Thread Number: 46771
Firestone Washing Machine |
[Down to Last] |
Post# 681293   5/28/2013 at 01:09 (3,980 days old) by zippyjet (Baltimore)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
|
|
Post# 681325 , Reply# 1   5/28/2013 at 07:14 (3,979 days old) by appliguy (Oakton Va.)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
No they were not.....they were made by a company called Beam....In the 1950's Beam designed washers were also sold by Speed Queen, Hotpoint (until circa 1956) One Minute, Coronado, AMC (not the car company), and a number of other makes. Maytag only made Maytag until they bought the Magic Chef/Norge consortium in the early 1980's.....PAT COFFEY |
Post# 681366 , Reply# 2   5/28/2013 at 11:50 (3,979 days old) by zippyjet (Baltimore)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
|
Post# 681370 , Reply# 4   5/28/2013 at 12:53 (3,979 days old) by RevvinKevin (Tinseltown - Shakey Town - La-La Land)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
1    
I don't think Maytag's demise can be solely attributed to their acquisition of Magic Chef (Norge), yes maybe it was the beggining of the end. But there are a number of different factors including the Neptune FL washer and all the problems (and lawsuits) surrounding it, plus their acquisition of Hoover, Admiral and finally Amana. Then their reported loss of $9 million just prior to the take over battle, which was finally won by Whirlpool.
Kevin CLICK HERE TO GO TO RevvinKevin's LINK |
Post# 681391 , Reply# 5   5/28/2013 at 15:15 (3,979 days old) by laundromat (Hilo, Hawaii)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
1    
Fedders was the company Maytag bought that owned a few other companies like Norge, Magic Chef, and Admiral. Admiral's refrigerators sucked the big one and made it hard for Maytag to keep up their well established reputation in design, performance and dependability. They never learned to leave the previous failures (the Neptune was designed similar to the older combos thet had out in 1960 that were a flop) alone and start afresh. Their washers, dishwashers and disposals were the best ones made and they ruined it.
|
Post# 681405 , Reply# 6   5/28/2013 at 16:21 (3,979 days old) by limitededition ()   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
Don't forget the Wide by side another dismal failure and I agree with laundromat they kept trying to right failed designs |
Post# 681406 , Reply# 7   5/28/2013 at 16:23 (3,979 days old) by RevvinKevin (Tinseltown - Shakey Town - La-La Land)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
|
Post# 681425 , Reply# 9   5/28/2013 at 19:06 (3,979 days old) by turquoisedude (.)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
When I was visiting the Wellington County Museum archives to try and glean some information about that unusual Dominion brand washer I found in April, I noticed that a lot of the Beatty Brothers (who manufactured the Dominion washer) parts and supplies lists mentioned 'Zenith' and 'Firestone' parts and badges.
I have to wonder, did Beam sell a patent to Beatty or license them to build their washers under the Dominion and Beatty brand names?? In Canada, that was the arrangement that the John Inglis Company made with Whirlpool and for years, us Canadians were buying Whirlpool appliances that were 'Made In Canada' versions of the Whirlpool models. Well, except my folks who always bought GE or Viking... LOL |
Post# 681440 , Reply# 10   5/28/2013 at 21:38 (3,979 days old) by norgeway (mocksville n c )   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
Was fantastic, until they took the big brake off of it, after that not so good. |
Post# 681444 , Reply# 11   5/28/2013 at 22:22 (3,979 days old) by super32 (Blackstone Massachusetts)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
Maytags "wide-by-side" was 36" box with a zig zag between the fresh food/freezer compartments. The fresh food was wider at the top and the freezer was wider at the bottom. The point being, it gave you more room in the areas you needed it most. It was a nice idea but considering their issues with refrigerators at the time, it just didn't make things any better.
|
Post# 681446 , Reply# 12   5/28/2013 at 22:47 (3,979 days old) by alr2903 (TN)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
Wide x Side= L7. Kind of like the arrow in the "FEDEX" logo. I think the "Firestone" nameplate existed to accomodate existing credit accounts @ "Firestone". alr |
Post# 681464 , Reply# 13   5/29/2013 at 02:40 (3,979 days old) by zippyjet (Baltimore)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
Though this may be straying a bit off topic. Fedders back in the day was sort of like the classic Maytag. They used to make kick ass air conditioners with their round "weather wheel" vent. This design was originally designed by famed industrial designer Raymond Lowey. If you look at those A/C units you will notice their striking resemblance to the Lucky Strike Ciggy boxes and the Good And Plenty candy boxes. Some time in the late 60's Fedders started to cheapen their A/C units by first ditching the weather wheel for a rectangular two way directional vent. Still not bad looking. By the 70's their units were designed on the cheap like the boring plastic Emerson Quiet Cool units. However for a brief period prior to their demise or takeover by a German company they revived the classic "Weather Wheel" air conditioner. Though they did not update it for today's tough energy green standards. Those units still run today and are through the wall in many an old motel and apartment buildings.
|
Post# 681465 , Reply# 14   5/29/2013 at 02:45 (3,979 days old) by zippyjet (Baltimore)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
|
Post# 681470 , Reply# 16   5/29/2013 at 05:41 (3,978 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
Was a very clever idea that gave you larger spaces for food storage where you most needed it. Unfortunately it was plagued with problems like MT and Jenn-Air refrigerators that were from the Admiral plant in Gailsburg Illinois. MT even spent around 150 million upgrading operations in Gailsburg, but they were more interested in trying to better the competition with stylish gadgets than building a great refrigerator worthy of the MT and JA names. The Admiral refrigerators were not horrible refs and at the prices that Montgomery Wards charged for them they and could even be considered fair values, but when MT slapped their name on them and DOUBLED the price the cheap construction and many design flaws really came to the surface.
MT did make two big improvements in the top freezer models, they dumped the flex-tray ice makers and went with WPs IM and they finely used a vertical evaporator in the rear of the freezer compartment to solve the defrost problems that had plagued Admiral for over 20 years [ MT even added additional heaters trying to get this stupid horizontal design to work ]. But these two changes were about the extent of the progress even though they claimed that they had the only condenser that NEVER needed cleaning [ they kept it in the back where it could not be cleaned easily ] and I will never forget their other great innovation [ described to us at a big sales meeting ] that they had the ONLY Refrigerator that NEVER needed the exterior waxed, WOW, [ they knew that the refs would not last long enough to be worth waxing, LOL ].
But to MTs credit they closed the Gailsburg factory after they had purchased Amana and MT was doing the right things to survive and it was really the stock holders that killed Maytag, if the stock holders had waited just one or two years MT would have pulled through and the stockholders and US appliance buyers would have been much better off today.
Maytag's downfall and demise is a classic American story of corporate mismanagement, the company should have never tried to go head to head against GE, Whirlpool and Frigidaire, MT could have survived very nicely as a quality builder of higher end appliances and the company could have remained as a strong # 4 appliance builder in the North American market. |