What Was the first vintage washer you remember seeing or started up as a child

[sudsreturn]

First machine I ever started up and used? Hmmm. My mum had a Colston Concorde, but I never remember using that, but she did get a second hand auto (we all did up north in 80's Thatcher's Britain)and I can't remember the model, but it was an Indesit, 450rpm, controls and soap despenser on the top, three rocker switches. We didn't have it plumbed in, so it had to be fed from the cold water tap with them mad connectors. I used to help my mum move the heavy thing to the sink, and soon after she let me connect it up and set it going, organising the clothes according to programme. Meanwhile my nana decided she would let me have a go doing her washing once a week seeing as she was getting bad on her legs. She had a Colston Coronette, the smaller version of the Concorde, and taught me how to do washing twin tub style. It broke not long after, so she got a Hoovermatic Deluxe, like the T5090 but in black. After that I was away! I was about 12 I think, around 1991.

 

[300c]

To Bajespuma -- Reply #51

Yes, that is the EXACT same machine. After 8 years of use, Mom gave it to Grandma in 1968. It was still in service in 1988!

 

[chaskelljr2]

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--

 

[spinmon]

love at first sight

1956 RCA Whirlpool Imperial washer & dryer. The same set a member here has w/the purple lights & also seen on POD. VERY cool machines! I was hooked at age 3. Oh to be able to buy that washer new today.