POD 3/5: 1961 Frigidaire Washer

This machine seems to have a "Self-Cleaning" Lint Filter...!!!! (The first????)

Which if it's the case, then why did Frigidaire abandon this labor-saving design, in exchange for the complicated & hard-to-clean bed of nails trap found on later machines?

[More appliance memories:]

--Of which my own grandma gave up her then-14-year-old General Electric Filter-Flo (w/ the Hotpoint copy-cat console & left-opening lid) for a 1988 WCi-built Frigidaire, plastic tub, a filter she NEVER cleaned (but I did during her last few years she was able to live there in her own house, before moving in with us, then passing away) and not even a separate speed selector the GE had...

And her 1952 Kelvinator electric dryer (of which I barely even remember the washer) which from the way the lint filter was in the door to me suggested a 19-SIXTY-TWO, or later, but maybe not got traded for a White-Westinghouse electric dryer (after which a Kenmore I never got to see got returned to the store because the cord was too short to be plugged into the DC outlet that was in the ceiling, before her laundry area got remodeled, then it was on the wall & the outlet for the washer, which before got plugged into the ceiling got a wall-mounted outlet, too!) which did not have a Heat/No Heat setting, the Kelvy did via a toggle switch mounted next to the timer knob, both horizontally w/ a short backguard behind 'em...

-- Dave ("A cleaner, less-fussy arrangement in the better Whirlpool & Sears Kenmore washers." -- Charles Klamkin, on self-cleaning lint filters)


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Post# 501457 3/5/2011 at 05:59 (4,794 days old) by Frigilux (The Minnesota Prairie)
Checkrate/Likes Today's POD is a beauty---that clamshell console is gorgeous. Here's my question: What year did Frigidaire adopt two-speed washers? I thought (mistakenly, apparently) the whole idea behind the Multi-Matic was to allow for gentle and regular pulsating/spinning speeds. There is no mention of multiple speeds in the ad for this magnificent machine.

Post# 501459 , Reply# 1 3/5/2011 at 06:37 (4,794 days old) by foraloysius (Leeuwarden, Friesland, the Netherlands)
Checkrate/Likes 1959 was the year of the introduction of the Multimatic. What a year! ;-)

Post# 501468 , Reply# 2 3/5/2011 at 07:48 (4,794 days old) by Tomturbomatic (Beltsville, MD)
Checkrate/Likes 2 *Somersaulting Teddy Bear* I remember the mechanized version of this ad in a Frigidaire dealer in Cocoa, FL. My father was meeting with people a couple of doors down the sidewalk, I had permission to go outside, but dared not go into the store for fear that he would emerge and not see me. I had no idea from one minute to the next when he would be through so all I could do was walk around on the sidewalk, in the heat, and look at the Frigidaire appliances through the window. This thing, which I saw up close later, was just a piece of posterboard with a fold out easel on the back to prop it up. There was a little motor behind the bear with a shaft that came through behind his thigh, I think, to turn the bear over and over at that fixed position. The very kind and gracious Frigidaire dealer in Parma, OH who sold John most of his old manuals told us when we visited him that the 1959 washer was a total surprise to the dealers. They were expecting more Unimatics for 59 and were beating the bushes all over the nation to find remaining 1958 machines for themselves and their customers. The poor treatment of the dealers by GM and then the sudden selling of the name to White Consolidated Industries certainly helped explain some of the bad attitude I encountered when I first started calling seller/servicers for old Frigidaire washers, especially from one dealer in Bethesda. One interesting thing we were told in Parma by this dealer who was a big kitchen remodeler was that Frigidaire allowed him and other Frigidaire dealers who did a lot of kitchen work to also sell KitchAid because many people putting in a high end kitchen did not want the Frigidaire dishwasher. Because the 58 had been top rated by CU in their mammoth automatic washer report that year, it was among the group of the top rated machines that were retested for the smaller 59 report. The new mechanism proved very unreliable for Frigidaire. I don't remember exactly, but I think the motors kept burning out because they were undersized so there was a lot of rebuilding of these machines in the home. The major difference I noticed between the WCI-60, which I had first and the WCI-58 which I had after it, was the top spin speed which was, I believe 850 in the 60 versus the 1140 in the 58. At some point in the early 60s, I think the top spin speed dropped even further into the 600s. Also, the mechanism in the 1960 started the spin on a slower speed so it did not throw the water as dramatically fast as the Unimatic. The slow agitation speed was incredibly gentle (boring), but used with the SOAK cycle was fabulous for woolens.

Post# 501593 , Reply# 3 3/5/2011 at 16:56 (4,793 days old) by Frigilux (The Minnesota Prairie)
Checkrate/Likes So the Multi-Matic did have two agitation speeds, is that correct, Tom? Funny that wasn't mentioned in the ad. I'd think that 2-speed machines would have been touting that feature in '61. Thanks for the info.

Post# 501605 , Reply# 4 3/5/2011 at 17:33 (4,793 days old) by hydralique (Los Angeles)
Checkrate/Likes I love the clamshell console as well - was '61 the first year for this, and how long did it last? Besides, how can one not like a pank machine that features somersaulting teddybears?! This post was last edited 03/05/2011 at 18:21

Post# 501635 , Reply# 5 3/5/2011 at 19:07 (4,793 days old) by appnut (TX)
Checkrate/Likes Eugene, the 2-speed came out in 1959. In the few print copy ads I've seen around these parts, I don't ever remember seeing 2-speeds touted.

Post# 501638 , Reply# 6 3/5/2011 at 19:19 (4,793 days old) by Tomturbomatic (Beltsville, MD)
Checkrate/Likes Yes, by 1961, that was a given in a TOL machine. Two speeds was news in the mid 50s. But having a delicate speed was more dependent on the model than the mechanism. The Multimatic COULD provide a slow agitate and spin IF it had the necessary fittings.

Post# 501646 , Reply# 7 3/5/2011 at 19:40 (4,793 days old) by steved (Guilderland, New York)
Checkrate/Likes 61 Was the only year for the clamshell console. Although 1962 and 63 had a similar style, their consoles did not fold.

Post# 501707 , Reply# 8 3/5/2011 at 22:58 (4,793 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI)
Checkrate/Likes *Well from what the ad said:* This machine seems to have a "Self-Cleaning" Lint Filter...!!!! (The first????) Which if it's the case, then why did Frigidaire abandon this labor-saving design, in exchange for the complicated & hard-to-clean bed of nails trap found on later machines? [More appliance memories:] --Of which my own grandma gave up her then-14-year-old General Electric Filter-Flo (w/ the Hotpoint copy-cat console & left-opening lid) for a 1988 WCi-built Frigidaire, plastic tub, a filter she NEVER cleaned (but I did during her last few years she was able to live there in her own house, before moving in with us, then passing away) and not even a separate speed selector the GE had... And her 1952 Kelvinator electric dryer (of which I barely even remember the washer) which from the way the lint filter was in the door to me suggested a 19-SIXTY-TWO, or later, but maybe not got traded for a White-Westinghouse electric dryer (after which a Kenmore I never got to see got returned to the store because the cord was too short to be plugged into the DC outlet that was in the ceiling, before her laundry area got remodeled, then it was on the wall & the outlet for the washer, which before got plugged into the ceiling got a wall-mounted outlet, too!) which did not have a Heat/No Heat setting, the Kelvy did via a toggle switch mounted next to the timer knob, both horizontally w/ a short backguard behind 'em... -- Dave ("A cleaner, less-fussy arrangement in the better Whirlpool & Sears Kenmore washers." -- Charles Klamkin, on self-cleaning lint filters)