Unusual Kenmore washer

Automatic Washer - The world's coolest Washing Machines, Dryers and Dishwashers

Help Support AutomaticWasher.org:

kenmoreguy64

kenmoreguy64

Well-known member
Platinum Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2008
Messages
3,282
Location
Charlotte, NC
Here's a Kenmore that I had never seen before. I ran across this purely by accident in Columbia, SC Craigslist this past October, and had to go get it. I had never seen this model before, and was stunned at (to me anyway) its handsome styling.

The console is purely mid-1960s, direct from the 1966 Kenmore 600 and 70, with 1972/1973 trim cues and knobs. This machine is practically a clone of our 1961 Kenmore 70 --- infinite water level, five temps, Roto-Swirl, two speeds, three basic cycles, etc. Had we been shown this model in 1974 when we bought KM #2, I'd bet this is what we would have purchased.

As it turns out, this is a 1973 Kenmore 60-series (Yes, all those features in a 60/600 model). What I didn't immediately know is that it is a suds-saver!!!! Someone has merged the two drain hoses via a T-Connection, but its all there as a suds model.

I got home from my short trip, and immediately stored the machine with the rest until I can finish a few other projects. Then I promptly forgot to post the pics here. This is one of just a couple machines I acquired in 2013, which is probably a good thing. I sent a few off to other members, and ironically one (A 1970 Kenmore) that went off to Long Island used this similar panel.

The machine is in very nice shape, and does not seem to have seen a lot of use. I think Andy had a Harvest Gold dryer that matched this machine back a few years ago.

Is this model as unusual as it seems to me?

Gordon

kenmoreguy64++4-9-2014-14-26-17.jpg
 
 

 

Very neat machine Gordon, glad you finally posted a thread / photos about it!

 

The next question is: when are you going to dig it out of the mothballs and test it / use it?

 

Kevin 
 
Years ago (early '80s) a neighbor of ours had that same machine and matching dryer. If my memory is correct the timer dial is a push-start/pull-stop affair.
 
I do not want to say BS.....but I think this model is the exact one, or anyway really similar to the kenmore that appeared in one of the Halloween saga movies ( i am fan of)....The number 6 movie (The curse of. micael myers)...
I cannot find the washer scene to show in here...but the one in the movie had white knobs and what seemed a grey console...
But most than than that I loved the agitator it had...
I do not know the name of that particular agitator...all I know is that it was usual to show up in some Kenmore machines and I could see also in some brazilian brastemp..but all black...
The one in the movie was white with the cap of the typical kenmore dark mustard color (kinda orange) one of their agitators...never seen one except in the movie..
Loved it....
 
Well, looks like I found the link and machine...
I remembered kinda well I think but it's not the exact one, also in the one in the movie i can just see what seems a temp selector only and console looks different....the machine you show has two smaller knobs one for temps and the other for water levels...
But I think it's about the period,, maybe later model, but surely more BOL...in the movie the machine is pretty ruined also and infact they just wants to give the idea of an unfunctional house where not even the washer works properly, where straud family just moved into for will of the father...
Anyway, in this scene shows the bloody, swinging and floody kenmore where michael myers tossed in bloody bed sheets for a never ending cycle (in the movie infact the washer won't start or stop or go thru the cycle normally and eventually ends up flooding all the basement)....
anyway, here the link...
http://watch32.com/movies-online/halloween-6-the-curse-of-michael-myers-195504/episode-4.html
Press 4 in the google server chart, play the thing and go directly to min 6:70.....
How I'd love To have that agi!!!!! :)[this post was last edited: 4/9/2014-16:37]
 
Hey

I can't believe you found that here in Columbia! My own back yard!. Nice machine. I had a simular model as my first machine when I moved away from home. Did a great job.

 

Joe

jamman_98
 
So...

My question is... Is the PRE-SOAK and the PRE-WASH the same cycle on the dial? They look broken by an OFF section...

Malcolm
 
 

 

Freddy, that is the same agitator as in the photo of Gordons machine above, a "rotoswirl" (or maybe that called it a "super" rotoswirl).   The only difference is the one in the video you posted, has the fabric softener dispenser on it.

 

Kevin
 
 

 

Freddy, that is the same agitator as in the photo of Gordons machine above, a rotoswirl.   The only difference is the one in the video you posted has the fabric softener dispenser on it.

 

Kevin
 
"when are you going to dig it out of the mothballs"

Kevin - there are a few MUST HAPPENS before I can get that machine out of storage. First and foremost is to freshen-up a pair of LK machines for a member from the mid-west. I can't work on my stuff until that is out of the way. THEN, I would like to finish a couple machines that are at home already, including the almost done 1965 alphabet 70. After that, who knows, something will strike my fancy in storage I am sure. I think if Andy nudges me much further on the 1968 900s we'll have to make him a Maytag Man bobble-head doll, so that washer may have first dibs on a trip "to the spa" as Ron in NC says. I would also like to breathe life into a 1963 KM 70 in Coppertone that is a real basket-case. I love total re-dos, so we'll see what time brings. I also have four or five DD machines that heard there was a convention of WP-built washing machines in Charlotte, and came to stay. Those need to be fixed and homes found for them. They would get out of my way and into the hands of folks who need them.

Malcolm - I noticed the same thing on the timer dial. That would be really interesting if the machine stopped after the pre-soak. Thanks for including the video of Rodrigo's. That is one of my favorite KMs - definitely in the top 5. That model had a one-up cousin with the same timer as this machine. It also has a short gap between the cycles from what I've seen in catalogs. Maybe Joe remembers what his washer did?

Its good to know that a few others had or had seen this model. I shouldn't be surprised, Kenmore sold too many machines for something MOL like this to be rare.

Gordon[this post was last edited: 4/9/2014-18:01]
 
I have a question about the washer in the video that Malcolm posted in reply #14. At the 6:58 mark during the fill for the rinse, as the timer advances, it seems to start the motor briefly in between the increments. Is that something that is normal on machines of that era or with that model timer, or is this particular machine's timer misbehaving? I remember on my mom's early-mid 70's machine that this didn't happen when the timer advanced during the rinse fill.
 
Todd, I didn't notice the motor starting up during my first watch of the video, but now that you bring it up, I hear it... could that be background noise? If the motor did start very briefly, its not normal.

There is nearly always a two-minute pause in KM timers (timers with two minute increments anyway) during rinse fill where the machine will not agitate until the next increment. On some basic models that have 1-minute increments, the rinse pause is thus 1-minute.

I'd like to know what the purpose for this was, as it is in every belt-drive I've seen, 1961 to 1986.

Gordon
 
Hello, G.

I think they had to allow the full two minutes to accommodate the possibility of homes with low water pressure or instances when a user's pressure might temporarily drop; thus if your pressure is great, the fill is completed before the two minutes are up, and so we wait, panting. waiting for the lights to come back on and the rinse act to resume.
 
My mom had this machine in avocado. It had the 24" size cabinet, standard capacity washbasket and the straight-vane agitator instead of the roto-swirl.
 
My first washer I ever got was used and was one VERY similar to that one, a Kenmore 80 model. Same sounds as the video, same super roto swirl, same knobs and placement. Mine was coppertone and said it was Heavy Duty. Wished I hadnt given it to my brother in law when I bought these Maytags 30 years ago. That could have been the start of a great collection.
 
Thank you Kevin, oh right, so it's a roto swirl!!! How couldn't get this???? The fact must be I have never seen one white and so made me think of a different, unusual one ...also, you know, the cap looked different than the others roto swirl ones, I mean more "convex" and perhaps a little taller than the others roto swirl that looks more flat...
But it may be that it is just the combination of colors that gives me the impression that it is different shaped.... I just do not know for sure....
I love the roto swirl agitators and love the typical kenmore mustard color,....but this combination of white and mustard of that agitator is so intriguing, now that I think of it even a black RS with a mustard cap wouldn't be bad at all!
Just to know...do you know if they fit only the Kenmores or they can also fit a whirlpool machine?
I have BD whirlpool with surgilator, love the surgilator the same I love roto swirls and Km straight vanes, I don't ask this because I want to change it with a roto swirl, I am a "purist" and I like my machines to have their original pieces....but just for information...
Excuse me again for the off-topic.
 
Agitator

This is a SUPER ROTO SWIRL agitator. The regular roto swirl is the often referred to pregger in Bakelite. Supposedly, the vertical scrubbing veins are what make this so SUPER.

Malcolm
 

Similar threads

pierreandreply4
its rare to see a direct drive washer with suds return
Replies
4
Views
312
d-todd
D
P
Direct-Drive Whirlpool/Kenmore Washer Repair Questions
Replies
2
Views
637
penney025
P
D
Loyal Kenmore Washer, Finickly Lady Kenmore Dryer
Replies
7
Views
651
moderncleveland
moderncleveland
turquoisedude
Inside the "new" Kenmore Roto-Rack dishwasher
Replies
7
Views
675
rinso
rinso
jr2712
Frigidaire Washer Identification
Replies
10
Views
220
pdub
pdub

Latest posts

Back
Top