Vintage Appliance Advertisements: Part Thirty-one

[Ultramatic]

General Electric 1956

 

[Ultramatic]

RCA Whirlpool 1956

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

AMC 1956

That looks like it would make a great Pic of the Day!

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[Ultramatic]

RCA Victor 1955

 

[circlew]

AMC 1956
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AMC 1956
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I remember seeing AMC (Associated Merchandising Corp.) appliances at Shillito's downtown store. They also sold GE at the time, and even as a kid I thought the AMC models looked cheap in comparison.

 

[circlew]

RCA Victor 1955
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Peter Pan was a show I always looked forward to when I was little. I think I was 4 the first time I saw it.

 

[ea56]

RCA Victor 1955
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Holy Cow! Would you look at the prices of these TV’s, $795 and $895! That was a fortune in 1955! Minimum wage was $0.75 per hr. You could buy a nice used ‘52 Chevy or Ford then for about $500 to $600 in 1955. No wonder my family didn’t have a color TV until 1969.

Eddie

 

[ea56]

Re:#96
I well remember the first time “Peter Pan” was televised in 1955. I was 4 years old and that night my Dad and a new Manitowoc Bottom freezer refrigerator delivered which was just as big a deal as “Peter Pan” on TV.

Eddie

 

[vacerator]

Wow Eddie! TV sets were more expensive then. You were buying a fine piece of furniture and a TV. I remember my cousins 1969 Zenith Danish modern console. Beautiful walnut cabinet with two speakers. I think it cost about $700. My uncle's net pay was $150 per week. I saw him counting with my aunt once. That may have been with overtime.

 

[phillymatt53]

Wow Eddie! TV sets were more expensive then. You were buying a fine piece of furniture and a TV. I remember my cousins 1969 Zenith Danish modern console. Beautiful walnut cabinet with two speakers. I think it cost about $700. My uncle's net pay was $150 per week. I saw him counting with my aunt once. That may have been with overtime.

My first job out of high school in 1971 was a Quality Control Inspector for ITE Imperial Corp.
We manufactured residential and industrial/military circuit breakers up to 2000 amps.
Back then, my take-home pay was about $176.00, but living at home I was able to save enough for my first car, and my first nice stereo system.
Gasoline was 49.9/gal.
Cigs were 0.50 cents
LP records were $5.99
45 rpm records were .69 cents

And I remember crying when Janis Joplin died.

 

[ea56]

In 1971 I was 20 years old and had already been living on my own for a year. I worked for commission and my average weekly take home pay was between $55 to $65 per week,or and average of $60 per week.

My rent was $80.00 per mo. util. incld. and my car payment was $70 per mo., my Kaiser health ins prem. was $9.90 per mo. my phone cost $10 per mo.for a 2 party line. That left me approx $17.25 per week for groceries, gas, cigarettes and other misc. items.

But somehow I always made it and was NEVER behind on any bill and my bank acct. was never overdrawn.

Eddie

 

[phillymatt53]

In 1971 I was 20 years old and had already been living on my own for a year. I worked for commission and my average weekly take home pay was between $55 to $65 per week,or and average of $60 per week.

My rent was $80.00 per mo. util. incld. and my car payment was $70 per mo., my Kaiser health ins prem. was $9.90 per mo. my phone cost $10 per mo.for a 2 party line. That left me approx $17.25 per week for groceries, gas, cigarettes and other misc. items.

But somehow I always made it and was NEVER behind on any bill and my bank acct. was never overdrawn.

Eddie

Jeez, Eddie, that's rough living at its finest!

We've all had tough times I suppose.
In 1979, at 26, I got my first apartment, $180/month+electric, basic phone service.
I was then working for a Delco Auto repair business, fixing car radios, as well as removing/installing them in customer's cars.
A few evenings a week I DJ'd at a popular downtown upper-class bar/restaurant, made decent money and tips there too.
I got to meet some local TV news celebrities, most were nice except for one major guy. - Jim Gardner from Action News 6 (real name James Goldman).
He was a troubled person who drank expensive imported liquor and got filthy drunk, loud, and aggressive. He lived a "secret" life too and hated me for playing disco and requests from other patrons - which I was always considerate to.
The "news people" would come in after their nightly broadcasts to enjoy and relax.
But Gardner thought that "his" music was to be the only entertainment - and screw what others wanted to hear.
Namely Leon Redbone and oldies.
I quit there after 6 months of putting up with the crap, and moved on to independently DJ at parties, events, and a few clubs. - better money, under the table too.
Back in 1977/78 I met some radio DJ's, offered free records of new tunes, and even got hired to do a benefit for Easter Seals - "Disco Dance-Athon" which was televised here - mom said I looked great on TV.
That was the first time I and my equipment got a limousine ride to a function.
That was one highlight of my DJ career.
I still have a premotion poster showing me with some school teens, inviting them to come and dance the day away.

I'll admit, I've lived an interesting life, I could write a book as thick as an older phone book.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

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I love this Kelvinator ad... A neighbor across the street had a more deluxe-model dishwasher in avocado green, that I picked out... And she actually loved it a lot, and that it worked and cleaned excellently...

She also bought an avocado electric range that was probably similar, but was a Tappan, and with coil burners and featured a self-cleaning oven that she also praised... It didn't have a window, but a black-glass door...

Her new fridge was a side by side avocado Hotpoint... All three in the same purchase, replacing a Whirlpool top-freezer fridge put in the basement, and a Whirlpool electric range and top-loading dishwasher (that I don't think I know the name of, but had a lot of buttons standing up on the front of the lid opening on it, and maybe a thumbwheel for the dial), all in white...

 

[vacerator]

At age 16 in 1976, I started making 2.62/hr. Which was above minimum wage. 20 hours per week on my high School work permit. More hours in summer. By graduation I was making $4.65. after working at least 32 hours per week for 12 weeks I had full time benefits. Occidental major medical zero deductibles, 80% dental, and optical coverage and life insurance. I was driving a used junky Gremlin but it was paid for. A year later I was up to $8/hr. Sunday's were double time. Bought a clean 74 Caprice for $800. By 1980 I was at $10.37/hr. My gross that year was $22,500. Rent was$210 plus electric and phone. Got a nice 78 Cutlass Supreme with 18,000 miles for $4,500. Still was able to save.