mrcleanjeans
New member
Who remembers or has that delightfully different Thermador dishwasher from the 1960s that had the S-shaped one piece Tower of Shower dual wash arm ?
The one, the only Tower of Shower
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mrcleanjeans
New member
me too
I have an ad for them somewhere...
I've only ever seen one, at an estate sale without my camera.
I've only ever seen one, at an estate sale without my camera.
It was sort of Z shaped, with a vertical tower. In the built-in models it was stainless steel. They had a wild, industrial looking portable with a flat black metal lid that had a round hole at the front through which the tall timer dial protruded. The lid was even larger than it needed to be to serve as a cover because it incorporated the handle not only to lift the lid, but also to pull the machine around. I seem to remember the wash arm in that machine was plastic. Something inside it was orange. I can't remember if it was the wash-arm-tower, the Plastisol tub coating or the racks, but it was at least 10 years ahead of its time in styling. It was not something most housewives would want on display in their kitchens in the early 60s, no matter how complete the water coverage was for each rack.
Wild Looking Waste King Portable DW
Actually this model was a Waste King. Sorry, but the two brands run together in my ADDled brain. Shortly after we bought our Mobile Maid, portable dishwashers really took off. Whereas Rich's had only sold GE and, at the downtown store, KitchenAid, suddenly there were those Waste King portables on the floor and an ugly little D&M portable with the big beige vinyl tank and lid gaskets in place of the gray ones on Robert's Frigidaire portable. These were not in the store very long. Looking back, in the mid 60s Richs joined other department stores in a misadventure named Allied Merchandising Crap, err Corp., also known as AMC. The stores thought that they could make a larger profit off their own brand of merchandise, but the quality of the stuff was not up to that of GE or Norge which were the two brands at Rich's. The line at Rich's included most everything from transistor radios to major appliances, but curiously, no dishwashers. The laundry line was made by Easy and the refrigeration and air conditioning models were by Gibson. The stoves were the most wretchedly cheap and ugly things in the department, similar to some of the models in the Bradford line at the W.T. Grant Co. and some of the stoves at Western Auto, but I don't know who made them. If Sunray was making stoves then, these would have been examples of their excretia.
Actually this model was a Waste King. Sorry, but the two brands run together in my ADDled brain. Shortly after we bought our Mobile Maid, portable dishwashers really took off. Whereas Rich's had only sold GE and, at the downtown store, KitchenAid, suddenly there were those Waste King portables on the floor and an ugly little D&M portable with the big beige vinyl tank and lid gaskets in place of the gray ones on Robert's Frigidaire portable. These were not in the store very long. Looking back, in the mid 60s Richs joined other department stores in a misadventure named Allied Merchandising Crap, err Corp., also known as AMC. The stores thought that they could make a larger profit off their own brand of merchandise, but the quality of the stuff was not up to that of GE or Norge which were the two brands at Rich's. The line at Rich's included most everything from transistor radios to major appliances, but curiously, no dishwashers. The laundry line was made by Easy and the refrigeration and air conditioning models were by Gibson. The stoves were the most wretchedly cheap and ugly things in the department, similar to some of the models in the Bradford line at the W.T. Grant Co. and some of the stoves at Western Auto, but I don't know who made them. If Sunray was making stoves then, these would have been examples of their excretia.
Real Themador dishwasher
A friend just gave me a 1970 themador DW with the S shaped one piece wash arm. This is nothing like the later themador-wasteking dw its much better built machine it has a real SS tank and a 3450 rpm gorman-rupp pump on a GE 1/3 hp motor, The DW looks like it should work i will try to take some pictures and post them
A friend just gave me a 1970 themador DW with the S shaped one piece wash arm. This is nothing like the later themador-wasteking dw its much better built machine it has a real SS tank and a 3450 rpm gorman-rupp pump on a GE 1/3 hp motor, The DW looks like it should work i will try to take some pictures and post them
Do you mean this:
mrcleanjeans
New member
No,not that one Ken,though yours is groovy. This was a very different machine. Thanx.
Bajaespuma, I have the same dishwasher in my house and it is a POS. It probably worked great at one point but now dishes have to be COMPLETELY and TOTALLY clean before they are put in the machine. I'm looking to replace it with one of those GE Profile Tall Tubs with a SS interior. Pics if someone says please.
Please. And I bet all that's needed is the water valve to be cleaned out so that it gets the proper amount of water per fill. We had a Waste King like htis and it was very sensitive to water pressure going down. and that was when it was brand new.
andrewinorlando
Well-known member
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- Oct 18, 2004
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These machines are very water pressure sensitive...they need a lot of water to wash correctly. You should also disassemble and check the pump itself. It could be torn up after all these years...they don't last forever. As long as the motor and the timer are still good, the machine is easy to fix, as long as you can find the parts.
danemodsandy
Well-known member
Tom:
As a former Atlantan, I remember Rich's and AMC very well, and have to agree with you wholeheartedly about AMC's cheapness. The odd thing was, as cheap and nasty as their stuff looked, it refused to die. My aunt Margie worked in Customer Service at Rich's downtown for many years, and bought several AMC appliances with her employee discount. All of them lasted a very long time.
As a former Atlantan, I remember Rich's and AMC very well, and have to agree with you wholeheartedly about AMC's cheapness. The odd thing was, as cheap and nasty as their stuff looked, it refused to die. My aunt Margie worked in Customer Service at Rich's downtown for many years, and bought several AMC appliances with her employee discount. All of them lasted a very long time.
