ROAD TRIP TO BUFFALO FOR ROLLERMATICS ENDS IN DISASTER!

[christfr]

aw man really sorry to hear all of this. my heart goes out to you. dont trash the machine just yet either a new top will come along or the lower half will be wonderful for a doner machine. if you want to sell off the lower half let me know am sure we can save another machine from your machine. there will be another one out there with your name on it. try not to worry

 

[turquoisedude]

OH NOOOOOOOO!!!

Pete, that is just awful! I managed to do something similar once, but with a vintage fridge... Don't give up - you will find another one and at the very worst, perhaps your machine will be a parts donor.
Such a shame - and a turquoise one, to boot!!

 

[supremewhirlpol]

The machine being damaged is very unfortunate. I know there is another machine out there, it may take you a while to find it though. My view is that it is just a machine and it can fixed, you may have to fabricate parts but it is fixable. Beating up on yourself that much may not be necessary. As long as you are mindful of taking those corners slow and taking chill periods went you get too excited about a machine, you should be fine. I understand exactly how much a machine can mean to a person. You view the rollermatics as a work of art, just like I view the 1968 Whirlpool washers with the crescent console light as a work of art.(by the way I have not found that machine yet, Guys and Gals please keep a look out for it.) Remember it's just a machine. It's possible that you can fix the one you have. You live in the relative area, maybe we can fix it.

 

[dblrinz]

I am soo very sorry for your loss...

BUT I agree with Toggs, Kenny, and Ben, this could have been so much worse. No one is dead or hurt! I ALSO believe that things happen for a reason. The will of ones higher power may never be completely understood.

Please use it as a lesson without punishing us by not contributing to this wonderful site. I GREATLY enjoy your posts and would miss them dearly should you stop.

 

[mr_sparkle]

Don't beat yourself up!

Ok it happend, you cannot change the past, just draw a line under it and move on, you CANNOT punish yourself for breaking the washer - punish yourself for what? Being human? We are human, we make mistakes!

Unlock the dish washers, and ENJOY THEM!!!

Lets look at this another way, those appliances you rescue are all saved, they are loved, and cared for and because of YOU do not end up in a trash heap somewhere!

They go on and continue to exist so others can appreciate their beauty, and consider how well things used to be designed.

So if it wasnt for you doing what you do LOADS more appliances would be dead now, you had one casulty and it happens, but you need to keep going for the appliances you can rescue for the future.

Unlock those appliances, use the boards here and relax because the moment you stop enjoying all those old dishwashers is the day you may as well scrap them! The minute you stop posting here and joining in may be the minute a newbie came looking for help or to get into vintage appliances, they may need you.

By using, appreciating and contributing you are making sure all vintage appliances live on for as long as you do so.

Dont look back, look forward, have a drink, a cry then remember tomorrows a new day

Lots of Love

John x

 

[joelippard]

Pete

I am so sorry this happened to you. I can only imagine how I would feel. I know this is hard right now but you won't do yourself, your machines, or your fellow club members any favors by treating yourself badly. I thought I'd fix my Rapidry 1000 in one weekend, well I still have parts in the basement six weeks later and can't get my agitator nut off. I've learned that it's ok for me to love my machines but to not treat them in a way that's too serious. Put that machine out of sight, and wait, I've been amazed at what I have seen turn up on this forum. When I began to think about Rollermatics after having not seen one in 15 years I thought I would never see one again, let alone ever have one.

A good friend who is older gave me some tough love one time about some problems that I was having, to quote her she said "Get your mind off of it, right now!" What that means is to control your mind and pull it away from what's negative.

Pete, you're a great contributor to this forum and I have really enjoyed your posts, please don't do these things to yourself. I'll be thinking of you.

 

[lotsosudz]

Oh No!

I can't imagine how sickened you were to see what to your beautiful prize. To tell you the truth, i found myself a little sick to my stomach for you, when I saw the pic's. Words can't express how badly I feel for you. I'm sure the rest of the gang agrees with me that we hope you find the parts to make your dream become a reality.

 

[bwoods]

Don't Fret

Pete,

There is not one of us on this site who hasn't done something that could be classified as abject "stupidity". If we all shared just one idiotic thing we have done, we could write a book, I am sure.

I'll share one similar thing that my Uncle did, and will hopefully make you feel better about yourself and maybe put a smile on your face. He and a friend went and bought a beautiful player piano at auction and loaded it in the back of his pickup.

When arriving home, he pulled around the house and drove through the yard to a workshop he had about 300 yards behind the house.

When he and his friend got out of the truck, at the workshop, there was no piano in the truck bed. Well after first suspecting they were in the Twilight Zone they finally had the intelligence to determined that the piano must have fallen out.

They walked up the yard, and sure, enough, there was a player piano, (sitting on its top) in the side yard. Apparently he had turned too sharply, coupled with the hilly ground, and the piano just toppled over the bedside of the truck and landed on its top.

You can guess what type of shape it was in internally.

Now how two grown adult men could not hear, or feel, a piano falling off a truck is unknown to me. They were either temporarily deaf, had the radio blasting or were just utterly oblivious to reality. I think it is the latter as my Uncle swears he never heard a sound.

At least you had the awareness that your machine fell out!

So don't beat yourself up, you are not the first, and won't be the last to do something like that.

Beating yourself up does not undo anything. Hiding your appliances from yourself and the joy they give you won't change reality or cause you to behave any differently in the future.

You learned your lesson without punishing yourself. Trust me, from here on out you will always secure all items in your truck. You have learned your lesson a million times over.


No one got killed, no one got hurt. GOD is still in heaven and the Universe is under control.


And as one of the other members told you, you have some wonderful parts that, may one day, give life to another RollerMatic down the road.

So enjoy your appliances, enjoy yourself and take comfort in the fact that you have friends on this site who care about you.

Barry

 

[jeffg]

Peter, if you found your inner Joan Crawford, try and find your inner Judy Garland. What do anger, regret and self-punishment accomplish? If nothing, then what's the point of it?

You and my other half should meet. I've seen him self-flaggelate for six weeks over a simple human mistake.

Live and learn, and move on. This accident could have been much worse. Years ago a wheel flew off my dad's work van on a busy L.A. freeway, jumped the center divide and I'll spare y'all the gory details, but it was many years of living legal hell for something that wasn't even his fault.

I can almost guarantee you a 1965 Custom Imperial isn't nearly as rare as you think. If you're serious about finding another one, forget Craigslist and place small ads in the wanted sections of your local newspapers. Your target audience are retired people, many or most of whom are not computer literate. Also, don't specify an exact year, as half the people who'll own these washers assume theirs is a different year than what it actually is. Just put something like "60's" or "mid-60's", and if the seller gives a description that matches the one you're looking for, regardless of what year the seller *claims* it is, go take a look at it.

 

[gansky1]

Salvage the parts you can from the panel and top and throw the rest away quick! No reason to cry over spilled milk now - wipe it up and forget about it.

We've all had machines we've gotten rid of and later wished we had back, made a grave error in cleaning/rebuilding/painting, etc. that we've regretted so this just makes you a part of the group even more - welcome to the "Broken Hearts Appliance Club" - have some cookies! ;-)

 

[18millstreet]

65 frigidaire ooopps

Pete, Stop trashing yourself,get a grip. Even a gold plated washer is still just a washer,and does not at any time have the value of a human life! So get on with collecting with the rest of us,your genuine,happy and truly thankful to know you friends!As nice as that was,could it be,this happened to show you how many friends you have,who will be there for you if you let us?......just a thought. Moving right along onto the next urgent topic,what kind of donuts should we have with our coffee next time you come? I am looking forward to visiting with you. We just didn't have enough time to talk about collecting!! EVEN WHEN YOU ACCIDENTLY OCCASIONALLY TRASH A PIECE,IT'S still A FUN PASTIME. Talk to you soon,Walt

 

[norgeway]

Sounds like my luck!!!

I once loaded a friends pickup under my carport while moving and when I drove off my glass curio cabinet was too tall to clear the overhang....you guessed it , wrecked my curio and ruined several pieces of mid century furniture....I was mad at myself too...I know its not much consolation, but no one was hurt,a washer in the road is a recipe for disaster...not to mention a lawsuit....I sure hope that you can find another one..good luck

 

[redcarpetdrew]

Pete, I feel your pain...

We've all done things that bit us in the ass. Early on in my career I was doing a delivery of a gas range in Eureka, CA. I thought I was all that and a bag of chips and tied it down and hotted off to deliver it in nearby Arcata. Halfway there, I saw the flashing lights of a CHP cruiser behind me. I pulled over and proceeded to get one of the NASTIEST lectures I have ever received. It turns out that the cop was following behind me when the cooktop of the older Magic Chef range (which I had forgotten to secure) had lifted up and blew off the back of my truck. Where did it end up? Yeah, You guessed it. Bounced off the hood of the cruiser, cracked the windshield and ended up stuck between the lightbar and the roof. Despite the ticket/fines, the repair bill to the cop car and the ass chewing that I (rightfully) got from my boss, the HARDEST yelling at I got was from myself!

It happens! Grieve and MOVE ON! You WILL find another machine. If an Apex can surface, yours will too. You will recover from this. Be thankfull all that was damaged was the REPLACEABLE washer! I enjoy your participation here and you would be punishing all of us by not being here. We got your back and will add your washer to our hit list of machines to find. Stay with us, Pete. Besides, I want to see pictures of you riding that coaster and screaming like a girly-man ;^>

RCD

 

[bertrum]

Stop beating yourself up!

Lets get these machines into perspective for a while, its a hobby! thats all!. . .

Much as we love our hobby, remember whats important in life and the bigger picture like your family/ friends etc and move on. . .

 

[kqkenmore]

I am so sorry that this happened to you but please just stop beating your self up over this.I enjoy reading your post and looking at your pictures and I still remember that you were the first to welcome me to this site and I thank you for that.Life is to short to condem your self over a machine.If you need to get to a meeting to get things together then go now.Life is just too short for this and take it from someone that almost lost their life the other day.Take Care

 

[elginkid]

I did the same thing with a 1930s Green/Yellow/Black stove. It was a mile from my house, and that sound...awful. I found another stove, cheap and in better shape than the first, and (as I discovered after dismantling the damaged stove) safer to use. I cracked the door frame on that stove in 5 places, and the porcelain top took a beating. It sucks, but life will go on.

Wes

 

[rickr]

Don't beat yourself up over this Peter....

First I have to say that I am very sorry that this happened Peter. I guess the good thing is that the machine did not fall on anyone, or cause a traffic accident.

Did this machine work prior to the fall? The reason I ask, is because if it did, the mechanical parts are most likely ok. It looks as if the top of the machine and console were destroyed however. Perhaps this machine could still be saved,if you really want to try. The Rollermatics are still out there, and you may run into another Custom Imperial at some point in the future. The next one may have a nice top and console, but have a rusted out outer tub, or worn out roller system. If I were you, I would hang on to what you have there. Someone in this club will come across another Custom Imperial that is not worth fixing, but has a nice console and top. You could then simply have the donor top media blasted and painted to match your turquoise lower cabinet, and install it on your machine. You could use the left over turquoise paint to touch up the chips on your lower cabinet.
The colour of the console lens does not matter either. White, or even the bronze colours look fine with the turquoise.
I changed this 1966 set from Coppertone to Turquoise last year, during the restoration. Here are the before and after photos.

 

[rickr]

.

Or perhaps the donor top will be the coppertone that you remember your aunt having, and you can have the lower cabinet media blasted and painted coppertone to match the top.

The point is, don't feel bad, because we have a entire network going with this group. Someone will find another parts/donor machine, and you will be able to get your Custom Imperial back together again.

Who knows? Someone may find your "donor" tomorrow.

Best of luck to you Peter!

Rick

 

[bertrum]

Ahhhhhh changing Coppertone to Turquoise! Why would you do that, I know its just personal taste but I think the coppertone looks great!

 

[everythingold]

I dumped this Lady Gibson stove in poppy. and it had a matching fridge. That hurt. It happens to everyone, given enough time. matt