When I was last down in Boston in January and while kibbitzing with Jon, Eddie, Phil, Mike, and Paulo, we got to talking about the story behind Jon's nifty 1960 Speed Queens (aka 'Mothers Mink'). Jon thought it'd be fun to do a thread with the backstory of the machines in our collections, if we happen to know them, that is!
So, here goes! The story behind my first vintage automatic washer and dryer set that I got back in fall of 2008, the 1966 Inglis Sterling set:
The washer and dryer were advertised for sale on the online classified ads site Kijiji. I contacted the seller then convinced You-Know-Who to drive up to the town of Ste-Rose, on the north-western end of the Island of Laval. The story behind the machines was that they were purchased new in 1966, when the former owners purchased their first house outside of St-Jerome. At the time, the gentleman of the house was working at the Bell Helicopter plant as a machinist and his wife was expecting their first child, so they decided it would useful to have an automatic washer and dryer. They stayed in that house until about 1977 (and had 3 more children - all boys) then built a new 'dream house' in Ste-Rose. The former owner was the handy type and had done a few repairs to both machines over the years (his version of a tub snubber was a little rough...); he was proud of himself for having been able to disable the suds-saver valve because the machines were installed in the bathroom of the new house with no laundry tub for saved suds. Well, the boys grew up and left home and in 2008, the washer started to leak hot water when the machine was not running. The couple decided it was time to upgrade and their sons bought them a Samsung HE set for their 45th anniversary in June of 2008.
I bought the machines, had them shipped down to Ogden and began using them until both the washer and dryer conked out on me in 2010. BUT the machines were both revived (the washer was a long, arduous rebuild) and are still in use in the Ogden Laundry.
So, what's YOUR story???
PS - look at that - my 7500th thread!
[this post was last edited: 3/24/2016-12:03]


So, here goes! The story behind my first vintage automatic washer and dryer set that I got back in fall of 2008, the 1966 Inglis Sterling set:
The washer and dryer were advertised for sale on the online classified ads site Kijiji. I contacted the seller then convinced You-Know-Who to drive up to the town of Ste-Rose, on the north-western end of the Island of Laval. The story behind the machines was that they were purchased new in 1966, when the former owners purchased their first house outside of St-Jerome. At the time, the gentleman of the house was working at the Bell Helicopter plant as a machinist and his wife was expecting their first child, so they decided it would useful to have an automatic washer and dryer. They stayed in that house until about 1977 (and had 3 more children - all boys) then built a new 'dream house' in Ste-Rose. The former owner was the handy type and had done a few repairs to both machines over the years (his version of a tub snubber was a little rough...); he was proud of himself for having been able to disable the suds-saver valve because the machines were installed in the bathroom of the new house with no laundry tub for saved suds. Well, the boys grew up and left home and in 2008, the washer started to leak hot water when the machine was not running. The couple decided it was time to upgrade and their sons bought them a Samsung HE set for their 45th anniversary in June of 2008.
I bought the machines, had them shipped down to Ogden and began using them until both the washer and dryer conked out on me in 2010. BUT the machines were both revived (the washer was a long, arduous rebuild) and are still in use in the Ogden Laundry.
So, what's YOUR story???
PS - look at that - my 7500th thread!
[this post was last edited: 3/24/2016-12:03]

