Here is a peak:

It needed a new agitate arm, new spin bearings, new pump, new belt, new solenoids, water valve,. Who am I?? You can see me through the steam of my first hot wash in 10 years.

I was owned by a chronic overloader! Why did I fail??

photographed using the vintage "lucille ball" glamour lens!

actually that was the steam from the fill cycle, I couldn't resist the eerieness of it all!

Why does this look familiar. Hmmm, I'll ask my 57 Kenmore tonight and see what she says.....
My guess as to why it broke down after chronic overloading- agitate arm stud broke off down in the tranny hence need for new shaft.

It's a Kenmore, Frog-eyed with yellow-starburst in the eye.

It's defently a Kenmore..

This machine was just featured in a thread in the last few days or so. I forget which, but I distinctly remember the color-coded lit up oblongs.

What smarter person can remember the reference?

But not quite. What's eerie Jon is that we were both bringing similar machines to life at the same time without knowing it. Just got this running recently. Mine needed almost the same things your did.

Very nice frog-eye Eddy!! Hopefully Jetcone doesn't wait too long with pictures of his.

Ducking and running...

Eddy, that is such a beautiful shot.

Wow

1957 Very Nice.

Great pics of your '57! I notice the tub is lit from the back; I've only noticed them lit from the front---that's interesting. On my '59 LK (sadly departed), the ultraviolet lamp was in the rear-left area and the regular bulb was front and center, as was the '60 Model 80 I grew up with. Many happy (suds-locked, LOL) loads! It's a beautiful machine.

Eddy, Uni you got it a 1957 with modifications can you guess??

ooooooooooo what a coincidence EDDY!

heres a wash shot, nice waterfall filter

it had been covered in coal grease as Libby heated with coal so that acted as a coating to air and it kept the machine pristine once i cleaned it up.

running

look closely

filter that is nice, this machine does not.

Libby overloaded after wash start. How do I know this?
Because the damage was water getting past the top post seal. The only way to do that is to load her up after she started into wash.
SO Libby was running around the house looking for things to throw in after wash start. Naughty naughty!!
The tranny was full of water!!

you will be slapped-------------hard!

Memories...moms first washer but I think ours must have been a couple of years prior as she had it before my 56 arrival I believe. It died in 1974

thanks for the vintage ad! I'm so glad it has the "sealed gear case" So that it never gets water inside and when you tip it over to make adjustments there is never a chance of oil leaking out all over the place.....................

Wow...very cool! Beautiful machines! Both have rotoswirl agitators, not original to this model. And Jon's has colored lights for the holidays! That seemed to be a popular model when I was a kid. Our neighborhood was built in 1957/1958 and several neighbors had this Kenmore model. There were also a couple neighbors with Pulsamatics....everyone seemed to go for those "budget" models in the Pittsburgh working-class suburbs.

Nice pictures of a nice washer.

The modification was the tub light. Jon, our friends in Dallas had this exact same washer (ya know, the people with teh 1950 or 1952 Hotpiont dishwasher); they had the frog-eyed dryer which had a more blueish greenish facia. Dryer was replaced with a 1958 or 1959 westinghoust which had a timeline knda timer display--I remember this because I really couldn't see what was on the display, I just knew I turned the knob until it got to a certain point on the display (auto dry); and this washer was replaced with the nearl BOL oval window-shaped slant-front westy. Anyway, I never remembered this washer ever having a tub light or the temp & water level displays lit up. I used anything form Tide to AD in this washer everytime we wnet to visit and I always was doing wash, hey 7 host family members and the 5 of us lol.

Richie, I remember our friends' machine having the preggo agitator.

I was about 4 & 5 at this time.

Congratulations Jon! Glad you got the restoration finished. She looks mint!

BTW: My mother had this same model as her first automatic.I do not recall any light on this machine, but it may have burned out by the time I started checking out the machine. It was used for about 12 years, and I can recall my father rebuilding the transmition on it once.

My grandmother got a mid 1960's Rollermatic to replace her little used 1958 Kenmore Cycla-Fabric. She gave the 58 Kenmore to us, so when our 57 Kenmore broke down again, we started using grandmas 58. The 58 Kenmore Cycla-Fabric was still in use when I left home four years later.

I parted out the 57 Kenmore myself, and can remember saving the motor,pump, and some of the switches.
The 57 KM had a str8 vane, but the 58KM had the Roto-Swirl.

Great job on the restoration Jon, and it looks like the coal grease kept the finish in great condition, just as you said.

Too bad the coal grease isn't as protective of our lungs!

Speaking of damage, am I hallucinating again, or clairvoyent in having seen these colored oblong lights very recently. Eddie says they're not his. Whose? Please tell. Middle-aging and afraid.

What beautiful Kenmores. Makes you think that the Whirlpool/Kenmore family will be around forever, and will always make a top loader.

Tub lights on early Kenmores: I know several people who were suprised to find their parents' late 50's/60's Kenmores had a tub light. They were notorious for burning out/popping due to splashing water during suds return and when using low water levels. Our '60 had no working light bulb until I was five and figured out it needed one. It used to go out all the time, and I'd always replace it. The serviceman (the Model 80 seemed to require a visit from him every couple of years) finally put a foil shield in front of the bulb. Unfortunately, it altered the light angle and made the tub weirdly lit, so I took it out. I'd hold my hand in front of the bulb area during suds return (this is back when fast agitation was still used during that operation) to prevent the bulb from popping.

Hi Jon,
What a great job with restoring the machine. A real gem to add to any collection.
Best Wishes
Peter

Beautiful Machine

nce repairman and former Sears repairman too. They had a Kenmore 400 for most of the time they were here (as well as a Lady Kenmore dryer of unknown vintage, but I remembered it had that speckled white on black door & drum coating. The FIL had found these and fixed them up for them. She would do exactly what Libby did, add more & more, but she stopped at just as the load was barely rolling over. Poor machine. They got rid of them for a FabricMatic Maytag with the new fast, short stroke tranny right before they left here and a BOL gas Maytag dryer. She did the same thing to the Maytag and we know how much more difficult the 'Tag had with rollovers of wash loads.

SUch great pictures

Jon (and Eddy), congratulations! What BEAUTIES those machines are, I do like the aftermarket tub light. Of course those dial lights are quite cool as well, on a par with the lighted pushbuttons on the Hotpoint.

So does this mean you're gearing up for the next Convention? ;-)

*ducks and runs*

Those are my all time fave Kenmores. I have an unrestored
gas dryer companion to those. I love that Cyclops Eye.
Your machines are beautiful!!!!!
(frontal being toptal)

Jon,
Fantastic Machine! Looks fantastic!
Thanks for the pictures.
Brent

Nice Kenmo'...

Love the tounge of water!

Now, that's a washin' machine! The timer dial always reminded me of a speedometer, but then I've always thought car and washer dashboards of a given era were similarly designed. A job to be proud of!

Kelly

Jon, I just love the color mod's you did! Your control panel is in nicer shape than mine. Congrats on such a nice restore. Here's another shot of mine doing a spray rinse.

Hey, nice machines guys! I just love the mod Jon. Thanks for the photos.

Ben

Yes Jon, very nice machine Jon. Great pictures too Jon. Looking forward to use it some time if you allow me to.

Yes Bob & all I modded it by taking the colored swithces from my 56 parts machine and the light sockets as well. This machine had no sockets since it was the 1957 BOL.

And you are all correct it has the straight vane agitator but I LOVE that Atomic bomb rotoswirl!!

Eddy your rotoswirl is in great shape, mine has seen heavy use and has no glisten. I'll have to keep my eye out for a good one to put in this machine.

Thanks to Rickr for his help and to GregM for helping on reassembly.

happy washing

jon

Very nice machine Jon! Glad it was preserved like you mentioned by coal dust. How cool is that.

Steve

Kickass cool machine. What is interesting to me is that we had a 57 Whirlpool Imperial machine as my Mom recalls that shared we are sure the same mechanics as the Kenmore, but Kenmore did a great job on styling the control panel to make it unique.

Jon,

Great looking machine. Can't wait to see the rest of the collection.

Ron