WD-59 and its PANK!

[panthera]

My partner has been looking for a pink thumper for decades. Not so easy to find in this neck of the woods - most are either still in service and the folks who have them know what they've got...or they have gone to the great washer-heaven beyond the sky.
But he found one!
And he got her!
And she...works!
We've been cleaning her up, she's been out of service for over 20 years. But she had a lot of work done on her (including the belts, yay!) sometime in the 1980's, so with a bit of luck, we're lucking at years and years of fun.
Here's a picture of her before her bath.
ps:There are one or two minor problems waiting to be solved, and I hope nobody will mind my questions...but for now
YAY! Double PANK Yay!

 

[panthera]

And her maiden wash -

Still haven't polished her up in this shot, but she thumps!
And she spins!

 

[panthera]

After her bath

Gosh, that porcelain is just great. Yes, that is not the original fill flume, that's of one of the questions I am going to have. But for now, this is her fifth load - and everything came out clean and damp-dry and tangled in the knots of my childhood memories-one knot per quadrant.

 

[maytagbear]

Congratulations!

I'm Mayfair Pink with happiness for you both. (all three?)

Keven, check yer email.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[golittlesport]

wow! congrats...that is a rare pank birdie indeed! is it a unimatic?

 

[frontaloadotmy]

That is a Lovely

Beauty!!!!
Congratulations

 

[appnut]

rich, it's a multimatic.

 

[rickr]

Congrats! Glad you guys found your dream machine. Great job on the clean up. She looks like a real beauty!

 

[gyrafoam]

Great to see a first-year Multimatic "diaper washer" in such good shape! And a pank one no less!
Even the detergent column looks good! Whats the energy ring like?
I'll dig around and see if I can come up with a fill flume for you.

Did you change the water bellows?

 

[northwesty]

Congratulations

Looks to be in great shape.

 

[stainfighter]

PANK...

congratulations, gorgeous!!!

 

[panthera]

Yes,

She's a tragi-matic. Which is why I am very glad indeed that the belts are 'relatively' new. The spring is new and I strongly suspect both the transmission as well as the timer were redone in the '80s.
No, we haven't done any repair work on her at all. Everything tested out tight and fine except for some minor details, but questions about them will have to wait.
Even cleaning her up was more a case of taking the dust off than any real work. The only real work was adding a grounded line cord - the new hoses are not self-grounding and I am paranoid about water, old machinery and electricity.
I don't remember, what was the line-up in 1959? Wasn't there also a Delux Unimatic? This Delux seems pretty basic to me - only hot or warm water wash, all rinses are warm. No man-made cycle.
She's just finishing her seventh load. Pure joy.
I've got some movies to post on her, but they will have to wait - I'm headed back to Deutschland to teach and won't be back until the summer.
Bummer.

 

[swestoyz]

Wow - this is a pretty sweet Frigidaire! Looks to be in amazing shape - good to hear all the mechanicals seem to be sound. Here is the 1959 Frigidaire line-up. All the machines in 1959 were the Multi-Matic mechanism - being the debut year - with 1958 being the last year for the Unimatic and Pulsamatic mechanisms.

Ben

 

[sudsmaster]

Where is Toggles when he's really needed?

"My partner has been looking for a pink thumper for decades."

OMIGOD!

 

[panthera]

Steve,

Thanks so much - we have the flume, just having a problem with her spitting up, so temporarily replaced the screen with a hose extension. She's sitting on century old oak floor beams and I don't want to take chances. I will have some questions for you, if I may.
The energy ring is ok. No tears, cracks or brittleness. Same for the other rings. Their colors have dimmed, but, well, after 49 years so have mine... One of our problems is that at some point the whole pulsator was taken out and when replaced, the screw holding the top part with the lint away and second ring either not tightened correctly. I am afraid that if I try to loosen the screw, it will snap. So we have a twist of rope packed in around it to keep things from bouncing out of step.
Works fine, just is not the perfection we need.
Again, a time problem.
This summer, I very much want to go over every detail of lube and seals. Like I wrote above, she was extensively renewed shortly before being taken out of service in the 1980's. It is very possible that the current seals are in as good of condition as we will ever have her.
My questions will start coming in as soon as I get off the plane and have recovered from my brain-lag.
Gosh, how often is something just as great as you remember it from your childhood? This washer sure is!

 

[bajaespuma]

Aferim!

Whenever a member gets a dream machine from their childhood a little "cycle finished" bell goes off and an angel gets its wings.

 

[panthera]

Thanks!

To everyone for their comments, charts and help - things are enormously busy right now with me fixin' to leave tomorrow morning, but we really appreciate it.
As for the 'pink thumper', well we'll just leave that spilled milk under the bridge where me cat flang it...

By the by, the condenser (a big whopping monster) is also from 1959...works great, but should I replace it?

I am curious, my mom's Frigidaire at that time was a Unimatic - bought expressly because of my diapers - bought in 1958 and her second thumper was a control tower Imperial, dealer trade, used against reconditioned in 1962 - because the Unimatic broke every other week or so. So I am not sure just exactly how the '59s lined up.
This beautiful lady has only one program with three settings (heavy, medium, light), hot or warm wash, timed fills.
I notice the timer block has several unused connectors. Is that because it is a replacement (not complaining, a 25 year old timer beats a 49 year old hands down) or are there extra features which were not enabled on the WD-59?
Guess I'm asking someone to go to the trouble of listing what each level could do that year.
Gosh, she is pretty.

 

[Dick_S.]

Congratulations panthera

She's a real looker! ((--::

Dick

 

[panthera]

She's pretty, alright

but she's not mine, she belongs to my 'silent partner'.
He's one of the club's most faithful members, but stays *way* out of the discussions and pictures.
Given some of the more delightful things which go on here at times, I don't blame him.
Anyway, we also picked up a Westy slant-front dryer who needs some serious attention and, as I wrote, a Mobile-Maid (unfortunately not pink) in great condition. The Westy is our next big project, this summer.
I never cease to be amazed by the quality of construction and the disinterest in electrical safety in thumpers. I kinda wish they'd kept the quality and, back then, upped the clearances between live contacts and metal parts.
Why did Frigidaire decide to switch from the Unimatic design to the multi-matics, anyway? I know the roller-matic was partially an experiment in spin-off technology (as custodian responsible for over 70 of the darlings in the 1970's, I can say it was a failed experiment) but, gosh - the multi-matic is so well built it is hard to imagine any great cost savings.
Anyway, now that we have found her, I am hoping for the second prinzip of magik - like attracts like.
Movies may have to wait until this summer, my YouTube account isn't letting me upload this morning and this is my last chance.