From all corners of the United Kingdom - London, Wales, Merseyside. Lincoln and Derbyshire we descended on the hometown of Richard (Ricky50) in the North East of England for a weekend meetup, to work a little magic on his washers, vacs, vintage TV`s and also to celebrate Darren`s (SlowSpin66) birthday !!
Here`s the gang getting to grips with Richards Hoover Keymatic 3224 (first model)which is in great nick just needed a tune up and a few replacement hoses. Lots of tea and Tunnocks wafers.
L - R, Richard (Ricky50), Darren, (SlowSpin66), Alistair (Vacbear58) , Steve (SESteve) and Mathew (Keymatic3203). [this post was last edited: 4/7/2016-16:31]
His Hoover Keymatic is in pristine condition and we set too sorting out the hoses and a sticky keyplate reader. There was a bit of a squeal on the pulsator but after a dousing with water it all settled down, (rather like the screaming of a hoover spinner until you place water in it!! The pump was cracked apart and stripped down in order to de-scale it and lubricate the drive shaft.
Its a late production run model, around September 1963 and has the latest version timer (Clear Housing) and an updated wiring loom, Hoover had 5 versions of their first Keymatic timer which was updated throughout the production run..
Here we see the clear housing V5 timer with the German clockwork motor inside, the next pic shows us the back of the timer with plug in wiring connectors that link up to the card reader.
The keyplate card reader / holder was a little sticky so a quick clean and sanding made all the difference to sliding in the Bakelite keyplate. Picture 2 shows us the keyplate switches under the grooves which line up with the spaces on the Keyplate to select the programme.
After lunch of soup, sandwiches and "More Cake Vicar" we finished the jobs on the keymatic and headed inside (that winds cold up North) ha ha.. to a hearty homefire burning!!
And to celebrate Darrens special birthday, here`s a little wesher cake, with me trying to keep it cool so the fondant icing stays upright instead of riding south....
Following a slap up dinner of homemade lasagne, garlic bread and side salad too much wine , gin and Slooooo Gin (hic) we gathered around the vintage 1957 telly for an evening of "Hoover - Who Better" and various washer adds of the 50`s & 60`s..
The following day after a refreshing glass of freshly squeezed oranges (much needed) and a whipped up breakfast of salmon & scrambled eggs it was time to hit the road for the garage and Richard had hired a local community centre where we could set up the appliances to set up and use. Heres the Bendix model D which is awaiting a stripdown, panels painted and hoses replaced, bearings spinning beautifully..
This model MK2, model 19, was manufactured in the Servis UK factory, exported to New South Wales, badged and sold in Australia - this model came back over here in a shipping container when the owner came back here to live. It has a linked heater / wash programme timer which heats the water then starts the set washtime programme. The spinner has an automatic timer for use with the flow rinsing.
