POD 7/11/2017

[brucelucenta]

I would think this machine was introduced in 1966. The plainest of the plain. It has the basic 3 water temps and 3 water levels. It still has the old style agitator made of bakelite and is possibly the best washing machine design ever made. Amazingly enough, there are still machines like this around that still operate. It held a decent size load of clothes and did a better than average job of washing, rinsing and spinning them. The dryer did a good job also, even though the lint filter was inconvenient to clean out. This washer design held the record for fewest service problems for many years. The same basic mechanism was used for the next several decades. It would be interesting to know what year the larger capacity machine was introduced. I know the first larger capacity machines had the blue power fin agitators that were a little different than the ones later produced.[this post was last edited: 7/11/2017-05:42]

 

[hilovane]

The large -capacity Maytags with the new Power-Fin agitator were also introduced in 1966.

 

[brucelucenta]

Interesting, I wonder why they did not change the standard capacity machines to the power fin agitator then. It seems that came later.

 

[askolover]

Mother's first washer

bought after she and Daddy got married in....1966.  The console looked just like this one but I think hers must have been an A206 because it didn't have all those blank spaces on the timer but the buttons were identical.  Hers also had the turquoise agitator.  My grandmothers had a black and turquoise agitator.  Mother used hers for 16 years....countless loads of cloth diapers for two kids.  It began leaking oil in 1982 so she bought a new GE filterflo that lasted only 11 years and the trans went out.  She went back to Maytag with her stacked set that she's still using now...23 years and counting.

 

[gyrafoam]

Bruce, they probably had a million of the older Gyratators in the warehouse and needed to use them up.
I have a working 106. Like most BOL "diaper-washers" it is very basic and does a great job. No telling how many of these did the laundry of huge families and are likely still going today.

 

[frigidaireguy]

THIS ANSWERS THE QUESTION

THAT WAS POSED THE OTHER DAY ABOUT THE MATCHING DRYER FOR THE 106 WASHER.
BOB

 

[gansky1]

The gearing for agitation also changed with the power-fin agitator, 63 oscillations per minute vs. 54 of the previous machines with the bakelite agitator. Hard to tell what they were thinking at the time, but perhaps they thought it was best not to mess with the previous design that worked well (slower stroke) and using up their bakelite stocks but they only offered these low-end slower stroke machines for a short time and then switched everything over to the newer 63 OPM and blue plastic agitators.

 

[lesto]

The only thing I didn't like about these Maytags (including my 1962 model) is the short rinse period. Two minutes of agitation just isn't long enough for a full load - especially if you use liquid fabric softener.

 

[peteski50]

Maytag!

What I liked about these older models was they had a longer wash period as opposed to all the later models that had a max of a 10 minute wash period! I especially thought in the larger models they should have had a longer wash period. At least in 1980 when they nixed the center dial they went back to a 12 minute wash! I always liked maytag but I always felt WP washed a bit better with the surgulator and KM with dual action. But to me nothing beat a 1/18 for cleaning and rollover!

 

[brucelucenta]

That is all very interesting and I did not know it. I wonder how many models of both the standard and large capacity there were at first.[this post was last edited: 7/11/2017-15:24]

 

[gyrafoam]

Les, the two minute rinse was a lot better in these standard capacity machines than the extra capacity, orbital drive machines of the 1990's with the lame 90 second rinse! An Extra Large load rarely had a chance to roll over once in that rinse.