9560W
I have a 9560W which I believe was top of the line in 1986. It is a private import, Hotpoints were never sold in AU. (Though the purple door machines were sold badged as "GEC", and 1990's models (WMA's??) were sold badged as "General Electric".)
I got my 9560W from a friendly reconditioner about 12 years ago, he gave it to me not working, I got a repaired set of circuit boards sent out from England, and modified a Hoover lid to fit as the top panel was missing. I used it as my main machine for a couple of years. Not overly impressed with it - poor rinsing as the stepped floor of the drum means it kept a few suds back at each rinse. Very very noisy by Aussie standards, both motor noise and general buzzz rattle and vibrate at faster spin speeds. It is badged as a micro-profile 1300 but has a bar graph to show spin speeds, which goes up to 1400 rpm. To this day I have never seen a machine with a better display. Some cycles were ridiculously long, the Mixed Wash cycle washed for three hours before starting the rinses and spins! The final spin would start at 400, then tumble, then 600, then tumble, then 800, then tumble, and so on up to 1400 rpm. It took ages.
When the bearings became noisy I removed the back panel, put a spanner on the big centre axle nut, put all my might into turning it. It released suddenly, my hand slipped and cut a tendon in my finger on the sharp metal edge of the opening. I spent a night in hospital, surgery next morning, they mucked up the anaesthetic, amost killing me and leaving me with permanent tinnitus (ringing in the ears.) I still have that "souvenir" of my attempt to fix the Hotpoint. When I got home from hospital I finished replacing the bearings and got it working again.
The machine now lives in my shed, no longer used as it has an appetite for motor brushes which are expensive and hard to get over here, the belt has been cannibalised for a neighbour's GE machine, and some of the plastic trim is cracked. Since getting it, I found a correct top panel from a rusted out 800 rpm basic version which was put out for hard garbage colection - another private import.
I should probably throw it out as it no longer goes, it won't work in our solar power system due to excessive power draw, and I still haven't forgiven it for biting the hand that fixed it. But I still sort of like it so it hasn't gone yet...
Chris.
