This is a cutie. Penny's and others had a version of this machine - didn't we decide once that Hitachi made some of these for Sears, etc.?
IIRC, this impeller reverses? I never thought the Hoover, when not overloaded, was all that hard on clothes. I was always satisfied with the cleaning after two wash "cycles" for normally soiled clothes. Tangling, yes, but that is true with most of these impeller washers I've used.