POD 4/4/2017

[brucelucenta]

These were at the tail end of the 29" wide belt drive Whirlpool washers. The washer had the "super capacity" tub and the Whirlpool wavy agitator with the extra wings at the bottom for better movement of big loads. (Speed Queen adopted a similar agitator some years ago) That mechanism was really a terrific one, but expensive to keep manufacturing I suspect and so the new direct drive machines took over shortly after this. The electronic control was in sort of it's infancy then and the panel had a tendency to go out and need to be replaced. Otherwise these were really good washers and the dryers were and still are good dryers that require little to maintain. It was at the end of an era and many of the washers and dryers we knew had either already changed or would soon change to different designs that were more cost efficient to produce. This basic mechanism had the longest run of any automatic washer ever made with few changes and had a single direction motor.

 

[mayken4now]

Beautiful is right

Does anyone in the club have this pair of machines?  

 

My aunt and uncle, 1980, bought this set in Basile Louisiana.  Remember being stunned at the control panel and the agitator.  Wanted to play with it so badly, knowing I dare not touch it.  Coast was never clear for me to play.  They lasted 18 years.  

 

[DADoES]

 
This is the 1978 LFA series.  Belt-drive production continued for I believe 8 more years to early 1986.  The last electronic belt-drive model had the control panel buttons restyled to a linear fashion.

Neighbors had this set in almond.  The washer had the quiet-pak motor grommets but a standard belt (not the skinny belt).  The dryer had mechanical pushbuttons instead of touchpads.  She never used the auto-sensor dry cycles, always timed.  The washer was retired in the late early 1980s when a problem developed with the control board or touch panel.