Tennessee Appliance Dealer Going out of Business

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Other side of the coin and some would say driving demand are the scrap dealers who purchase things no or little questions asked. In regard to to the story told above, everyone was asking what sort of NY scap dealer would purchase ConEd manhole covers without asking questions?

Iron gates and fences that have stood in front of brownstone homes in Brooklyn and Manhattan for over one hundred years are suddenly gone. Coiled copper rolls from construction sites, and so forth.

NYC supposedly has a recycling scheme, though doubt they make much from it as the scrappers are there before Sanitation. Indeed what is left is only their leavings.

You've got persons renting trucks to drive around NYC streets taking bales of commercial paper and boxes, metals, appliances, whatever can be sold. Cans and bottles? Forget the odd homeless persons, they are being squeezed out by the big time Mexican and South Americans who have their "routes" down pat. They know the recycling days for each street and load up their minivan/rented truck with tons of cans and bottles. Sometimes there is so much "noise" from persons digging in the rubbish it sounds like a herd of giant rats.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/...ew8PS3vfClXP?utm_medium=rss&utm_content=Local
 
Wow. Didn't know anybody else payed attention to who Robert Kinoshita was. Neat to know he's still alive. Would be interesting to talk to him.
 
I hate it when people scrap well made devices and things from the past that can be restored. They take the metal and turn it in to shoddy, cheaply made products that are disposable.

No more jobs for repair people, just throw everything away. Planned obsolescence; it makes me so angry.

Between greedy corporations and stupid government regulations we've thrown it all away; no pun intended.

I just talked to a lady today that runs a family owned parts and hardware store and she feels the same way. She is so cool. She is very knowledgeable about so many things to do with appliances, furnaces, plumbing and many other things. Her father opened the store years ago and when he died she carried on in his footsteps. I don't know many women that would do that. She's a delight to talk to.
 
more pictures

. Had the pleasure of meeting, John, "Supersuds" today at Lane's Appliances!

Here are the pictures I promised.

First is the widowed Whirlpool washer.

Whirlpool did a nice job with the windows, but not as nice as you did on your roto-rack dishwasher, Robert. :)

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Maytag Wringer

According to Abe, this Maytag wringer washer had only been used a few times. It does have some surface rust on the outside from when the owner had stored it in a garage for several years.

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Center Dial Maytag Dryer

a little dusty...

Forgive the photo quality, this was in the basement and there was little lighting.

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Magnavox Console Television

There were two TV's in the basement. The Magnavox is actually the smaller of the two.

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and the RCA

This is a larger cabinet, and even dustier, than the Magnavox. that's a layer of dust on the perimeter of the CRT. The top of this TV is nice, it is meant to look like slate.

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and the RCA

This is a larger cabinet, and even dustier, than the Magnavox. that's a layer of dust on the perimeter of the CRT. The top of this TV is nice, it is meant to look like slate.

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It looks like I am bringing something home

I can't resist that KD 10.  I swear I am down-sizing though.
 
Kitchenaid Pushbutton

Whomever ends up with the Kitchenaid Pushbutton Washer, please take some good videos and post them on YT.

Malcolm
 
It was a pleasure meeting Barry ay the store today. I'm sorry I was so rushed for time.

It was also a pleasure talking with Abe Lane. He was so excited to tell us about his life, secretly getting married when he was 17, being thrown out of his father-in-law's house by the seat of his pants when he finally told him he'd married his daughter, being drafted in WW II.

I didn't hear how he came to be in the appliance business, but he had photos from dealer's meetings in Amana, Iowa, where the company brought in celebrities like Ernest Borgnine for rounds of golf; he had played in foursomes with Tom Watson and Julius Boros, and had pictures of that. He says he still exchanges Christmas cards with Ernest Borgnine.

People of his generation, who started with nothing and had no advantages of advanced education, seem to me to be a whole lot happier than my angst-ridden generation. Maybe not having any choice but to get to work and keep at it no matter what is good for you; makes you appreciate what you've got instead of worrying about what you don't. He teared up a bit when talking about his wife, who died two years ago after 64 years (I think) of marriage, but he was mainly focused on how happy they were together and how proud he is of his children and grandchildren.

The business is located next to what used to be a notorious den of prostitution and drug dealing, the Fifth Avenue Motel. It's now been cleaned up and gentrified,
but I could see how he'd kept going there. He's just and honest guy who never cheated anyone and never thought about it. He must have had a bunch of loyal customers.

Some notes about the appliances:

The KA washer is a peach. I was kinda thinking about buying it if it was a belt drive, but is a direct-drive. It's a bit dusty outside, but nothing that wouldn't clean easily. The speckled porcelain tub is SPARKLING. The owner's manual and installation instructions are still there and sealed in the original plastic bags.

There are two stacked units, a GE Spacemaker and a regular size Whirlpool. Both have gas dryers, which is probably why they didn't sell. Few people have gas dryer hookups in this area.

There are two Neptunes which would be good buys. One of them was used one time by a city employee who dumped too much regular detergent in it, had a flood of suds, and returned it as defective! Other than still having some caked soap in the dispenser, it looks mint. Its one of the earlier models before the "humped" control panel, so it may have the wax motor and other known issues; I'm no expert in dating these. The other Neptune was used a little more and has something wrong with it, but I forget what. He wants $400 for the first and $200 for the other.

He has a brand new Litton combination microwave/convection range (in white). It must be what, 25 years old? He said he sold a lot of them and he didn't know why they went out of business.

There are boxes of parts in the basement including molded rubber hoses. I know these can sometimes be hard to find so it might be worth a call if you need something.
 
John observations agree with mine, Abe was very happy with his business and with his life in general. I was there for several hours after John left yesterday, helping Abe's assistant take down displays.

He had more good stories. Once, his Maytag sales rep told him if he didn't buy a load of microwaves, Maytag would drop him as a dealer. This was shocking to Abe as he was a large volume dealer. So Abe had a lawyer friend, and he had his friend send a registered letter of intent to sue to corporate office.

To make a long story short, he got a call from corporate office immediately and they offered their apologies, saying the rep could not not do such a thing, and wantaing to know the details. It was just a dishonest action on the reps part to sell microwaves and get a big commission.

Maytag had no knowledge of the salesman threats and did not condone such behavior. The rep was immediately fired. hehe Served him right!

Everytime I am there, I find something new. Abe has a display model of a 1990's Maytag dishwasher that has never been used. It looks to be an early model after they dropped the reverse rack..if anyone is interested. Has all the paperwork in it.

You can see a corner of the top of it beneath the plexiglas Maytag display that is pictured above. Has the same washing mechanism, and is actually a part of that display.

I forgot to mention, he wants $30 each for the two console (Magnavox and RCA) colors televisions. Too bad he doesn't have an old roundie color TV or I would have bought it on the spot!

By the way, the way, KA direct drive washer also has all the paperwork in it, as John discovered. The owners manual is still sealed in the original plastic and lying in the tub with the installation instructions.
 
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