First washer
When I was very little, I would sit and watch the "show" in the window of my Mom's Westinghouse FL--probably about a '68 model. I also loved my Grandmother's (prob mid-60's) RCA-Whirlpool. I loved the quiet hum of it working. The back panel was white plastic with raised black grid lines and logo. I pretended the grid squares were more push buttons! The control panel had black push buttons (real this time) and a dial. I've seen a number of pics on here of RCA-WP machines from the era and the black agitator with the chrome cap, and the brushy lint filter that fitted over the waterfall in the front corner, and the sturdy chrome handle on the lid are all the same, but have yet to see a similar control panel/back panel.
Also, when I was little, I was FASCINATED by the Hoover Twin Tub that our local hardware store always had on display. In part, I think, because it was sized just right for me! I wanted one SO BAD!
When Mom's FL wouldn't tumble any more, she got a GE Filter Flo top loader, early to mid 70's. MOL, I suppose. It had the mini basket and the options on the right of the controls were toggle switches, with the two knobs in the center for water level and....extra rinse, maybe?, and then the timer dial. That one gave up in probably the early 80's and was replaced by a similar Filter Flo, this time with push buttons instead of toggles. I think the older one had the aqua blue agitator/mini basket/filter tray/softener dispenser, and the later one had white. (The one pic in my album is the later model, and not a very detailed pic) Early on I discovered that I could defeat the safety switch by wedging one of the old toothbrushes my Mom kept for scrubbing into the switch hole so I could watch the GE's at work. (So GLAD I have found a safe space here where I don't have to make a joke about not having cable TV to explain that...!)
My first pair of my own were a mismatched second hand pair, a Hotpoint washer, probably from the 80s, and a GE dryer of similar vintage. I think the Hotpoint had a removable agitator with the gentle-cycle agitator underneath. After that, a whole bunch of coin-ops until hubby and I moved in together and bought a brand new (1998) Maytag TL and matching dryer. Maybe not the full on TOL, but at least upper middle. Moved with us from Kentucky to Ohio to New Hampshire (where they bided their time in the storage locker in the attic of our apartment building for 9 months) to Connecticut, where they lived until the timer dial on the washer gave up functioning. Replaced them around 2006 with an LG front-loader pair with the control panel on the back of the top, like a typical TL machine would have. When we moved, the buyer wanted them left, so I bought the identical pair (much cheaper, 3 years later!) for the new house. The first LGs just had a simple buzzer or chime, but the new ones play a little tune (I tell people it's the Korean national anthem, and I rise whenever I hear it).
