Why was Frigidaires Agitator Design Abandoned?

[combo52]

WHY FRIGIDARE APPLIANCES WENT AWAY

Peter maybe when WCI agreed to buy they thought that they would continue the GM appliance designs [ I don't believe they did want to continue them ] but they soon came to thier senses and canned them. For many of the good reasons listed here , high wage costs, old out moded factories, very expensive machines to build that required a lot of engineering expertise to make work. I would wager that GE or WP would have had trouble making the 1-18 washer work and MT would never been able to make such a highly engineered design work.

 

All the companies that WCI bought were in trouble, yes they all made some very good products at one time, but none would likely have survived on thier own much longer. 

 

Westinghouse was a very big brand for builders in the Washington DC area in the 1950s-in to the 1960s, but thier appliances delovoped such a crappy reputation by the end of the 1960s and into the early 1970s that builders often found it harder to sell new houses when people saw the WH labels on the new kitchen appliances. Levett built over 30,000 new houses here in Prince George's Co. Maryland from 1959-1974-5. They used all WH appliances till about 1963-4 when they switched to GE as GE had much better Electric cooking appliances and laundry at that time to say nothing of the great GE refrigerators that were built in the 1960s.

 

I remember when WCI said that they would bury WP and other US appliance companies in the early 1980s, and we just laughed. Now even though I still feel that thier new&#92 appliances are still a cut below  WPs and GEs they have become number 2 or 3 in the US appliance market and are making money. I hate to admit it but thier strategy seems to have worked. 

 

[tomturbomatic]

What does this mean?

"GM...was unwilling to expand its product line in order to achieve the efficiency levels that would have made it worth keeping."

Frigidaire had a full line of appliances: air conditioners to washers and everything in between.

 

[arbilab]

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
wasn't the generic WCI toploader a Westy design originally
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I don't think so. I remember hearing it was actually an Easy but I can't substantiate that today. It was our last machine as I was leaving home. Before that we shortly had a squarefront Westy (potato pulley) but mom kicked it out of the house when the warranty expired. That was roughly a 64 and as above W'house's reputation was sliding by then.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Westinghouse was a very big brand for builders
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Our distributor may not have been very aggressive. Or the Dallas market just didn't matter. These houses/neighborhoods were built in 1953, 1956, 1963 and I never saw W'house built ins. For that matter, our F'daire was an exception. Those bitchin Flair ovens with solid glass doors that opened vertically.

 

[jetcone]

Thank you Greg for posting that

article, it does confirm what I remember. But the factory must have been gearing up for the S-10's not the Luv's since they were always imports.

 

 

[peteski50]

Frigidaire to WCI!

I am quite sure GM made the appliances until the end of 1980. I dont think it was a regional thing but maybe it was - here in NY appliance stores had regular shipments from GM comming in even though WCI owned the company. In mid 1980 I was told GM was going to stop production at the end of the year and WCI would be making the stuff in their own plants. In facts at that time no one I knew in the appliance industry knew what was going to happen. WCI said they were making changes and improvements to the designs and distribution will start in Jan 1981 and in this area that is when it started. I remember going in one appliance outlet on a very cold day and was shocked to see what came in. I said to one sales person - is this for real?
And if WCI continued with GM designs and made the right moves they could have burried all the other companies.
I also remember after the pull out from GM the frigidaire stock went down to nothing. I will try to locate some articles I have.
Peter

 

[cfz2882]

Westy "frigidaire"washers

The earlier WCI "frigdaire"washers were westinghouse machines of a design that came
out around 1966(earlier T/L westys were rebadged Easys IIRC) these had porcelain
inner and outer tubs and the tub indexed. I would like to add one of these westys
to my collection,but a couple features i don't like about these include that the
top is rarely(if ever)porcelain and i think the(clutching)belt is too small and
likely to wear fast. After a few years of westy"frigidaires",WCI started to phase
in more franklin built washers-these also had indexing tub and the inner and outer
tubs are plastic-these did have a decent size(clutching)belt though and seem to be
pretty tough even if cheaply made.
The original design westy top loads stopped production about 1988,i think the
franklin design stopped this year...

 

[peteski50]

Frigidaire to WCI!

This was one article I had had:

Bob Connor from Pittsburgh, PA sez...
Destroying electric cars seems like an act only a stupid company would do but this is not the first time GM made a good product that they didn't want to public to keep. I know some people who have a hobby of collecting and restoring home appliances. I don't buy the argument from GM that nobody would make parts for the EV1s that people wanted to buy. Until 1980 GM had their home appliance division, Frigidaire. GM Frigidaire kitchen and laundry appliances were among the most innovative made at the time and usually of high quality, some are still going today. No, you cannot get parts for GM Frigidaire appliances now and today GM pretends that they never existed (Today's Frigidaire appliances are made by another company and are considered a "budget" brand). GM shut down Frigidaire on December 26, 1980 so the employees in Dayton got unemployment for Christmas. What I am saying is that this is a much bigger blunder than getting rid of Frigidaire and GM deserves to go bankrupt because of it. I cannot figure out who in their right mind would buy Anything from this company. The only reason I think they do well in the Pittsburgh area: We have a lot of seniors who have good memories of the Chevys and Buicks they drove in the 50s, and a lot of funeral homes that like Cadillac. GM also screwed up when they wanted people to get an expensive charger for the car. Why could an electric car not be recharged by a 220 volt electric dryer outlet found in most homes? That way you would recharge after doing the laundry! Even if you didn't have this outlet an electrician could add one for about 200 dollars. But please don't charge near that much for the DVD, charge less than most movies as the message is more important than the one about the "Lake House".
[7/14/2006 12:30:28 AM]

 

[gansky1]

I remember the first time I saw the WCI machines, June 1980. I was 14 and rode the bus to my father's in Detroit Lakes, MN. While he was working, I wandered the downtown and annoyed the appliance dealers, scoped out coin laundries (big resort town so there several large stores) and played around the beach. There were two good-sized appliance & TV stores, one had Frigidaire and the other Hotpoint. I recall seeing many Frigidaire appliances at relatives, etc. around that area. I was stunned to open that all-too familiar Westinghouse shaped window-lid and seeing that agitator. I followed the brochures closely for the next few years and knew all hope was lost when WCI made the plastic-basket with curved-fin agitators and a four port shower fill. Ugh.

Westinghouse builder sales; somewhere I have a builder's catalog for Westy appliances so they did market to the trade but I only remember only a couple of apartment complexes that had Westinghouse. They had the slide out, Flair style ranges and BOL, single knob dishwashers with only a wire basket to hold & dispense detergent in the silverware basket. All coppertone.

 

[tolivac]

Appliances in homes-DC area-when My Mom and Stepdad bought a Levitt built home in the Upper Marlboro area-Levitt offered either a GE Appliance package or the Westinghouse one.My Mom chose GE.when they moved from the house over 15 years later-the GE equipment was still working.the house was built in 1969.

 

[qualin]

Thanks for the input everyone.

 

[combo52]

CHOISE OF APPLIANCES IN LEVETT HOMES

Hi Rex I am going to disagree about there being a choice of WH or GE apps being available in Levett homes. I worked on major appliances in that community for more than 15 years 1975-1990 and never saw a single house that had WH apps built after 1963, so if there was a choice every single buyer made the better choice to get GE LOL. Remember Levett offered almost no choices or changes other than colors in the fast building of these houses.

 

[supersuds]

<blockquote>
The earlier WCI "frigdaire"washers were westinghouse machines of a design that came
out around 1966(earlier T/L westys were rebadged Easys IIRC) these had porcelain
inner and outer tubs and the tub indexed.

 

</blockquote>
Thanks, cfz!  It gets complicated at times.

 

[mrb627]

Don't Blame WCI

GM is the Company at Fault. They should never have sold the appliance division off.

Malcolm

 

[norfolksouthern]

It's been a couple years since I last visited

But anyway, on with the topic. In spite of the cost of manufacturing, and the final purchase price of a typical 1-18, these machines were built to last for years, perhaps generations. Remember "Alice"? Well, that machine is still a champ and keeps going without a hitch. Just now, I pulled it out, and swept the area where it sits, which remains bone dry with just a little dust accumulation. Every few months, I take out the front panel and inspect inside the cabinet, which stays clean overall. Knowing the difficulty of finding parts, I use it very carefully for the lighter loads. This is to keep "Alice" exercised and in good shape. Over the short period of time I've own it, I believe my 1-18 has saved me some good money over the cost of repairs for a typical HE front loader. I will not sell or trade that machine for anything except another vintage Frigidaire in similar condition: A working Pulsamatic, for example.

A little on maintenance: Springs, motors, belts, and even the wiring are very easy to replace on a 1-18. The exception would be the transmission and drive train assembly, but not impossible if parts and a service manual were available. Overall, I have found it less difficult to fix than a belt-drive Whirlpool or Kenmore, especially when replacing a belt. All WCI would have had to do, was fix the design of the transmission for easier removal, including the clutch and bearing assemblies. Same with the agitator assembly, bellows, and seals. Then, they would have had a winning product. Both greed, and laziness were the main contributing factors to the demise of Frigidaire, leading to the eventual bankruptcy of WCI and its purchase by Electrolux.

 

[circlew]

To the best of my knowledge, production at Frigidaire's Moraine (south Dayton), OH plant ended by Dec. of 1979. By the Summer of 1981, GM had converted this plant to make the S-10 and Blazer - Jimmy trucks, which continued there until a couple years ago. This location had opened in 1951; prior to this Frigidaire products were made in the downtown Dayton factory. I think some products continued to be manufactured at the downtown complex, but don't know what was made where. A trip to the Dayton Public Library would give me all the details, but don't have time to go up there at the present. BWoods probably would be able to tell us more about all this.

 

[peteski50]

Frigidaire GM / WCI!

This is one article from the New York Times from June 1980 when Frigidaire was still being built by GM. It states in their that they are still with the old agency and trying to make a go of things.

 

[peteski50]

Frigidaire GM / WCI!

This article was from the New York Times October 1980 and I remember before this I was told that WCI was going to be pulling out by the end of the year and than release their updated products. Here it states after a layoff some people were called back to GM frigidaire (but obvious not for to long)

 

[gansky1]

But the article does not state that Frigidaire was still being built by GM only that WCI kept the same ad agency that Frigidaire used prior to the buyout.

 

[peteski50]

Frigidaire!

I got this awhile ago (Frigidaire Historian Collection) - If you notice on page 8 it states various dates contained in the literature that end in 1980. I wish I could see the literature. It would be exciting to go through!

http://www.libraries.wright.edu/special/collection_guides/guide_files/ms262.pdf

 

[maytagbear]

I hated that campaign.

because it was not honest. "In the last 15 years....one refrigerator," a GM built Frigidaire.

Hated it.

To me, the American appliance industry was never the same. It would have been better, I think, to have let Frigidaire die completely.

Lawrence/Maytagbear