Tragic day in Appliance History! December 26, 1980

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peteski50

peteski50

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Today will mark the anniversary of the most tragic day in appliance history. On this day in 1980 General Motors shutdown Frigidaire. For myself this is my own day to morn. I had never knew the exact date until recently but I had remembered it was around the same time John Lennon had been killed. Both the loss of two great icons.
And being a appliance person no matter what negative issues I have saw or come accross in the appliance world nothing could be as bad as this blunder.
I will attach the article I received this from which was not only about the Frigidaire shutdown.
Peter

By: Bob Connor from Pittsburgh, PA sez...
Destroying electric cars seems like an act only a stupid company would do but this is not the first time GM made a good product that they didn't want to public to keep. I know some people who have a hobby of collecting and restoring home appliances. I don't buy the argument from GM that nobody would make parts for the EV1s that people wanted to buy. Until the end of 1980 GM had their home appliance division, Frigidaire. GM Frigidaire kitchen and laundry appliances were among the most innovative made at the time and usually of high quality, some are still going today. No, you cannot get parts for GM Frigidaire appliances now and today GM pretends that they never existed (Today's Frigidaire appliances are made by another company and are considered a "budget" brand). Oh, BTW, GM shut down Frigidaire on December 26, 1980 so the employees in Dayton got unemployment for Christmas. What I am saying is that this is a much bigger blunder than getting rid of Frigidaire and GM deserves to go bankrupt because of it. I cannot figure out who in their right mind would buy Anything from this company. The only reason I think they do well in the Pittsburgh area: We have a lot of seniors who have good memories of the Chevys and Buicks they drove in the 50s, and a lot of funeral homes that like Cadillac. GM also screwed up when they wanted people to get an expensive charger for the car. Why could an electric car not be recharged by a 220 volt electric dryer outlet found in most homes? That way you would recharge after doing the laundry! Even if you didn't have this outlet an electrician could add one for about 200 dollars. But please don't charge near that much for the DVD, charge less than most movies as the message is more important than the one about the "Lake House".
[7/14/2006 12:30:28 AM]
 
Re: Thank You Peter:

That is quite an interesting Article, as is your info shared as well. I didn't know when the "GM" Frigidaire Plant Shut-Down, before your sharing this info with us.

I hope that you had a wonderful Holiday and the New Year will start out real well for you, after everything that you've been through and having to deal with.

Peace and Holiday Greetings, Steve
SactoTeddyBear...
 
Pete,..what was their market share like in the seventies? From what i have understood ,their washers were very expensive to produce. It sound like maybe WP/KM, Maytag, and GE were getting the core business of laundry,..though i saw a lot more of their refriderators in the seventies in friends and relatives homes.

In all honesty, did they ever perfect the pulsator/jetcone in all those years they had the chance to do so?...this now is very interesting.

Still a damn shame that legacy was let go of.
 
One of the early GM stupid moves!It is a shame!The "krushing" of the EVI cars another GM blunder.And presenting an enviorenmental hazard too!Krushing just releases the harmful toxins into the Mother Earth!Would Have been better to let people keep their EVI cars.One of the big reasons I don't presently buy GM products because of their STUPID management-and another "Blunder"The closure of the EMD Locomotive factory in LaGrange,Ill.now EMD Locos are built in Canada.And now they wonder why GE Locomotives outsell EMD---GE units are still built in Erie,Pa,and have more advanced AC traction design.EMD builds AC traction locos-but the GE design is better.
 
Indeed, a sad day.
If Frigidaire ever did come close to perfecting a washer and dryer, the 1-18's came pretty close.
Yeah, the washers were noisy, tended to suds-lock, and the spin speed not as fast as the previous generation's (available) "Rapidry", but the quality sure was there---as evidenced by all the survivors that continue to surface-----many of them still in good working order.
And, both the washers and dryers could handle HUGE loads----no "Cruel-Action" agitator required!)

The stoves and refrigerators are still plentiful, I know of two families who still use them, blissfully unaware of their vintage history, since "they came with the house" and they provide dependable service.

Only the dishwashers seem to be hard to come by. Must be bacause they lacked a high enough level of rust protection. They were good performers though, (spray tube excepted), I loved using the early 70's DCI I once had.

I guess we will never know what would have evolved if Frigidaire were still in business.
What we do know is the loss of the GM division created a gap that can never be filled by anyone---especially to those of us that cherish the memory.

(My two shekels)
 
GM Electro-Motive was the locomotive leader for years,from back in the 1930's.GE didn't get started in the business until the early 60's. Didn't take them long to catch up,though.
I still think GM Frigidaire was the leader in refrigerators.Great styles,innovative products,proven quality.
 
My parents remodeled their kitchen in 1966, installing all turquoise GM-made Frigidaire appliances. This included a Flair 40" range ala Bewitched, and a side by side refrigerator. Although the matching dishwasher no longer exists, the range and refrigerator are still in operation. Over the years for laundry, they had two Maytag sets which lasted about 15 years each. (we had a huge family, the machines ran all the time) In the early 1970's, they purchased a 1-18 set, which lasted 20+ years, with the usual minor repairs (bellows replacement, spin clutch, etc.) Even our very reliable Maytags required more repairs in the years we had them. I should mention that from 1951 to 1974, my aunt's Unimatic only required a couple of service calls to remove socks from the outer tub. The thing was built like a tank. And what washing machine motor now days could withstand being switched directly to spin an tubful of water with hardly any built-in slippage, and last for years? Excellent engineering and construction for their time.
 
No one made a better electric stove than GM Frigidaire. NO ONE. Those thick coil burners heated a huge pot of water to a frantic boil faster than any home gas range on the market and their ovens were famously even and efficient. I'm a chef by profession and I always enjoyed cooking on those home appliances.

The divestiture of Frigidaire wasn't just a tragedy; it was a crime.
 
No One Made Better Stoves

I agree with Ken. I bought my last new Frigidaire Appliances in January of 1980, sourcing the remaining models of the GM production. In the middle 70's Frigidaire became competively priced. The stoves and refrigerators were comperable to GE in price, the dishwasher slightly more expensive and the washer less expensive than Maytag. I bought and sold a lot of houses in the 70's with early flipping and also moving with Stouffer Hotels, corporate. I bought at least 5 sets of appliances in that time, although laundry equipment was Maytag.
The sheer weight of Frigidaire set it way apart from GE and all other competitors. The wide burner coils were very durable and provided gentle even heat for long slow simmering, sauce making and candies. I bought the Heat Minder burner with every range. It was like having another electric frypan as it dialed heat to perfection. Heat Minder was not good for cooking eggs or anything that didn't have enough mass to prvide measurable temperature. My real joy was the oven. Frigidaire ovens were legendary for good insulation, excellent heat cycling and great results without excessive browning. Frigidaire self cleaning ovens were the best in the industry. They never left the strip under the door like GE or the dirty door like Kenmore. They cleaned perfectly. In the late eighties and ninties, I bought vintage Flairs for the kitchen but always have a 30 inch Frigidaire tucked in the basement or garage for cleaning bakeware, roasting messy items and baking 16 inch wedding cake layers that wouldn't fit in the Flair because of limited depth. I finally let go in 2002 when I moved to the city and it was too hard to find the older retired repairman who liked to tinker with the once great and legendary Frigidaire.
The gleaming procelain, chrome trim, lighted backsplash, added geegaws and the enormity of presence Frigidaire appliance made in the kitchen are the stuff memories are made of.
Kelly
 
Guess what? I wrote the article you quote! Last year, I got a lot of guff here about it. Must have made an impression.

As for Frigidaire, the fact that you still find the appliances now proves that they were made to last a long time. Makes one wonder what they would have come up with today.

Why did they pick the day after Christmas to do this? Somebody at GM was a real Scooge for Grinch Motors!
 
You are right Neptune Bob

IIRC, Monkey Wards pulled the same stunt, poor Rudolph was a Wards Icon. It's just wrong.
 
Such Nice Thoughts!

Thanks to all for the nice comments on this annaversary of a very sad day in appliance history. Yes it was such a great loss. WCI should have at least tried to keep the refrigation / airconditioning and washing machines, that is what had really made Frigidaire big. The refrigation sales after that went to GE and Whirlpool. The laundry sales went to Whirlpool and Maytag. The biggest insult was that WCI tried to make the appliances look the same as the GM products. But at least most people were smart and didn't go for the WCI products at the time. Also all sales people I knew at the time didn't push the WCI products either. After all we already had Westinghouse what did we need another one for.
And the reason General Motors shutdown Frigidaire the day after Christmas was because that is when the contract was up with WCI. At the time myself and other people I knew assumed the new products were to be like the GM ones (little did we know).
Peter
 
Sad . . .

The saddest thing about GM dumping Frigidaire is that, unlike electric cars, Frigidaire's products appealed to a huge number of Americans and undoubtedly made profits for GM. I don't know what the balance sheet was like in the late '70s, but if Frigidaire hadn't made money shortly after GM created it, it would have died a long, long time ago.

I love my '67 Imperial refrigerator. I looked a long time for it 15 years ago, and aside from fixing the defrost heater it hasn't given any trouble at all. To my eye, the classic design with a slightly bowed front door incorporating chrome reveals at each side, and dual foot pedals, is sooo much more elegant than a plain box. And don't get me started about those newer refrigerators with the grained leather-patterned steel . . . at least that modern "improvement" never made it to laundry equipment!
 
So, as long as we are talking about WCI, can anyone tell me where it came from? All I remember is that sometime in the 1970's, all of a sudden, Westinghouse appliances were White-Westinghouse. I had never heard of WCI before then.
 
WCI

Lets look back into time a little,shal we?Way back in the beginning of the 20th century,there was a company that introduced an electric washer that had an agitator and a spinner tub seperate but joined tubs made mostly of copper.The original plant was in Syracuse,N.Y. and the brand name was "Easy".Around the same time,there was a company in the midwest(don't quote me but if I remember correctly the city where they originated was Greenbay,Wi.) named "Gibson"and they made refrigeration for mostly farms and dairies to keep foods from spoiling.Their was also a well known brand that pionered the invention and introduction of the automatic clothes dryer , Hamilton. Back in the early to mid 1960's,a company named Hup Corporation bought Hamilton, Easy and Gibson and continued on with few,if any,changes.At the same time another long lasting brand name owned by first,Nash then,American Motors,Kelvinator,was being sold to the highest bidder.Hup won the bids and after 3 years of continual loss in the appliance industry,Hup went bankrupt and the companies revived by joining together as a self owned corporation known as WCI or White Consolidated Industries.The Easy name was dropped instantly and Gibson,Hamilton, and Kelvinator now became a conglomorate combining the reputation well deserved in the refrigeration and cooking fields and taking both the Easy and Hamilton washer and dryer lines to manufacture their laundry equipment under three different brands.As time progressed,Westinghouse Electric Corporation decided to sell out their own line of major and small appliances so in 1974,Westinghouse Appliances became White-Westinghouse introducing their line of front loading washers to WCI.Not long after that,04/01/1978,General Motors sold their major appliance manufacturing division,FRIGIDAIRE,to WCI for an unknown amount receiving nothing but the brand name licensing itself with GM not yielding to WCI's desire to keep the factories in Dayton,OH.and continue the legendary production of those fabulous beauties.Yes,GM "slammed the car door on FRIGIDAIRE.Keeping the factories in Dayton,OH.to make their "cheapass, too late to make any proffit on,Monzas and other mid-size cars"I truly believe that if GM had kept FRIGIDAIRE and focussed more on the production of more energy efficient,appliances as well as taking the stride with the automobiles they already made breaking them down from full size to mid size years before they eventually did,we would all be happier.However,that never happened and not many(if any)of us are as fond of Frigidaire and will have this sorrow till the day we die.
 
White Consolidated Industries

Has been around in one form or another since about the 1930's or thereabouts. Posted some information on them awhile back, it probably is in the archives.

Bascially, IIRC the company began with automobiles and or sewing machines, do not have my notes handy, and simply grew by buying/merging with other companies. Their final coup de grace, was buying Electrolux.
 
I've researched the White Sewing Machine company before and posted the history of how WCI came to have many of our favorite vintage brands under their umbrella and eventually, came to be aquired by Electrolux A.B. of Sweden, who in recent years aquired the rights to use the Electrolux brand in the U.S. from the famous vacuum maker of the same name.

As L said, a quick search in the archives will turn up the correct chronology of the company.
 
Its not all bad

IMHO, Electrolux has done more good for the Frigidaire Label, than WCI ever did, their washer works very well. someone mentioned Electrolux put some of the metal back in the mechanism. Granted its not our collectible GM frigidaire, but it does seem better than the White westinghouse machines of the late 80's and early 90's.
 
"and we'll have this sorrow till the day we die.&qu

Amen to that, Laundromat.
Frigidaire washer were "the best on the market" for over a decade
Just think of the innovation in the 1-18 when they hade to enlarge and perforate in order to survive, and their version left all commers in the dust.

Today I saw some old Frigidaire stoves that were stunning. I'll have pics next Tuesday.

On Xmas day, one of my nephews whom i don't see regularly shocked me by saying that he has a 1-18 that has survived 3 floods, made him a ton of insurance money, and is still pumpin'.

Sad days. Frigidaire, Brown and Ford--all legends
 
Plastic society

I truly believe the reason(s)appliances of today are so much more "plain"than ever before is that here in America,customers have no desire for the features we all once knew and loved i.e."burners with a brain"a feature a lot of gas and electric ranges had that was a thermostatic burner you could set via temperature instead of "high.medium and low".This enabled you to do fabulous things like melting chocolate w/out burning it or using a double boiler,frying bacon w/out splattering grease all over the cooktop,and simmering spaghetti sauce all day w/out it scorching and sticking to the saucepan.The two outlets(one timed via the control clock the other manual)really are a must because you were able to plug in your Sunbeam coffee maker and set the start as well as stop times and not worry whether or not the coffeepot was left on,The timer built in to the outlet would shut down on the stop time selected some of the 40 inch wide models had a deepwell that was a 5 quart saucepan you could make a soup or stew in,.Refrigerators had heat going in to their butter dishes to keep the butter soft enough to spread.Dishwashers would have the option to heat the final rinse water as well as the main wash water up to at least 160F.Top loading washers would spin w/out emptying the water first,clothes dryers had multiple tumble speeds available.Today those models would cost a fortune!The last 40 inch Custom Imperial top of the line electric ranges made by FRIGIDAIRE in the last year of production under GM,was listed at $999.If they were still made the same now as they were then,I'm sure they'd be selling like crazy for $1999!But,America does not cook at home that much anymore.Now,you can buy your coffee at Stabucks and your breakfast at the MickeyD's on every other block in your neighborhood,and spaghetti at Te Olive Garden Restaurant.Who needs a stove anymore???
 
Thanks for the info. Did not realize it was 12/80 that this had happend.

We had a conversation at my wash-in in August 06' about General Motors wish that the "Frigidaire Division" would just wipe off the map and had never existed. Try to talk to someone at GM today about it. They are bean counted and under strict survalance not to discuss Frigidaire.

Does anyone know the date(s) that Ford dumped Philco?

Does anyone know the date(s) that AMC dumped Kelvinator?

Steve (Gyrafoam) put it in prespective for me. "It was a one stop shop for families - He could get a car at GM(Ford)(AMC) and she could get her GM(Ford) (AMC) appliances".

Steve
 
Amen to all!

Leslie, you are so right. We are such an instant gratification, "want it now" society. Why wait the few extra minutes for that wonderful coffee to brew in a Sunbeam Coffeemaster; we want our coffee NOW (go to Starbucks)! Why slow-cook a pot of soup in the deepwell vessel of a Frigidaire range; we want it NOW (just nuke it in a cheap, Chinese-manufactured microwave). Why bake a cake or cook a roast; we have ready-made pot roasts in the grocery meat cases and the bakery is right down the corner.

People don't have the time or take the time to cook anymore. Someone wrote a post, a while back, about how young people don't even know what the basic cooking terms mean. I have friends with "to die for" kitchens that never cook a meal. One friend was getting her Viking range serviced (the burners), and the technician handed her the manuals which still sat, unused, in the oven.

True Kenny, GM cars hit a low point in the late 70's and early 80's. As a matter of fact, all of the domestic automakers began to produce nothing but unreliable crap. This was the beginning of the Japanese auto explosion in the states.

It really is a shame. I hope someone picks up the patent for the jet action agitator. They say that everything old is new again...perhaps there is a chance...
 
Fast plastic society!

We live in such a fast happening society that a lot of these things really don't matter any longer. Actually the last thing I would want to do is slow cook anything. The sad thing is that their is such little quality in most products. I personally am not asking for something to last 20 years but products should have at least the quality not to fall apart immediatly.
As for Venus last comment I have always wished someone would have picked up the consept of the jet action agitator, but I doubt if that would ever happen. With all the water restrictions no one is going to design a TL washer that takes a full tub of water. Any designs from here on in will probably be FL or TL made simular to the Oasis. Washing with a full tub of water will probably become a thing of the past in a few years.
It is ashame that at the time no one was around to buy Frigidaire from GM that really could have improved it and moved foward with it in a positive way. I also feel if WCI didn't buy it GM would have shut it down anyway. And that of course would have been the better way and at least we could have remembered it for what it really was.
Peter
 
yes its sad

I see things and companys I love disapear every year,but on the happy side is people like us Preserving the good old machines as we seen here & on many other sites ,cars,tractors,mowers,gasoline/diesel/steam engines,fans,funiture,refrigerators,and many other items that have a history & were well made

Chuck

12-28-2006-10-45-41--gocartwasher.jpg
 

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