Large European Appliances In The United States

[launderess]

Every now and then one comes upon large European appliances that were never sold nor even marketed in the United States, which causes one to wonder how they arrived on these shores. My Pfaff ironer is one, but over the years other ironers, washing machines, dryers and sundry have appeared.

Watching a PBS program on the USS United States ocean liner, it suddenly occured to one: prior to the late 1970's or so, persons emigrating/moving house to the United States from Europe, more than likely did so via ocean liners. On such vessels it was possible to bring one's household (literally), along as it would be stored in the ship's hold. This went for automobiles and other large things as well. This was true for persons going anyplace in the world really. Moving from England to Oz, or Germany to Argentina, the result was often the same.

Of course today unless one is moving house for military reasons, and or one's employer is paying for the move, it is darn expensive to shift house, and many large items are simply either sold or left behind.

This explains why so many "vintage" European/UK appliances found outside of those shores are from the 1950's through 1970's. There was allot of movement after the war and not all of it were war brides.

 

[panthera]

True,

also, the US military re-locations made it possible for service and Nato personnel to bring their households back home.

The quality difference was not as pronounced in the 50-70's, but for the many "war brides" as well as for the young women and men who first set up household in Italy or Germany or the UK, there was no question that the wonderful appliances they had bought were coming home with them.

This was aided by the fact that many European manufacturers were clever enough to cash into the US military market by offering their appliances in 110V, 60Hz variations through the PX or Aafes stores.

Most larger bases had 110v conversion built in (not 50 to 60Hz and, yes, that did cause problems) as well as 220V 50Hz.

So it was easy to do. Your allowance would easily cover the entire range of kitchen and laundry.

Of course, by the 1990's, American quality had fallen to the point that it really made sense to bring the stuff back home.

No wonder we live in the world of the 50's, 60's and, if not tastefully, '70's here...what wonderful appliances America once built.

 

[passatdoc]

Most European war brides whom I know....

....never saw an automatic washer until they arrived in the USA, and at that point they felt as if they had died and gone to heaven. I have heard this from both British and German war brides. They were lucky to have had a twin tub before arriving in the States, and many were using wringer washers or washing by hand. I'm referring women who arrived prior to or before the early 1960s.

Pfaff ironers will never achieve the popularity in USA that they have in Germany, because only in Germany do some women still regard housework as a sort of hobby. "Wir müssen SAUBER machen....na ja, eine REINIGUNG".

PS some friends from Straubing just brought me two packets of Persil Universal Megaperls. Da weiß ich, was ich haben....

 

[passatdoc]

ACH!! HABE!!!! NICHT HABEN!!!

ACH!! HABE!!!! NICHT HABEN!!!

 

[panthera]

Glück gehabt, Jim

Wow! That is great, and don't we speak of ourselves in the plural, anyway?

 

[launderess]

Pfaff, and Ironers In General

Germany, despite not being known say as France,Ireland or Holland for fine linen, did then and still has a tradition of the stuff, hence all those ironers and kaltmangels one sees about.

Also in Germany there still exsists a strong tradtion of taking in ironing(ironing services, if one will), with or without washing. Having access not only to 220v power and in some cases 400v power makes it easy to run those HUGE old ironers that easily take large sheets and tablecloths without folding.

 

[ronhic]

It wasn't just...

...in the 50's, 60's and 70's that people brought their appliances with them.

When we moved back to Australia from the UK, we very nearly brought the Blomberg washing machine and Bosch dishwasher...not because we didn't have one here, rather they were better than what I had here....

Suffice to say, that we didn't and sold them with the flat along with a particularly good Electrolux upside down fridge/freezer with 2 compressors....

However, friends of ours did bring their appliances with them....Bosch dishwasher, Blomberg washer (model above mine) and AEG condensor dryer...and if you look at ebay.com.au you'll find at the moment a Servis and Indesit washing machine that people have brought with them as neither of these brands have regularly been sold here...though Indesit is now stocked by Harvey Norman....

...so it is still happening into the new millenium...and I can tell you now, that I would be bringing higher end appliances such as Miele of VZug with me if I was doing this again...in fact, I would go out, buy them and have them shipped in their cartons...