The 1959 Westinghouse L-1000 and D-1000 Come to Maryland

Automatic Washer - The world's coolest Washing Machines, Dryers and Dishwashers

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WOW John, CONGRATS!!!   They look to be in truly AMAZING condition!

 

Have you tested them to see if they work?   Or is a teardown inspection due?

 

More photos of the washer please?

 

I agree with Greg, pedestals are in order!

 

Awesome John!  Again, congrats!

 

Kevin
 
Omg

CONGRATULATIONS,  I have only seen these in a vintage magazine, Once.  Its like a real "urban myth".  I had no idea that was "burlap" under the control panel glass.  alr
 
Guilty pleasures,  i had to come back for a second look! LOL,  what did Westinghouse call this color?  alr
 
John, those are beautiful!!!!

I've seen them ONLY in pictures. Congratulations on your find. I hope they work as good as they look. Can't wait to see them up close and personal . . . in fact, can't wait to see your whole warehouse up close and personal.

Thanks for posting. They're truly a work of art.

I'm wondering if this slant front dryer works like the older WH slant fronts. I did not see the vent just inside the dryer door that blows in the hot air.

Jerry Gay
 
If memory serves me right John, weren't these the pair that was on the cake for the 2002 covention in Washington DC/MD?   Just think, took 10 years for the Washer Gods' karma to come around!!!
 
Only ten years ago, I carried the picture of this pair to the bakery in Rockville, MD to have the picture transferred to the icing on the sheet cake we had at the 2002 Wash-In, little suspecting that this beautiful pair would be found. The cabinets are totally unlike any other Westinghouse cabinet we've seen with texturized steel, similar to, but not the same as, what manufacturers used for refrigerator doors. There must have been a special coating under the paint or a special type of paint because there is no rust around the door opening on the washer or anywhere on the door and anyone who has any experience with Laundromats knows they are very vulnerable to rust in those areas.

John lifted the top and we got to see how the softener drains down into a small hose connected to the plastic fill flume. At the last rinse, a solenoid lowers the hose so that the softener drains into the flume as the water flys past. None of it looked used. I had not touched the dispenser since 1959 in the Davison's store in Atlanta. It is hard to imagine filling it and then turning it over to place in the machine without wiping up softener on the bottom plug. It is definitely not something that could be filled from a gallon or maybe even a full quart jug unless you rested the jug on something and poured very carefully & slowly. You have to hold the spring-loaded plug down to pour in the softener. Once the clear container is placed into the little black plastic box in the machine, the softener would immediately drain out of the clear plastic holder into the black plastic box in which it sits and then into the hose through an opening in one corner. It is a dispenser system that would take a lot of not-so-easy-to-do cleaning to keep from being gunked up, even with non-concentrated softeners like Sta-Puf, let alone concentrated types like Nu-Soft. There is no way of drying the inside of the clear plastic so the absence of water spots probably means it was never used. There is nothing, however, preventing the user from removing the clear reservoir, pouring softener directly into the black box and then flushing it with hot water during the last rinse fill if using the dispensing system and keeping it clean was a priority.

The washer has bad bearings and some other issues to be fixed. If anyone has replaced bearings in a Laundromat, you know it is a loud procedure to bang out old bearings and bang in new ones. John said that if it is needed, he still had a tub shaft which, in these machines just screws onto the back of the tub since they only turn in one direction.
 
Adding to the above expletives of amazement: Wow-Wow-Wow!

Were they used? Answer: "yes, once and remained in a museum thereafter".

I'd roll around in the dirt to have some clothes to wash - makes the task FUN!

I can feel the layers of jealousy mounting.
 
Tremondous........

A tremondously beautiful set that looks like it came right out of the box brand new! Bob you're right on the dryer - my grandmother had a 1956 Laundromat Deluxe and matching dryer and she didn't use the dryer much at all - mostly the cold winter months and I don't remember her dryer looking that good. It was the same as this one just a different cabinet design.

This is a major good find and congrats - hope you have much enjoyment from their use. Still looking for the elusive 1956 Deluxe Laundromat and Clothes Dryer - my dream machines..... sigh.
 
Wow John, they are just amazing. I can't wait to see them in person sometime. I had no idea it had a fabric softener reservoir, that is just wonderful. Congratulations! Another beautiful set saved from the crusher, hopefully for further generations to experience forever.
 
Story behind These Cool Machines

First of all a big THANK YOU to Brain [ Northwesty ] for spotting these on Craigslist and posting them on AW,org and a big THANK YOU to Tom [ Turbomatic ] for paying the shipping cost for getting them to our Museum Project, the shipping cost as much as the machines.

 

     And a Big Thank You to Heidi , the nice lady who posted these on Craigslist and whose three teenaged sons helped load them on the moving van for shipment. I also not only want to thank but wholeheartedly want to recommend Jackie who has now carefully moved four appliances for Tom and I from the far corners of the United States, if anyone wants something moved you can contact her at her Email address [ [email protected] ] or call her @ 206-433-8539, she is terrific.

 

I really don't know much of the history of these particular machines, I know they were installed in a custom built home in 1959a nd remained there till the owner died. I do find it had to believe that someone could actually use a washer and dryer for over 50 years and keep them in such good shape, the machine tops and dryer drum  [ all just painted surfaces ] show absolutely no sign that anything ever touched them.

 

This washer & dryer have long been a dream of my brother Jeff and I, and as Tom mentioned we even selected a picture of these machines to feature on a custom decorated cake that we served at the 2002 Wash-in. The 1959 Westinghouse washers were completely redesigned to have a non-slanted wash tub and these were the first use of the potato pulley that caused the speed of each rotation to vary, this coupled with two baffles in the tub not evenly spaced gave a very good washing action that eliminated the tangling problem of their earlier machines.
 

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