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Unimatic1140

Unimatic1140

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I found this letter to the editor in a 1962 issue of Consumer Reports. Kind of shocking to think this reader thinks a 250-300 pound 1957 automatic washer is "tinny" lol. She should knock on the cabinets of the 2020s models.

This letter sounds like it could have been written yesterday. I was even more surprised to see her talking about foreign competition as how many foreign made major appliances could be purchased in the USA in the early 1960s, my guess would be none.

unimatic1140-2023102712072006526_1.jpg
 
Could it have been a Frigidaire?

Since she didn't mention anything about tangling so I doubt it lol. Also being all porcelain would make a Frigidaire far from "tinny". In the 1950s they used the word "Deluxe" everywhere in advertising, it was a very common term.

It could really be any brand and she may have received a lemon machine by chance. I know as I have all of these machines hooked up and running and I rarely have to do repairs on any of them, but my machines certainly aren't prefect either repair wise.

I recently had to do a repair on my '47 General Electric AW6, it was the first repair I have done in nearly 12 years of use and I use that machine often, it's one of my daily drivers -- '58 Frigidaire Unimatic, '47 GE AW6 and '53 Apex Wash-a-Matic are my go to machines weekly.
 
The square aluminum tub washer from '35 is probably a Model 30 or 32 Maytag wringer.

 

While early automatics certainly were prone to breakdowns, pre war appliances were very robust, simple, reliable, and very repairable. Planned obsolescence seem to aggressively ramp up post WW2.
 
Wasted opportunity

I'm almost mad at this person for not indicating what brand they were talking about.

 

But there are so many people to be mad at right now it seems silly to throw shade at a likely deceased Texan.

 
Do you like your Apex machine? The tub looks small to me but I bet it holds a lot. Is there any fabric wear from it? I love your collection. Do you have a least favorite?

I absolutely love my Apex, the tub is small length wise but it is the widest tub in my collection. It holds a standard 8lb wash load as it is able to turn over the wash load even when it's packed. It's not that great for queen size sheets as they tend to balloon up without careful loading, but for everything else it is wonderful. No fabric wear as it is a very gentle wash action. As for my least favorite I'm not sure I can answer that without thinking about it for a while.
 
I would imagine that CU would not include the brand name, even if given by the letter writer, as it might be considered a form of advertising since there is no evidence to validate her claims. I do remember a similar letter in the very early 50s where an owner of a new front load machine described how the machine's suspension failed spectacularly and left the tub assembly lying in the bottom of the cabinet. At the time, that only could have been a Westinghouse. The closest CU came to divulging brand names was when they showed a picture of something good or bad from which we could determine the brand. I wonder if the washer could have been a Westinghouse or a Norge/Hamilton. I am basing this on the frequency of repair chart in the 1964 CU buying guide published in 1963 for use throughout 1964. Norge had very poor ratings in every category from 1955 through 1959. Westinghouse had fairly good ratings from 1955 and 1956 and on into 1957, but took a dive in 1958, 1959, 1960 and 1961. I hesitate to only give frequency of repair ratings for 1955 and 1956 because machine owners cannot be depended upon to know the age of the machine or year of purchase. It is fortunate that she had the back up wringer washer to use during the automatic's down times. Having back ups for everything is good insurance.
 
Tinny unreliable 1957 automatic washer

Yes, I agree. Consumer reports would not have published a brand-name in that type of letter, if you look at 1957 automatics, many of them were noisy and cheap, sounding even Kenmore and whirlpools were quite noisy in that time period and no automatic washer was tremendously reliable in 1957, GE had just gone to an all new design, which was quite troublesome for example.

When you look at the history of early automatic washers, almost no automatic washer made in the 1950s made it to 1970 they just weren’t that reliable in spite of their high cost. People just got tired, repairing them and bought newer machines when they broke down for the second third or fourth time.

John
 
"almost no automatic washer made in the 1950s..."

One hears this often and thus wonders if those housewives who wouldn't give up their Maytag or other wringer washers knew what they were doing...

Of course there's no comparing semi to fully automatic washing machines in terms of ease of use and other factors. However am guessing a Maytag wringer bought new in 1950 even with hard use outlasted many automatics.
 
Another thing to consider is that many dealers gave a modest trade in value towards a new machine. Just like today, people watched ads on TV and saw the newest offerings and wanted to trade up. Getting a trade in allowance towards a new machine helped to take the sting out of the purchase price, just like it has for the new car buyer since the beginning of people owning automobiles.

There didn’t need to be necessarily something wrong with what they had, they just wanted the new whatever that they saw on TV, in Life, Sunset, Good Housekeeping, B&G, ect.

Eddie
 
True! True!

Manufacturers of major white goods took a few pages from automobile makers of the time. Prominent among them were promoting whatever "new season" models were on offer.

Other was trade in value for used washer, dryer, refrigerator, etc... to be applied towards new.





To be fair these trade in allowance pitches did have merit on some level.

Advances in all sorts of areas made major appliances bought in years just after WWII (say until maybe 1949 through early 1950's) seem ancient compared to late 1950's through early 1960's. For those who could afford to "trade up" it was a no brainer.

Then as noted in previous comment there was the lively market in used appliances. Dealers took and refurbished traded in units, marked them up and sold them on. Times being what they were many households who couldn't afford new were happy with used appliances.

Maytag devoted entire section of service manual on how dealers could refurbish traded in wringer washers to make money selling them on.

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Even when I began adult life on my own in 1970 and thru the mid 80’s many appliances that I owned I bought used because thats what I could afford at the time. I even bought a 1953 Admiral 17” console TV used in 1972 from a TV dealer for $30.00. I used that TV for 6 years with no repairs, not even a new vacuum tube.

We didn’t just sh*t can everything that was unwanted then.

Eddie
 
We didn’t just sh*t can everything that was unwanted then.

That mentality seriously needs to return. Too much waste these days but mostly because of cheap prices due to cheap build quality and slave labor.

 

The amount of perfectly good items I see next to trash cans every week while walking my dogs is just mindboggling. Perfectly good bikes, furniture, kids toys, lawn equipment, appliances. For God sake, donate that stuff. In this area, there's no restrictions to what one can throw away and no extra charge occurs, so I see a bunch of stuff every week sometimes piled from one end of the property to the other. I was recently looking for a gas edger so I could significantly reduce wear and tear on my weed eater, string use, as well as my arms. Found one in perfect condition by the trash. Went back after my walk, grabbed the truck and brought it home. I was expecting a plugged up carburetor at the very least. Nope, fired up on the second pull and works perfectly. WTF?

 

I don't EVER remember seeing bikes in the trash in the 80's or 90's, not even once. Nobody that I new threw away lawn equipment that worked fine or appliances that still functioned properly and I grew up in a very upscale area. Just wild...
 
Reply #13

The problem is, things are simply too cheap these days. If washer dryer sets were built with quality and were upwards of $3000+, not many would be thrown out since it would be a investment and would be foolish just to pitch something that costs upwards of several grand to the curb over something that costs a hundred bucks to fix.

Thankfully, Waste Management in my area doesn’t touch anything with a 10’ pole if it’s outside of the bin. If you want them to haul something away, you’ll pay big fees and penalties just for them to haul away unwanted stuff like furniture etc. Once upon a time, I set a few bags of leaves aside since the yard waste bins were packed full, came outside to bring the bins up and they were still there and untouched. Even if you attempted to dismantle and stuff something into the bin, they simply will leave a note saying “too large, too bulky”. They are quite strict about that stuff in the SoCal area.
 
"I’ve never understood why people throw away perfectly working appliances either."

Careful now! One person's rubbish is another's found treasure.

Speaking for myself... and I am unanimous; leave people throw things away that are perfectly good. They often will find new homes before getting anywhere near local tip.

Miele vacuum cleaner

Hoover vintage vacuum cleaner

Three Keurig coffee makers

A Nespresso coffee maker

Regina "electric broom"

Haier portable washing machine

Instant Pot

Nini "Foodie" dual air fryer

Two NIB sets of dishware

and more..

Rather like Edwina Monsoon pushing that full trolley in supermarket one often just passes things by out of exhaustion.

If one had one's skates on could have had a new Miele heat pump dryer and vintage but NIB Maytag "Porta-washer" twin tub.
 
Inflation and COL then vs now

The price tag on those obviously used wringers: $42.50.

Assuming that photo is from the mid to late 1950s, then in today’s dollars that would be over $400.

Imagine paying between $400 and $500 for someone else’s used washer, and only a wringer!

We tend to assume that economics were more favorable for middle class people in those days, but things like this illustrate that our assumptions are not necessarily true.
 
TINNY—prope uses and descriptions of:

I was at Lowe’s shopping for a dryer for our washer so somehow that gal may have been in some sort of a Back To The Future time loop via a flux capacitor to know any sort of an appliance as being tinny… (things like that a’plenty would fit that description over there)

My cousin had a cassette tape recorder she’d said was tinny, there was a record reviewed in my Rolling Stone Record Buying Guide to have had a tinny sound and finally canned fruits/vegetables most likely to be Dole or DelMonte packaged in a specially-lined can to avoid having a tinny taste!

— Dave
 

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