POD 12/13/12 Speed Queen

[yogitunes]

there could not be a POD of Speed Queen go by with out me commenting on it.....LOL....

one is the beautiful colors........suprised they don't re-introduce these again.....that AppleGreen and SundownOrange are killer....what great colors for a laundry or kitchen......

two...the tranny....I know there question about the 210 degree stroke.....but mainly is the design.....simple yet, the Arc-Cuate is what puts this powerful stroke into action, and the blade design of the agitator is almost like a whale tail........the newer SQ still have the long stroke, but not the "power swing", it just has the same speed swing back and forth......

were these trannies truely undestructable.....of all the failures I have seen in these machines, belts, pumps, bearings....I never seen a tranny fail...

 

[alr2903]

I have used one that, would miss it's "return oscillation"  it only revolved one way, winding everything around the agitator, then pause instead of reversing the oscillation.  It was a coin op.  It is the only one i have ever witnessed first hand with a problem.  Every once in a while you would find a solenoid SQ that will give enough of a kick to revolve the spin tub a couple of  times when you first push in the quarters. alr

 

[macboy91si]

What a Great Ad

Yes, I'll take Apple Green please. It's funny, because the whole statement of the ad has come full circle with the colors. I think these 2 colors could liven things up once again.

 

-Tim

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

SQ "Custom" Colors

I like that Orange, myself...

Should have been as popular as the Harvest Gold...

-- Dave

 

[akronman]

the girl

in the ad looks like a cross between Mary Tyler Moore and Marlo Thomas, remember "That Girl?"

 

[tomturbomatic]

Did SQ make the 20# front loader? I don't remember seeing that many of them, but sorta stayed out of SQ laundromats. SQs were in the laundry rooms of the first apt bldg I lived in up here. Some had porcelain tubs and others stainless. They must have been water hogs because the long overflow rinse at the end of wash would clear the suds from the top of the water and the one in the rinse went on for a long time also. While I was no fan of them, they made neat noises, especially the loud giant solenoids. In the late 60s, I found a sound effects record with a lot of neat noises like a bogged-down lawn mower, but it also had the fill, wash and spin + the overflow rinse and spin of a SQ washer.

 

[a440]

In Morgan City, Louisiana there IS a Speed Queen Laundry Mat that had these exact washers and dryers.
The fun part about it is that every other washer is a different color. Same thing for the dryers. The tile on the floor and the furniture were also the mix matched colors with the same color scheme. Although it seems like it would be "too much", it is very festive.
There are two of the dry clean machines that are in stainless. Of course they had not been used in years.
About 9 or so years ago I stopped by there and was shocked that they were all still in service!
Brent

 

[revvinkevin]

Speed Queen Landromat

Hey Brent,

If Morgan City, Louisiana isn't too far away OR... the next time you are over that way (soon?) take your camera, take lots of photos and please post them here!

Thanks!
Kevin

 

[alr2903]

Tom, i think SQ did make the "Super 20",  it was kind of an oddball, stainless steel drum,  iirc only 2 tumble baffles,  water ran into the drum right in front of the window.  For their day they were low water level machines about like 80's Wascomats.  The front lower panel was perforated with tiny holes, i guess for motor ventilation. Small additive door on top, with rinse light to add softner. The other "mat" in town had the FL machines that were made by "Cook"  the door was mostly "pot metal with a small rectangular window.  I have never seen one of the cook machines again. alr 

 

[llmaytag]

Pic of the Day

These are the exact machines in the laundromat that I used before buying my home in 1994. The top loads, front loads, and dryers, all in Harvest Gold. That ad has to be from the 70s so when I used them in the early 90s, they were already pretty old but they worked!

Curious about the tub. Under the agitator, does the tub come up like ring cake pan? Without holes in the tub it would have been a tad more efficient with water, and there would be advantages to not having the tub-seal submerged.

 

[volvoguy87]

20

The 20 pound front loader looks pretty good. How were/are they in comparison to others?

Dave

 

[mrb627]

Dream!!!

I would love to find a couple of these minty and never used. By far my favorite of the coin-op world!

Malcolm

 

[yogitunes]

The last time I had to use a laundromat was around 1995....it still had the solid tubs in use, but definately on their last legs, the solenoid was trying to kick in for agitation, and you heard this loud clunking, but not enough power to shift into gear on its own, I assisted the agitator with a stroke, and then it locked down and took off from there....it just brought back memories of a once great place to do laundry....and yet runned down at this point......

what I found funny, was not only were these machines colorful, but they also each had "names" in script diagonal below the "Q".......the washers were females, and the dryers were males.....

also....how many of the machines lid switch never worked, it would spin with the lids open.....and yet no one was stupid enough to put their hand in there....or no children got hurt in those times..............

even the front loaders doors did not lock, just a lever that swung over and stayed in place during use......although I often wondered what would happen if the door was opened while full of water?....

 

[joefuss1984]

Funny you mention...

about the door being open while it was full of water.

i remember having a book as a child and the child in the book did just that and made a big mess. O I loved that book haha. mom saved all of our childrens books, I need to try to find it.

 

[cfz2882]

old coin op SQs still going

In '89 i went to a laundromat that was still running a fleet of turquoise '60s
speed queens-was great to have a look and listen there!
For the door coming open on a front load,my '98 neptune 3000 did that on it's
first test run after bringing it home after buying for $25 in non-working condition
-had several problems including bad door wax motor and plugged pressure switch line
-filled up almost to center of drum before water pressure popped door open releasin
a tidal wave of water onto the lawn LOL