[pulltostart]

Money shot for the '52.

 

L

 

[d-jones]

It's amazing what still turns up!

It seems like every week a half dozen or so vintage machines turn up. It makes me wonder just how much is still out there lurking in basements and garages all over the country. The very first washing machine I can recall from my childhood was a Bendix combo. This would've been mid to late sixties.

 

[redcarpetdrew]

Ohhhhhh, Keeevvviiinnn! You WERE trying to outdo John, weren't you? LOL!

RCD

 

[turquoisedude]

Gasp! That 52 Kenmore is very cool! Hmmm... this one is on the right coast at least...

 

[countryford]

How I would give my right nu....errr arm for that Lady K Combo.

 

[tomturbomatic]

I hope they kept the '52 to spin stuff in before putting it back in the combo to dry. My parents bought that model with sudssaver when we moved into the house in Grand Ridge, IL, halfway between Streator and Ottawa. It had oil heat and electric water heating so hot water was expensive.

I love the setting on the dry timer of the combo labeled "LINE DRY" that dried the load for about 20 or 30 minutes to make them dry enough to hang without them dripping on the line.

 

[jetcone]

What a neat machine

that LK Combo is!! Oh John are you there?? Road trip?????

 

Call me.

 

 

 

[turquoisedude]

If that 52 Kenmore isn't already claimed and a road trip is in the works,  I am interested!!

 

[lesto]

Where in Atlanta is she? I'm calling fellow club member Stephen Kirkpatrick right now about these two machines. We may have to try and grab these babies. Things like this don't turn up here in Atlanta very often.

 

[cornutt]

What year would this model have been? The reason I ask is because the knobs look a lot like what I remember from my mom's Kenmore washer, which I've never been able to identify from any photo I've seen here.

 

[northwesty]

Nice to see another early Kenmore show up. These were painted with a great heavy duty paint, but still not porcelain. So I can't help noticing the lack of rust on the hinge area.

 

[tomturbomatic]

David, We had a '58 LK washer. The dial was like these except for a cameo of a lady where the K is. The original dial had no pointer because the machine had the "tape kit" where the cycles were on a band of film visible through a clear window in the control panel. When the tape kit started slipping, Sears replaced it with a different control panel insert with the cycles printed around the dial on the left. This new dial needed a pointer and it was like these. This combo was introduced in 1958 and sold until 60 or 61, I think.

 

[tomturbomatic]

A really neat thing about this machine is that it heats water. Behind the front access panel, you will see a square box on the lower part of the tank. This is where the immersion heater goes into the sump. CU bitched about the amount of electricity used, but never equated the water heating with the excellent wash performance of this machine. There is a lot of steel to heat up and since each fill only used enough water to saturate the load plus 3 gallons, a hot fill would never really heat up the machine and stay hot unless it was the second load, started right after the combo had finished drying the previous one and was all hot inside. In fact if you need to save electricity, wash a load of whites needing really hot water after a load of colors that you let dry. When set for a HOT wash, the timer holds while the water is heated to 140F. When set for MED, the washer fills with warm water and heats it to around 120F. So whoever gets this should not think that the timer is bad if it does not immediately advance in the wash cycle. It is just doing a powersoak while heating the water. It does not take long since the heater operates at 230 volts.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Sorry, in addition to not knowing if I am coming or going, I seem to have trouble knowing my right from my left. The timer on the '58 LK was on the right hand side of the control panel. The square background plastic around the timer was dark gray with the cycles printed in the same colors as on the tape kit and lighted from behind by the fluorescent tube. The area where the window had been for the tape kit was all translucent white plastic.