UK 1967 House & Garden appliance report - with a NEW old machine!

[matchboxpaul]

Hi all.

Myself and Rob went on a trawl to the antiques and bric-a-brac place in the next town and came a way with a handful of mid to late 60s and early 70s House & Garden magazines.

One of the 1967 editions contained a neat little report on appliances of the day, with the laundry section containing a real eye opener!

Only 4 pages long, but nonetheless .... Enjoy!
Paul

 

[matchboxpaul]

page 2 ....

 

[matchboxpaul]

page 3....

 

[matchboxpaul]

and finally page 4...

 

[matchboxpaul]

and here is the eye opener....

in the form of the fabled ACME Automatic.

Previously only read about in Which magazines, that only ever mentioned it by name, it was a real surprise to finally see a photograph of one totally out o the blue.

Anyone any ideas as to who made it?
Quite a smart, if a bit plain looking machine....

 

[matchboxpaul]

and bigger photographs of the rest....

Miele 421 De Luxe

 

[matchboxpaul]

STOKVIS Ecomatic

 

[matchboxpaul]

FRIGIDAIRE Jetamatic

 

[matchboxpaul]

HOTPOINT Supermatic

 

[matchboxpaul]

WESTINGHOUSE Tumble Dryer

 

[matchboxpaul]

BENDIX Tumble Dryer

 

[matchboxpaul]

and an interesting dishwasher from page 3, in the form of the UNIDAIRE

 

[MrX]

£179 in today's money is £2,755.06 or €3292.63 or US$4519.12

Miele prices were pretty steep then too

But what's amazing is how pricy that twin tub is in today's terms !
£1,292.88 / US$2120.71/ €1545.15

Historic inflation calculator: How money's value changed since 1900

This historic inflation calculator uses official UK inflation data to show how prices have changed and what money used to be worth.

www.thisismoney.co.uk

 

[paulc]

Thanks for posting Paul, brilliant pictures. I have often wondered what the Acme front loader looked like.

 

[hotpoint95622]

hotpoint95622

Just look at that sinkamatic, anyone seen one?

 

[stevet]

Swansmaid/Kitchenaid???

I remember seeing a post by a member, of an old Swansmaid machine he had or found in an old English Manor house and it looked like a KD11 Clone. So does the one in the picture from the magazine article.
I have to wonder if they were granted licensing rights by Hobart to produce their machine. Never heard of that over here. Maybe a UK or European member can shed more light on these machines via pictures or brochures?

 

[vacbear58]

@stevet

Steve

I think the thread you referred to is the one below. You could also try entering "Swanmaid" into the searchalator as there are a few threads about it. Not sure when it was introduced here it was definitely on sale in 1960. It continued right through the 1960s which some small modifications. There was another Swanmaid model in the 1970s but do not know the origin of that one, it was definitely not Kitchenaid. Which (our version of CR) tested a Kitchenaid Surperba in around 1970 or so, so they must have been on sale here (possibly limited numbers) at that time.

Al

1950s Swanmaid dishwasher like kitchen aid new find

Hi Guys, I've done it again, and bought another dishwasher, again with the hope of finding a true vintage machine that i could use. The machine is a 1950s uk maid Swanmaid machine , but it bears very close similarities to vintage KitchenAid machines. Its rough in condition and...

www.automaticwasher.org

 

[petek]

Neat.. The Goblin 3 head floor polisher looks like an Electrolux. And that sink with the agitator on the side.. wonder how that works.

 

[chestermikeuk]

Appliances

Great report Paul, just goes to show what you can find with a lot of patience and searching....The Acme..hhmmm, thinking Stokvis, Castorama or Gorenje group?...

Lee and Pete, the Sinkamatic, I think thats the one that you could use it with the impellor shown as a washing machine, (think Hoover twinny) and a dishwasher (drainer in the sink with dishes in, water swirling around) and a flexi drive for use with attachments such as a whisk/mixer - interesting concept, not sure how practical is would have been!!

And the Frigidaire Jetamatic Jetcone top loader with the heater and fast spin. The only one of the above I used at the time was the Bendix Tumble Dryer badged as a "Fisholow" very fast dryer with high/low and air fluff setting!!!