A few months ago the GM/Frigidaire, Philco/Ford, Chrysler/airtemp connections were commented upon but recently I came across that Gibson was owned by Franklin who in turn were owned by ..... Studebaker Corp. That was missed.

Peter

And Kelvinator was made by American Motors Corp. before they sold it to Franklin in 1968.

AMC was also an American Motors product. Kelvinator was Nash/Kelvinator before becoming American Motors. Don't forget International Harvester,which made refrigerators,and freezers.

Interesting sidenote,Chrysler also made some sewing machines,sold by Sears.

are we forgetting Leonard?,Duracrest?,Bradford?Wizard?,Gibson?----these too were subsidiaries or other brands made by these same companies.Leonard was the brand name sold exclusively at E.J.Korvette.Duracrest was the May Company's brand name (in Maryland the May Company was and still is known as The Hecht Company).Wizard was Weastern Auto's brand name and was made by Franklin.Gibson was a major refrigeration manufacturing corp.and eventualy joined with Franklin as well as Kelvinator being better known as WCI ( White Consolidated Industries )and that my friends was the beginning of the end.

Leonard (AMC Kelvinator) was also sold at other stores, Bruce in Oklahoma told us he remembers lots and lots of washers & dryers in the junkyards there...

Heres one from left field

How bout the retail store chain of Gamble-Skogmo with the Coronado label

My grandparents had a Coronado refrigerator in the 80's, made by WCI. Their early laundry products were Beam, then Franklin until everything was melded into WCI. I remember shopping at Gambles and pouring over the washers with great interest, the only Franklin designs I'd ever seen.

I used to get a lot of Coronado refrigerators. They must have made a switch somewhere,because the one's I picked up were Admiral based,not WCI.

kennyGF

Studebaker owned the Franklin appliance division from August of 1959 unitl June of 1962 according to most Studebaker histories that I have read. It states by most of the histories also that Studebaker lost money on that purchase but when it sold....they actually made a profit...which ironically was more than the (profit) of the auto manufacturing division for 1962.

The money from the sale of Franlin manufacturing, helped push into production the 1963 Studebaker Avanti. Studebaker also had a hand in the itilian appliance manufacturer Domowatt that made small appliances. Studebaker also had a huge hand in Clare Manufacturing that made commercial floor machine including their commercial/industrial vacuum cleaners.

Anyway...just wanted to add in what I have read...

Chad

Just happened to pick up a Coronado 'fridge this morning. It also happens to be in the lovely "goes with any decor" shade of dark coppertone.Owned by an older couple,it's in almost mint condition!
Anyway,this thing is definately Admiral. From the shape of the door handles,to the style of compressor,it's saying Admiral.Must have been a change in the late 70's to WCI for Coronado.
Also aquired the matching Magic Chef gas range,also immaculate!
kennyGF

Interesting about Studebaker owning Franklin, I'd not heard that before. Who did they sell Franklin to in 1962?

In the early 80's when my grandparents bought the WCI/Coronado fridge, nearly all of Coronado appliances were WCI made. I have some mid-60's Western Auto catalogs, will have to look at the cooking and refrigeration offerings to see who made those - if I can even tell by the illustrations. I have seen a couple of 70's Coronado washers & dryers and they were definitely Franklin designs. And avocado green! There is one in a junkyard behind an appliance store not far from the city, sitting outside though...

This 'fridge is definately early/mid 60's,and says "Gambles" Coronado on the emblem on the freezer.I'll have to get a few pictures posted of it,really neat lettering on the crispers,and meat bins!
I'm thinking the few Coronado washers I've seen were also mid 60's range,and were Norge built.But that's a little fuzzy.....

kennygF

HI,

Im really not sure of WHO the lucky winner of Franklin manufacturing was. Possibly to the very beginning auspices of WCI. Which was White sewing machines branching out into the major appliance fiel.. Am I right on that?

Hence the "WHITE" Consolidated industries...or more easily remembered as White Westinghouse....

None of the Studebaker/Studebaker-Packard histories that I have read go into great detail of their doings with their "subsidiaries". Their mainly about why the comapny failed and their "auto" products. Basically the information would read like....

Studebaker-Packard continued it's diversification efforts in 1959-60 with the purchase of Revlon,a makeup manufacturer; Clarke Mfg which produced commercial floor maintenence equip.; and Franklin Mfg Co, which was a producer of home appliances.

The latter of the three companies, was not the money maker Studebaker- Packard was hoping to get involved with; like the other divisions, and Franklin Mfg, was thus sold in 1962.

So anyone else know what happened to Franklin post Studebaker - Packard ownership...before it became entangled in the WCI monster?

Chad

Hi. Lurked here for a while & I finally signed up. In my collection I have a built-in dishwasher made by the Kaiser company (from about 1946-48). These were only sold through the Kaiser car dealers and so were a big flop.

Welcome "Rune"!

Do you have any pics you can share of the dishwasher? That would be fascintating!

Thanks and enjoy the group - Greg

That would be quite a piece to own!

Hi Rune-o-matic and welcome to the club!

Do you use your Kaiser dishwasher? I know they were water pressure powered.

Hi all & thanks for the welcome. I can take a pic no problem. It'll be a day or two. I've never used the dw. I have it hanging from the roof in my appliance store. i bought it at an auction a few years ago (I was there to buy something else & I couldn't pass up a $1 bargain like that). It still has all the books in it as well.

Here in New England, there are still LOTS of old WP/Kenmores around, they are the most predominant, followed by Maytags, and I have found quite a few Frigidaires by GM and older GE's but nothing from the 60's as far as GE goes. I have yet to see any of the brands/names that have been mentioned earlier in this thread. Some of those brands I have never heard of. I don't think Speed Queen or Kelvinator were big sellers here in New England either.