Lil' different sorta mini collection

[northwesty]

Well, not a lot of variety here but I thought they would look nice all in a row. I really like the look of these old '49-'51 Kenmores. I want to thank Greg – Gansky1 for trusting me to give the one set a good home and to Chris in St. Louis who originally saved and put together the same set. I plan on having them all hooked up and working in a now storage room soon to be altered. I think it will be most practical to have more than one washing machine.

 

[northwesty]

Dryers

The one dryer was originally from Washington, made the trip to St. Louis, then to Nebraska, then back to Washington, so it is quite the traveler.

 

[northwesty]

Lighted control

Hey, don't laugh

 

[northwesty]

Here are some action shots

filling

 

[northwesty]

Washing

Uh-oh, one is going faster than the other

 

[northwesty]

Spin

Clanking solenoids!

 

[northwesty]

Here are some process shots.

The dials were sorta beat up so I stripped all the paint off, then spray painted with appliance paint. I’m not quite done and will have to do a few over.

 

[northwesty]

Before and after

Rather a painstaking process of carefully applying paint with a fine brush and wiping off the excess.

That's the timer dial one on the right. Actually, one of the timers on the dryers is no good, so if anyone out there has a replacement I would be interested. It has been rebuilt twice by Midwest and they can’t fix it. Thanks

 

[northwesty]

One shot of the restorations.

Most of the machines are in good shape, but I do scrape and clean the inside and apply Hammerite rust stop paint to the problem areas.

One sad note. The agitator in one of the machines did have a crack in it and unfortunately didn’t even make it through this first test wash. So if anyone has a 50s Kenmore or Whirlpool agitator they would be willing to part with let me know. I have a feeling these parts are not going to be let go of by the folks that have them, but no harm in asking. Thanks and thanks for looking!

 

[gansky1]

Wow- these machines look great! Your painstaking work on the finer details will make them just like they were on the Sears sales floor!

For the dryer timers, the S-5143 original part number was converted to # 235380 and this interchanges with about 15 models in the parts books so that would lead me to believe that many of the dryer timers probably used the same timer-motors. There are a couple of other timer rebuild services out there, I'm sure someone here will have that info.

 

[user 12105]

Those Kenmores are beautiful!!...excellent work!

 

[foraloysius]

Amazing, you did a fine job on these machines! How fun it is to have two exactly the same sets. Hope you will share pictures of the laundry room when it's finished.

 

[sudsman]

HOW NICE

You have done a super job , You would make Ma Kenmore VERY proud. I can see thoes big smiley dentures right now...

 

[christfr]

aww

aww how cool is that.. am so glad you like them am sure greg and i know i feel very safe in knowing that you have them and will take good care of them.. am very happy for you!! they are like jewels in the crown

 

[swestoyz]

A Double Date!

What a fun set of machines! I love the overhead shot you took - that trademark Kenmore agitation at it again. Great job on the resto work - I'm very impressed with all the detail that went into those dials.

Ben

 

[westyslantfront]

Hi Brian. Your machines look great. Thank you for the pictures.

Ross

 

[mayken4now]

Brian, wonderful machines. They are so cool, the 4 of them.

Steve

 

[danoz74]

Wow

They look beautiful and all shiny new.. I can just picture a lovely 50's housewife, valium'd off her tree, ready to process her family's washing ;-)
BTW, I noticed the whitewalls on the covered car outside your garage...? You restore cars too?

 

[jasonl]

Yay for early Kenmores

What beautiful machines you have.

 

[Unimatic1140]

Brian the machines all look factory fresh. I love the work you are doing on the control dials! It's just fantastic.

 

[retroguy]

In a word....WOW!!!

Looks like they couldn't be in a better home!

 

[frigilux]

Brian--- The four machines look great together in a row like that. You've got your own little laundromat with vintage machines! Hope you're able to find an agitator soon. Excellent work; they look fantastic!

 

[brastemp]

Congratulations...

 

[rickr]

Talk about a matched set....

Or am I seeing double?? lol! Great job restoring these Brian! They will be lots of fun! Thanks for the photos, and enjoy those "Frog Eye" Kenmores

 

[pdub]

Great work Brian, and what a score getting 2 matching complete sets. Unbelievable! So, you're saving room for other things too, right?!!!

Patrick

 

[northwesty]

Yes Patrick I still have the laundry room proper to take care of.

Rickr - I think the "frog eye -- one eyed frog" Kenmore is the one after these, or is it?. Is there a slang name for these? I did see "bull nose" (as in tile lingo?) used once, I think.

Brian

 

[toggleswitch]

GAWGEOUS, just GAWGEOUS!

 

[westytoploader]

Wow Brian, what beautiful Kenmores, pretty soon you'll be setting up a vintage Sears showroom! Those timer knobs came out very neat.

 

[rickr]

Hi Brian, the models you have were called (slang) "frog eye" and the model after those was (slang) "target" or "bulls eye" I like all the Kenmores from the 50's and 60's. And you have some very nice early examples there.

 

[eddy1210]

Great!

Hi Brian, these are really nice Kenmores. You need an agitator? I have a spare black bakelite one for you. One trip to Seattle, I will take it down for you.