Most common brand of vintage washing machines

[brucelucenta]

Hands down, the MOST popular washing machines and dryers EVER made from the 60's thru the 90's were definitely Kenmore. They were in more homes than any other machines. There were once upon a time, Sears stores everywhere and with the generous discounts and sales they continually had, the prices were nearly impossible to beat for what you got. People who bought them usually were always repeat customers and when they required a new one, they bought another Kenmore. Even after they were priced similar to other machines this continued because people were used to buying Kenmore. They always were a fairly reliable brand that did a good job too.

 

[mrsalvo]

Growing up in the military, the bases provided appliances on base housing. Frigidaire, Westinghouse, GE, Hotpoint, and Norge are what I remember seeing in the neighbors houses, never a Kenmore and Whirlpool. My aunts had Kenmore and T/L Westinghouse with a couple of Maytags here and there, this was in the Kansas City, Missouri. My mothers side of the family was whatever Western Auto sold in Northern Arkansas, lots of Maytag wringers too.

 

[gyrafoam]

I used to enjoy the occasional Bradford or "Whizard" that I would come across. On old friend's grandparents had a Wizard solid-tub that lasted forever.

Funny how Whirlpool's were not common in Atlanta until the mid-sixties. I think the first one I ever saw was at Sharpe' Appliance over in Little Five Points. They were a big Frigidaire dealer.
When the K-Mart on Roswell Rd. Opened in the late sixties they had a big Whirlpool promo. Quite a number of my parents friends bought them.
As K-Marts continued to open stores around town Whirlpool appliances began to be commonplace. They must have been serious competition with Sears by then.
I knew they were pushing the upper end models because it was rare to se a Bol. They were always imperials or supremes.

 

[114jwh]

The West Coast in Canada......

In the 70's & 80's I would say hands down Inglis.....those machines with slanted control panels seemed to be absolutely everywhere. The older ones had an olive green control panel which then transitioned into a light bronze metallic, to woodgrain, to black and finally white into the 90's. 2nd? Lots of Viking (GE made) in this timeframe so that would be my guess...

In the late 80's and into the 2000's it was GE. The Vancouver area exploded with new condo builds and GE must have had some spectacular builder pricing as they were in every one of them. They would often put a full size GE washer and a stackable GE dryer in a closet to save space.

As to prior to the 70's, I'm not too sure. I would guess there were lots of Viking machines as you often still see Viking wringer washers for sale (more than any other wringer), rarely any automatics though. I think Canadians hung onto the wringer washer concept longer than our neighbors in the US.

Kenmore was always prevalent too but I wouldn't say they were the most common. You would also see Maytag, Westinghouse and other Camco machines of various branding (Moffat, Baycrest/Beaumark, McClary) and sometimes Speed Queen on occasion. To be honest though, I don't think I've ever actually seen a GM built Frigidaire washer/dryer in my life. Lots of 50's Frigidaire fridges and stoves but never remember any washers or dryers (other than in collections).

 

[losangeles]

In Huntsville, AL

I grew up in the 60's.  My neighborhood was fairly middle class but no predominate washing machine brand.  There were two unimatics, one Westinghouse FL, 2 Maytags, 1 Easy TL and a Philco-Bendix combo.  My mother and a neighbor had the only Kenmores.  My mothers first Kenmore that I cut my automatic teeth on finally gave up the ghost when I was 9.  She ordered a new Kenmore but it was going to have to be ordered and she did not want to wait.  She bought a Westinghouse Combo.  BIG MISTAKE.  She hated everything about it.  When Sears started carrying Kenmores in house, the Westinghouse hit the street.  I hated to see it go.  I loved watching it.  And since I was short for my age, I did not have to stand on a box to watch it go thru a cycle.

 

[potatochips]

On the east coast of Canada it's quite similar to what James said. LOTS of Inglis and Kenmore products out here. GE and their other brands like Viking and Beaumark were a real runner up in terms of popularity. Maytags are here, kinda rare though.

GE dishwashers were quite popular in the 80s here.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Well, next to the "Big K", I have seen a lot of Whirlpools in my time--might I say, if it's not just "near the top" then it was the top", along w/ GE...

Along with a few odd-balls, such as Norge's, Westinghouse's and Frigidaire's... Even Maytags were still a bit of a minority... --But that very latter, up and coming...

I would bet there had to be some time there had to a "Kenmore period of lull", just for the brand to be revived--and in the laundry room, at that...

The early-to-mid-'70's would come to mind, not that I see a lot of those "underdogs" in use today... Just something those many Kenmores coming back--and Maytags replaced...

-- Dave

 

[angus]

In Fairfield, lots of Maytags since there were two small dealers - one was exclusively Maytag and the other sold mostly Maytag. Some Whirlpool, a few GE and Kenmore but not much else. A rogue Norge, Philco (two separate friends had fathers that worked for two separate Firestone Stores - which was the main Philco dealer in our area) or Westinghouse might have popped up- but no Frigidaire, Hotpoint, Speed Queen, Blackstone, Hamilton, Kelvinator or anything like that. Also never any colors - always white since most washers were in damp unfinished basements, so why bother with color?

 

[norgeway]

Its funny...

I guess it depended on WHERE you lived as to what was sold and thought of as being cheap or TOL, In my hometown of Lenoir NC,Frigidaire was ALWAYS in the high dollar houses, Maytags were also considered good, but on cotton mill hill, or the cheaper neighborhoods, EVERYONE had GE stuff, so I always thought GE was a cheap product...LOL I think it was because of the dealer, Shaws and OP Lutz were Frigidaire dealers, and Shaws had THE MOST EXPENSIVE furniture and accessories in Lenoir, Second would have been Bernhardt Seagle Hardware, they sold Westinghouse and Amana, Shields sold Kelvinator and Maytag, Duke power and WB Lindsey sold Hotpoint,Crowells and Home Electric sold GE, Crowells probably sold more appliances than any one else, they had a small store on North Main Street that defied description...cramped and small, wood floors in the front DIRT in the back, but your money went a LONG way with George Crowell, a fine guy who everyone trusted and who ran credit ...you never signed anything, you just told George what you wanted, he delivered it and you paid what you could every month..

 

[wft2800]

Is this a North American-only thread, or are UK/European contributions welcomed too?

 

[agiflow2]

We would love to hear what brands are most popular in UK/Europe ! Fire away !