Your first Automatic Washing machine

[ukbusdude]

It would be nice to know either your first memory of or your actual first fully automatic washing machine.
the first one my mum owned was in 1971 & it was a Philips with the soap powder dispenser at the top.
It lasted till 1989 where my great aunt owned it. A lack of programmer units had seen it off to its grave.
I found a picture of it on this forum & here it is below. Note how the bottom front end slopes outwards.

 

[chachp]

I was born in 54.

My first recollection was a Whirlpool Automatic Washer and Dryer. I don't know the model numbers but I remember there was a big square button in front that lighted up when the washer was running and you pushed that button to open the door. It was a top loader. The control panel was lighted all the way across with a fluorescent tube. It used to buzz when it was in the final spin. Being a little kid when that thing would buzz and sometimes shake a little in the final spin I would think it was a monster coming after me. As I recall, the dryer was basically the same only the door was in the front.

Ha I found a thread with the picture of the dryer! The washer was almost identical. Boy that brings back some good memories. Thanks for asking.

http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?49582

 

[optima]

First Autowasher

Our 1st Autowasher was this 800rpm TI Creda way back in 1979

 

[pulsator]

Here's me!

This is me and the washer that started it all for me. This picture was taken on the day is was hauled away and replaced with a near TOL DD Kenmore. I miss both machines now!

 

[ukbusdude]

Hey thanks CHACHP, it would seem Whirlpool has been around for many years.
Shame you don't have pics of the washing machine.

And OMG I so forgot about the very ultra handsome Creda washing machines.
I would so love to see more pics of them & like the Bendix Auto Washers I'd love to own a Creda.
I find that model was so ahead of its time when it came to design & technology too.
Mind you i was blown away by my mum when she brought a Hoover keymatic Deluxe 800.
Just imagine, square plates for programmes, I was in ore of it & the clicking noises it made, cool.

 

[washman]

Pulsator that WH

is the exact twin to my mothers! Anyway, my first washer I owned was a 1999 GE Profile I bought at my local Wards. It died this year. And you can probably guess what the replacement was.

 

[aquacycle]

The first machine I remember my Mum having was a Zanussi S218T from 1979 (or thereabouts, based on info from my Mum that she bought it when my brother was born). We had this until 1993 when it was replaced with an Electra 1200 Electronic Deluxe - horrendous machine. Written off after just 2 years and replaced in 1995 when a Zanussi FJ1295. That died of bearing failure in 2006 and was replaced with a Bendix BIW105W, which remained until 2011 when it was included in the sale of Mums house.

After I moved out of my Mum's in 2008, I had a brief period with a Beko WMA510 that belonged to a rented flat, before I bought my Miele W562.

Here is a timeline of machines I've owned, minus the Beko.

NB: only the Bendix and the Miele are the actual machines I had, the others are images found online.

 

[aquacycle]

Another shot of the S218T - again, not my pic.

 

[aquacycle]

My Grandma had a Hotpoint 18371 and the matching dryer

 

[keymatic]

The first washer I remember my mum using...good thread !!
Keith

 

[norgeway]

The first one...

My folks had, Grandmother bought in 55, it was a Frigidaire Pulsamatic, it lasted until 69 when it was replaced with a Frigidaire Custom Deluxe, WCDAN, which lasted until the mid 80s and then we got a Maytag.....which probably explains my dislike for Maytags, it was a LEMON!! and I mean a BIG lemon!!LOL..I still remember Mother holding me up so I could see the repairman working on the Pulsamatic, I remember him saying it would be 60.00 to fix it and Mother saying, well, its 15 years old, Ill just get a new one!I was 4 years old and I can remember it like yesterday.

 

[turquoisedude]

The first automatic I ever used was my parent's 1964 BOL GE V-12. I remember the blue console and the toggle switches fondly!

My own first automatic was a 1984 or 1985 Kenmore apartment-size convertible. In my apartment it was rolled to the sink and I had to manually turn on or off the hot and cold water. When I bought a house a couple of years later, I was able to hook it up permanently to the hot and cold water supply - that was a real treat, since the washer was in the basement... LOL

 

[paulc]

I bought my mum her first automatic in 1986 when I left home at 17, it was a BOL Ariston similar to the picture except it had a brown facia and two option switches. (Picture originally posted by ariston4life). The first automatic I owned was a reconditioned Bendix 7133.

 

[DADoES]

 
The '62 Whirly.  Same console design as this one from archives of Darren/Aldspinboy, our model added three water levels.

The companion dryer was a couple years newer, had a gray/putty console color instead of blue.

 

[washerlover]

We had a '62 Frigidaire Custom Deluxe washer and a mid-50s Maytag dryer. The machine that really got me going was my Grandma's '62 Montgomery Ward Signature BOL machine. The sounds that thing made were intoxicating! (this was before the Norge "clunk" brake system) Burp-a-lator filter, overflow rinse, loud timer, pump that sounded like milking a cow... ran like tank until '75. My Grandma passed away a few years earlier and my Mom's Frigidaire died so she began using the Wards machine. We lived in an area that had a lot of rust/iron in the water, so the final spin/spray rinse in a solid tub machine turned white sheets, etc. into a rusty tie-dye and she opted to get rid of it. We replaced with a '75 Wards MOL machine and I remember when we first ran a load, we were astonished at the NOISE! But I loved that machine, too, and still have two Wards/Norge machines in my collection.

 

[arbilab]

A double-door no-boot slant-front gearbox Westinghouse with the 'earthquake' spin solenoid. The background picture here is what it morphed into about 15 years later. I replaced the timer when I was 9. Unsupervised.

 

[chestermikeuk]

Servis Slimline MK308 - 1978

with matching model MK309 tumble dryer...purchased in 1978 after 16yrs with a Servis MK2 Supertwin Twintub, washing for a family of 6 at least 3 times a week.
Look at that style for the era, talk about geometrics but it was the height of fashion at the time....

Hi Andy , welcome to the club, a great thread to start with, the Philips is about one of the rarest washers so was a classic to be introduced to!!

 

[jetcone]

My first washer

Our 1956 GE filter flo. Great machine, love all the noises it makes especially the groans as the tub fills.

 

 

 

[mikeklondon]

Philips Auto

Hi Bus dude

The 1st automatic I remember in my family was a Thor, semi auto. Then very 1st automatic I bought myself when I left home was the Philips same model as the one in your picture. Really good machine and I sold it with the flat when I moved. God I just thought about it I was 17 then, I can’t remember how much I paid but it was a lot of money, I got it in Arding & Hobbs Sale with my Christmas bonus. Good god thinking about that made me feel REALLY old, but brought back some very happy memories and reminded me I must give an old friend a ring. Long story but I don't have any pictures going back past the 20 years so it was really nice to see a picture of this machine from my past again.

 

[fido]

Mine was the Servis Starlight 6025, which was also the only new washing machine I've bought. When I left home in 1981 my mother was still using a Hoover twintub and she remained faithful to those for many years. She only got an automatic when one time she was in hospital for some time and my father was having to do the laundry. That was also a Hoover but by then they were the Candy based machines. Before the Starlight I had a Servis twintub.

 

[peteski50]

First Automatic Washing machine!

My first experience was this 1955 BOL Hotpoint! I wish I had a regular picture. So far this model has never been found!
Peter

 

[akronman]

First Washer Memory

Early 60's Kenmore, exactly like this. The picture sucks, but the water temp had H W C and Mom explained how H stood for hot, W for warm, etc, just as I was learning the alphabet. 50 years later I still remember the rectangular logo around the knob with those fun letters. I also remember the diaper pail sitting next to the washer for my kid brothers, we kept Mom and the washer busy. This exact model wuld be one hell of a nostalgic find. And I do remember the chrome coated lint filter with the litle knob in the middle, and the nibs on the agitator top and a plastic measuring cup that fit it. I don't remember Mom using the cup, instead I remember detergent tablets that gifted you a washcloth in each box. 1964 or 65? I don't know what AW member I stole this pic from, but I'd love to top the list for resale of this Kenmore.

We moved cross-country in 73, and bought a green GM Frig 1-18, with the Sanitize feature. And a matching dryer. My Dad could barely replace a light bulb, so when the dryer element burned out, I replaced it at age 15 with no previous training.

 

[bajaespuma]

Paul, if it was a blue console, it was probably a 1961 V-12. Or was it that weird one?

 

My first was a BBBBBOL Whirlpool 24" (probably a "New Yorker") automatic that my Parents snuck into their Peter Cooper apartment, where automatic dishwashers and washing machines weren't allowed. It was on casters, so they could wheel it away into a closet whenever the apartment managers showed up or when maintenance came to repair something. It had no buttons or toggles, you controlled water temperature at the faucet where it drained into a big sink and it had one big beautiful blue dial and, best of all, no safety switch.

 

I was crushed when we moved to our first house, my Mother gave the machine to one of her models; then I discovered a matching GE V-12 set in the new house (at first glance I thought they had bought 2 washing machines, had never seen a matching dryer) and became a GE boy.

 

[electron1100]

Electra/Zanussi

This is a link to a video advertising my first machine..............
solid as a tank, slowwww final spin.
I did a few mods to it in the time I had it...........

http://www.tellyads.com/show_movie_vintage.php?filename=VA0358

 

[triumphdolomite]

Hi all
My earliest memories are of twinnies, an unheated 1420(1421?)Supermatic, not surprisingly seen off when the spinner went bang when I was about 12 or 13 around 1982. This was followed by a Servis Supertwin 108 that my Mum never really liked. We got our first Auto on New Years Day 1986 and it was a machine that I've never heard mentioned here or even seen another. It was a very basic Philips AWB066, which I'm not sure may have been a Comet exclusive. It was a very good machine but did have a voracious appetite for bearings, getting through two sets in the 10 years we had it, presumably down to the fact it was nearly always overloaded and the spin drain, before it moved on to my Aunt and was replaced by a Zanussi FJ1295 Jetsystem, which I've just acquired when my Father died.
The first machine I owned was a Hotpoint 9605 Top Loader, a machine that I loved and still own although it needs gearbox repairs as it was throwing oil all over the insides and the kitchen floor! I now have a Miele W562 which I have a love hate relationship with.
Apologies for rambling on!

Ian

 

[laundromat]

Our first automatic was a rubber tubbed Bendix. Before I was a year old, the tub burst,scaring the shit out of my mother and forcing it to be replaced with an Easy Rivera top loader. It lasted only 7 years. We wound up getting a gas Sears Lady Kenmore washer/dryer combination. It lasted us , a family of twelve, almost thirty years with only two major repairs.

 

[stainfighter]

My friend's Mum had 59 LK...hubba' hubba'

loved loved LOVED this washer!!! (note: this pic is from 'RevinKevin'). Just like others have said about their faves this one had distinctive sounds and of-course LOVED the filter and lighted control panel! It was traded just because she didn't want to spend $ on new water pump it needed. Replaced with a '72 WP which was boring - no color toggles, no lights and the water filter was now plastic :-(....blah

 

[tomturbomatic]

Peteski!
The parents of a girl in my class had that Hotpoint. I had never seen an automatic with a lift off lid. The father sold Mutual of Wassau Insurance and every December she would bring us little plastic wallet calendars with the famous train station on them. Each year they were a different color, I think, but I mostly remember the tan ones.

Our first automatic was a 1952 Kenmore waterfall front with sudssaver. Before that, when my parents lived in an apartment in Chicago, they owned a Maytag Master that they sold to one of my aunts. Mom did not like using the coin-op wringer washers in the laundry room so they kept the Maytag in their storage locker and wheeled it out to do laundry.

 

[Unimatic1140]

Here I am, on my grandmother's lap with my mom and our 1962 BOL Kenmore washer in the background at our apartment in East Patterson (now Elmwood Park), New Jersey.[this post was last edited: 12/13/2013-13:52]

 

[hydralique]

'62 BOL Kenmore . . .

I always liked the big recessed knob on these, a very simple yet elegant design. I would suggest it was the perfect machine for a budding washer lover as it put the knob on the front where even a child could see and appreciate it!