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<h1 class="eeb7e20a" data-scp="title hidden">Speed Queen: The Life (and Death) of Internet Commenters’ Favorite Washing Machine</h1>
Eugene Pallas, owner of Lorain Furniture & Appliance in Cleveland, Ohio, was among the most ardent enthusiasts I encountered. He has been a huge Speed Queen fan since 2000, the first time he repaired one. For a couple of years, the only new washers he would sell at his shop were Speed Queen.
“I gotta look the customer in the eye three months later when I see them,” Pallas said, “and I don’t have any hesitation when I know they bought a Speed Queen from me.” He worries that if he sells somebody a cheaper, repair-prone washer, he’ll lose the customer forever. As a small shop, he can’t afford to have that happen.
Regular posters in forums I visited while reporting this article echoed Pallas’s assessment, referring to themselves as “people reminiscing [for] the days of quality construction and easy repair” who “like to have control.” Several users compared them to old muscle cars, before smog-reduction regulations kicked in and crippled the old designs. It’s also, at least a little bit, about holding up a middle finger to our “throwaway disposable economy,” which they deride as “planned obsolescence run amok.”
I brought up the fact that Speed Queen top-loaders earn mediocre test scores from mainstream review outlets, but none of the fans seemed particularly bothered. “I’m nearly 60 years old and have seen most washers from the mid-1950’s onward” wrote AutomaticWasher.org forum member Barry Warren, who posts under the handle mrsalvo. “The agitator washers... were the standard, period. Tried and proven,” and then he wrote out a very comprehensive list of pro-agitator points, including: better reliability, never locking you out of the washer, no mold, quick cycles, and more user control in general. (Warren did say, though, that he liked his vintage GE Filter-Flo agitator top-loader much more than the Speed Queen he bought last year.) Michael Haensel, who posts on the forum as EEmac, added: “The agitator top-loader cleans my stuff very well.”
https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/speed-queen-washer/
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<h1 class="eeb7e20a" data-scp="title hidden">Speed Queen: The Life (and Death) of Internet Commenters’ Favorite Washing Machine</h1>
Eugene Pallas, owner of Lorain Furniture & Appliance in Cleveland, Ohio, was among the most ardent enthusiasts I encountered. He has been a huge Speed Queen fan since 2000, the first time he repaired one. For a couple of years, the only new washers he would sell at his shop were Speed Queen.
“I gotta look the customer in the eye three months later when I see them,” Pallas said, “and I don’t have any hesitation when I know they bought a Speed Queen from me.” He worries that if he sells somebody a cheaper, repair-prone washer, he’ll lose the customer forever. As a small shop, he can’t afford to have that happen.
Regular posters in forums I visited while reporting this article echoed Pallas’s assessment, referring to themselves as “people reminiscing [for] the days of quality construction and easy repair” who “like to have control.” Several users compared them to old muscle cars, before smog-reduction regulations kicked in and crippled the old designs. It’s also, at least a little bit, about holding up a middle finger to our “throwaway disposable economy,” which they deride as “planned obsolescence run amok.”
I brought up the fact that Speed Queen top-loaders earn mediocre test scores from mainstream review outlets, but none of the fans seemed particularly bothered. “I’m nearly 60 years old and have seen most washers from the mid-1950’s onward” wrote AutomaticWasher.org forum member Barry Warren, who posts under the handle mrsalvo. “The agitator washers... were the standard, period. Tried and proven,” and then he wrote out a very comprehensive list of pro-agitator points, including: better reliability, never locking you out of the washer, no mold, quick cycles, and more user control in general. (Warren did say, though, that he liked his vintage GE Filter-Flo agitator top-loader much more than the Speed Queen he bought last year.) Michael Haensel, who posts on the forum as EEmac, added: “The agitator top-loader cleans my stuff very well.”
https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/speed-queen-washer/