Hi Guys
I don't often post but log into this wonderful site 3 or 4 times a day. That AMP brings back a wave of memories.
That is very definitely a 1949 Maytag AMP; the first automatic Maytag produced. My Dad surprised my Mom with this very same machine for their anniversary that year. I still remember the solid mechanical "clang" sound when it went into the spin!
My Dad bought it from "Paul's Appliances" on Pico Blvd in West Los Angeles. This was a small "Mom and Pop" business in an old store front building. He was an "authorized" Westinghouse Dealer. However, 90% of his business was repairs of all makes!
He had immigrated to the US from Austria in 1928 and still spoke with a thick accent.
He had 1 Westinghouse Slant front in the front window. But when you walked the front door, you were in the repair and service area!
He had done repairs for my Great-Grandmother, Great-Aunt and Grandmother ( Dad called them the "Generals') since 1930! When a new appliance was purchased, only Paul could do this. He could order any brand from the wholesaler; do a small retail markup and everyone was happy!
So when Mother told Dad that she would have nothing but a Maytag, and to avoid upsetting the "Generals", Dad went to Paul!
For the next 14 years, that machine averaged 12 to 15 loads a week; including my dad's ( a brick mason) concrete and sand coverd work clothes. During that time it only needed 1 repair!
My parents decided to build a new home in the San Fernando Valley in 1957. They sold the house in West LA and put all household goods into storage at Bekins while they built the new house. We moved in with the Grandparents for the 1 1/2 years it took to build the new house. Dad had close friends in all the trade fields so the house was built on the weekends!
When the machine came out of storage, Guess What? It started, filled and agitated. But when it was time for the familiar "solid mechanical clang sound" of the spin...nothing happend!
Paul was summoned, drove the 40 miles to the new house, brought an old Bendix Economat as a loaner, and took the AMP back to his shop for repairs! 3 weeks later, after daily calls from Mother asking about his progress, the Maytag came home and Mother gladly paid the $75.00 repair charge! Paul reminded her that he warned her about this, when he had done the pre-storage disconnect. Guess these old work-horses didn't like to be idle!
Finally, on a gray January day in 1963, Paul was summoned. He examined the now quiet and un-reponsive "patient". Quietly shaking his head, he explained to Mom that the AMP's tranmission had failed, her timer was questionable and he "had a feeling" about the motor.
Mom went into mourning! In an effort to make her feel better, my grandmother surprised Mom with a new Frigidaire Custom Delux as an early birthday gift. Grandmother, a died in the wool Westinghouse fan, had heard about Frigidaires at her bridge club. In her mind, all top loader were the same. But since the Frigidaire came from General Motors, the same company that built her new Cadillac, it had to be superior machine!
From the day in late January, 1963 when Paul delivered the Frigidaire, until her death in 1977, Mom hated that machine! Some how she felt it didn't clean well; to the point that she double washed Dad's work clothes! In reality, the real reason was because it didn't say "Maytag" on the panel.
Sorry for the long post, I just took a trip down memory lane.
Have a Great Time with your "new" old Maytag! She is a Beauty!
Best Regards
Bob Donham, Sioux Falls
