Well, it's a bit of a story, but I'll spare you and make it as brief as I can.
Ron (Kenmore58) found this, and it was just two towns over from us. As you may remember, the one he has had an ongoing starring role as a stand-in for the Exxon Valdese- plopping oil all over the place (oh, the drama!!!). He enlisted our help in taking a look at this one and possibly getting it. The advertizer was a little odd in that he wouldn't share an address or phone "yet," but we settled on today to take a look at it. He said he'd send the address and phone Friday evening. After talking about it, Ron and Rich decided that we'd take a look at them and if this one worked, it would be ours as it matched all the paperwork we had, and he'd take the one we already worked on and cleaned, and he'd have a beautiful working one. (Note: putting the machines side-by-side, they were in the same great condition and the only thing that appeared different was the placement of the front decal and the color of the handles.)
Ron drove up and we met the guy this morning. Turns out he was re-habbing an older duplex and this was in it. We went to the 2nd floor, saw a few other little things, and made a deal. After getting it down the back stairs, in the car, then home here, we took a look at it. The only thing it needed was a little shot of WD-40 on the motor shaft as the motor was doing a little smoking. We tested it and looked it over, and it worked fine other than a small leak in the pump hose that we sealed temporarily for the testing! We did a little switching of drain/fill hoses so we could still use it with our floor drain, and it was all set! Last we heard, Ron was waiting for his neighbor to help him unload his new baby into the house!
There was a bit of silt, sand, a bug or three, and a bit more in the pump and drain hose, so we flushed it out and took it for a test drive. That's where we start the abridged video....
Did people actually switch these back and forth from clothes to dishes? I could see it being an asset during big cooking days like Thanksgiving and Christmas, but other than that, it just seems like a bit of a chore...although I expect the pump action out those jets works pretty good for cleaning pot/pans, etc. Is there a video of that in action, ala plexi cover?
Funny you should ask! Here's a vid from last year's holiday party (link below)-
The booklet says a housewife could change them over in 1 1/2 minutes. I know Ron was grunting a little with the wash tub, but it really isn't THAT heavy! If you check YouTube and go to my channel (chuckdilts) you'll see several Thor vids including one (called Thor Compilation) that shows it working empty, and a full vid we made of the whole cycle from pre-rinse to dry.