I'm a fan too of Philco Bendix washers, I scavenged one in Kew, a suburb of Melbourne, it had nothing wrong except the paint had yellowed with age. Kew is a pretty posh suburb so I guess the poor old Bendix just wasn't yup enough any more. It went to live with my Mum for a few years till a switch fell to pieces and gave her a tingle. It did a great job and was quiet and fuss free. The timer dial was just a pointer, you pressed a switch and the timer clickety-clacked around, you released the button when the dial pointed to the cycle you wanted, then pressed the "start" button.
Interesting that in the UK they were sold by Thorn - Thorn TV's and fridges were sold here. Mum's Bendix Autowasher (W40??) had a silver control panel with a small matching silver disc stuck on, it looked like a blanking cover. It eventually fell off, revealing the Thorn logo, like a vertical spike. The Washers were distributed in Aust by Healco, and there was a division of Thorn-EMI called Healing (over here at least). (Thorn and Healing TV's were identical inside but had different cabinets). So I suspect that the two companies had shared parentage but by the late seventies they were separate and Bendix products had to cover up the Thorn logo.
Chris.