1961 Kenmore.....
The "VERY" first washer I ever saw was a 1961 Kenmore that my Grandmother (on my late father's side). That would be the model with the fake looking buttons on the panel with the cycle-timer on the VERY right. Those fake looking buttons would actually be the cycle guides that listed the various cycles the machine had. So in fact then, it was actually a high end "one-knob" machine with a 2-Speed Motor. There's a picture of it here in the club somewhere that is in a junkyard with the lid ripped off. Someone has mistakingly labeled it a 1961 Lady Kenmore (which is something it clearly wasn't). I know I seen the matching dryer somewhere here in the club as well.
Now.... what I don't quite remember is did that model have a lighted panel or not. It may look like it did, but I am not sure about that.
The "VERY" first machine that I have started up would be our 1967 One-Speed, One-Cycle, One-Knob 24" BOL Kenmore. That would also be the "VERY" machine that I would also learn how to do the laundry on when I was a teenager. We got it in 1967 when I was the tender age of four years, and it lasted until August 1978, when we then upgraded to a 1978 Large Capacity Kenmore Model 70 with the Agitator-Mounted Fabric Softener Dispenser, with us acquiring a dryer in 1976 (a 1975 Kenmore "All-American" Dryer with Solid-State Sensor, Wrinkle-Guard and a Full-Width Door) two years before that.
--Charles--
