POD question

[washabear]

Hello, all:

The picture of the day of the Wizard machine brought back a memory. I only ever knew of one household that had one, a neighbor of ours who bought everything from Western Auto. I think that is the only one I've ever seen, although I don't remember much about it. Who made them? Just curious.

Thanks.

 

[toggleswitch]

Imperial wizard? Were these seen in the south? I can't say I've ever seen one.

 

[tlee618]

Had a neighbor that had an Imperial set as well. They owned the Western Auto in our town. It was a beautiful set, lighted consoles and all. She had it in her kitchen, The one thing that really stands out in my mind is that it seemed to do a ton of spray rinses. I also remember that it was not working a lot of the time.LOL

 

[harold]

My Grandmother did have a Wizard Washer. She buy the machine in 1964 from Western Auto Supply.. It was a solid tub. she had it until 1970, she did got a Sears kenmore 800. in 1970.

 

[frigilux]

I'd never seen a Wizard, but they were also branded as Coronado, which was available in the small town I grew up in. I believe these machines have a Franklin transmission, which is still used in 80's-to-present Frigidaire TL'ers. For better or worse, LOL.

 

[appnut]

Ooh, Harold is now a possibly 4th member here who had a 1970 or 1971 Kenmopre 800 in their past.

 

[gansky1]

Gambles 1961

These are so pretty with the piano key controls. I saw the dryer in a thrift store a few years back. Too bad they were such junk...

 

[veg-o-matic]

Did Franklin make the whole machines or just the transmissions?
I know that towards the end of the run, WA dropped the Wizard name in favor of Citation, and the last ones were labeled Citation by Norge.

veg

 

[harold]

Hi Appnut

When my Grandmother past away in 1979, I did have her Kenmore Washer the 800 series, She did buy it the day before my Father past away in Sept 1970. When my Grandmother past on I did have her Kenmore washer I only have it for couple years, and I got another one. I wish that Kenmore washer was here again.. I can kick myself for doing that.. The machine was an 6 cycles, with a Super Roto Swirl.

 

[panthera]

coronado, wizard, gambles

Gosh, none of these names mean a thing to me. Were they original or put together by whoever had extra capacity?
Whatever else one may say about that Franklin tranny...it does seem to run forever!

 

[washabear]

OK, I dug out an old Consumer Reports Buying Guide from 1977, and it describes both a Wizard machine and a Norge machine as being similar to a Wards Signature machine, so perhaps both the Wizard and the Signature were made by Norge? All had similarly poor frequency of repair rankings in an earlier guide (Wizard was the worst).

Never heard of the Coronado brand. Neat ad; thanks gansky1 for including it.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[lesto]

A neighbor had a Wizard. I was from early 60's. Same agitator as Robert's Wizard. It had a timed fill and the control knob was very similar to speed queens of the 57 & 58 models. Two cycles, normal and short. Overflow rinse.

 

[harold]

Wizard

I did find a pic of my Grandmother Wizard washer. Yes, overflow wash and rinse.

 

[DADoES]

My dad's uncle's wife's brother ran a Western Auto store in a nearby town, she always had Wizard. The last one I remember looked very much like those in the ad above, but BOL. One speed, timer dial and small water-saver button.

 

[jasonl]

Harold's mom had taste!

 

[frigilux]

Gambles were hardware stores that also sold Coronado appliances. They were fairly inexpensive and I remember several friends whose parents had Coronado washers. The 60s/very early 70s models were solid, indexing tubs with overflow rinses. Then they must have changed manufacturers, because by the time I graduated from high school, I seem to recall they had very large, perforated tubs--ala Norge, as someone has pointed out.

 

[peterh770]

Under the hood, the Franklin transmission (and the Westinghouse trasmission, for that matter) looked very much like the GE transmittion: kind of a huge bell under the outer tub, with the motor offset to one corner and a pump connected to the motor with a flexible coupling. When Elux changed the Frigidaire and Westinghouse designs to plastic, they overhauled the transmission, keeping many of the same elements for performance, but loosing the size of the mechanism and the durability.

 

[veg-o-matic]

Is it me, or does that $199.88 Wizard look like a Philco?

veg

 

[harold]

Jason

Hi Jason, My Grandmother and I went over to Sears, the Salesman told my Grandmother the Kenmore 800 was on sale, she did have a choice from the 700 or the 800. So, she got the 800 series. I just love that machine, I wish this website was turn on in the 1980's, and I will not sell the machine..