My Mom bought a Kirby model 516 from a lady that knocked on the front door when I was 5 yrs old. I remember vividly her whole demonstration, because I was always fascinated by vacuums.
The lady was very prim and proper and was wearing a suit, heels, hat and gloves. One particular feature I remember her touting was that the slot in the handle near the top could be used to deposit random coins that the user may find while vacuuming, thereby saving towards the monthly payments! I believe that my Mom ended up paying $400.00 for this Kirby and she used it from 1956 until 1989, and it was still working when my stepfather bought her a Riccar upright. In 1956 you could buy a very nice used car for $400.00, so Kirby's were always much more expensive than other vacuums, but well worth it.
Now my Mom certainly didn't have the dinero to pay for this Kirby. Initially, she thought she could use some of the grocery money to make the monthly payments.
I was sworn to secrecy to not tell my Dad about this Kirby that she didn't discuss with him prior to its purchase. But my Mom was always thinking! She got her hair done twice weekly in those days, and the monthly bill was sent to my Dad's Law office for payment. So Mom made an arrangement with her hairdresser, Bonnie to have her "pad" the bill and give the extra dollars to Mom so she could make her monthly Kirby payments.
This went on for at least a year or more before my Dad figured out what was going on. When I think about this its was alot like a scenario from "I Love Lucy", the most popular TV show at that time.
Housewives in the 50's needed to be inventive when they didn't have control of the families money, LOL. I recall that Mom used to be delighted to share this story of subterfuge with her friends.
Eddie
The lady was very prim and proper and was wearing a suit, heels, hat and gloves. One particular feature I remember her touting was that the slot in the handle near the top could be used to deposit random coins that the user may find while vacuuming, thereby saving towards the monthly payments! I believe that my Mom ended up paying $400.00 for this Kirby and she used it from 1956 until 1989, and it was still working when my stepfather bought her a Riccar upright. In 1956 you could buy a very nice used car for $400.00, so Kirby's were always much more expensive than other vacuums, but well worth it.
Now my Mom certainly didn't have the dinero to pay for this Kirby. Initially, she thought she could use some of the grocery money to make the monthly payments.
I was sworn to secrecy to not tell my Dad about this Kirby that she didn't discuss with him prior to its purchase. But my Mom was always thinking! She got her hair done twice weekly in those days, and the monthly bill was sent to my Dad's Law office for payment. So Mom made an arrangement with her hairdresser, Bonnie to have her "pad" the bill and give the extra dollars to Mom so she could make her monthly Kirby payments.
This went on for at least a year or more before my Dad figured out what was going on. When I think about this its was alot like a scenario from "I Love Lucy", the most popular TV show at that time.
Housewives in the 50's needed to be inventive when they didn't have control of the families money, LOL. I recall that Mom used to be delighted to share this story of subterfuge with her friends.
Eddie