Value of 1964 Maytag DE302 electric dryer

[techdaddyk]

Howdy! We just moved into a house after the previous resident, a 91-year old woman, lived here for 67 years. She left us a Maytag DE302 electric dryer that she and her husband bought new in August 1964. It's in fantastic shape and works fine, but we're not collectors and it's far too small for our 2-adult, 2-kid household.

I'd like to sell it but I'm not sure if this is a $30 item or $1000 item. I'm guessing somewhere in between... So, how do I determine what it's worth? Thanks a bunch in advance!

 

[swestoyz]

Hi Kevin -

Sounds like the original owners got a lot of mileage out of their Maytag. Good for them!

The 302 is a middle of the line dryer from 64-65. I've seen people struggle to even give them away for free, let alone try to get some cash out of them. A buddy of mine local to me tried to give a similar one away years ago with no bites...

Try putting it on Craigslist. My suggestion is to not go too high (maybe the 30-50 dollar range), and see if anyone bites. It may be useful for someone who is looking for parts for a similar vintage Maytag dryer.

Hope this helps.

Ben

 

[techdaddyk]

Thanks for the info, Ben! It's not exactly what I wanted to hear, of course, but it's certainly helpful.

Anyone else care to weigh in?

 

[danemodsandy]

Another Suggestion:

While the dryer may look small by today's standards, where darn near everything is "supersized," the fact is that Maytag's washers and dryers served large families back in the day, and did a fine job.

Maytag used to run a series of ads showing their products with large families who owned their products, with testimonials telling how reliable the machines had been. One is below; it's from 1965.

Where I'm going with this is - keeping it and using it just might be a better option than you envision, maybe even worth a shot if you haven't tried it. You certainly can't buy a new dryer for what you'd get out of it - Ben's assessment is spot-on, and he should know - he's the savviest, most experienced collector in our area.

This option may not work for reasons I can't envision, but I thought I'd put it out there.

 

[pulltostart]

Two Cents Worth

Without trying to hyjack this thread, and being careful with the wording...

 

My reaction to these Maytag ads was to think what somebody needed worse than a Maytag was a surgical procedure.

 

lawrence

 

[dnastrau]

Maytag dryer service

Nice looking dryer! If you do decide to keep it, you should take the cabinet off and clean/vacuum the insides and lubricate any moving parts. 50-year-old oil and grease dries up and turns to the consistency of varnish and peanut butter. Lint and dust are not good inside of a dryer either.

Many parts for these machines are hard to find new at this point and a good service will help ensure safety and continued service. If you search the archives there are threads on servicing Maytag "Halo of Heat" style dryers.

Andrew S.

 

[bluejay]

I'd recommend keeping it too. We replaced a '92 Whirlpool with a '63 DE700 back in March and the Maytag totally outperforms. It's quieter, and we saw our electric bill go down a little. There are only two of us though, but we do about 2-3 loads a week. We paid $50 for ours and it was well worth it.

 

[combo52]

Value of Your Older MT Dryer

Unfortunately as Ben stated most older major appliances have very little value unless someone close to you really wants it or it is a matched set in one of the interesting colors that were offered. I would guess that you should get $50-100 for it.

 

You could use it for a while as others mentioned, but be aware that these older dryers run hotter than newer dryers and are several times as likely to cause a fire as a post 1980 Whirlpool dryer, so don't leave home with it running. It is also going to use a little more electricity than a newer dryer with a good electronic sensor dryness control, there is no possible way that it could use less power than a newer dryer.

 

[techdaddyk]

Thank you for everyone's suggestions. I'm going to proceed with selling it and I hope the new owners take care of it.