Today I briefly became the proud owner of a pair of 906's in shaded coppertone. They turned up here in L.A. for a pretty good price and I immediately thought someone I know would be interested in them, but I couldn't get him on the phone. So I picked them up myself to keep them from falling into the wrong hands, meaning anyone that might want them because they looked "cool" without having any appreciation for how rare they were. It turns out that they'd belonged to a prop house that had them for use in film, and since they were done with them they decided to let them go.

Here's the washer. The finish on the cabinet looks pretty rough, and there are some rust issues along the lower edges, but the porcelain top panel is free of any major defects. With the lid removed (which was easy since both hinge balls were missing) I could see that the porcelain surface of the inner tub was virtually pristine, and the machine has the hard to find early lint filter assembly with the stainless upper.

The dryer is in a bit better shape cosmetically than the washer is and should clean up nicely. But I think both machines are candidates for new paint. Still, it's complete, there aren't any dents, and there's only minor pitting to the chrome surfaces on either control panel. And to top it all off, all of the buttons on both machines move smoothly. I would have loved a chance to plug them in and play with them a bit, but as I was preparing to unload them at my parents place, the guy I had in mind called me back and was definitely interested. So I closed up the tailgate, put the dolly away, and brought them to Burbank. Now a few hours later, they've been taken away to their new home. But I'll let the new owner tell you the rest.

You know Sandy, I had an idea you'd be chiming in on this one. Believe me, if you were closer you'd have been the guy that got the call about this set. Sorry about that.

YAY DAVID!    CONGRATS on saving these... VERY COOL!

Who got them from you?

And what.... you didn't call ME???  

Kevin

Beautiful set. That's one pair I would have paid to have shipped east.

Sandy, gas or electric doesn't matter for the controls.  For electric I would do like John Lefever does and put a relay in the circuit to take the electrical load off the controls, but that is not essential for operation.  In fact behind the facade the 906 used the EXACT same electrical controls that the 806 and 606 did.  The 906 was actually a bit more simple in that all they had to do was actually attach buttons to the 4 shafts of the selector switch instead of using that punched metal plate to accomplish the same task using a 4 position dial.

 Now that you've tipped your hand, how about some better photos? FYI to everyone else, when I got these back to my place I realized the batteries in both of my digital cameras were dead. So I couldn't take any of my own pictures. The fuzzy photos above are from the Craigslist ad.

... here's a better photo.  

The front panel of the washer is definitely scratched up and needs a re-paint.

So far the dryer appears to work (and light up).   The washer needs motor, it's very tight, it barely turns by hand.

Kevin

I moved the washer to the tailgate of my truck (still haven't unloaded it yet) and removed the front panel.

This is what I found!

The tub ring clamp (or what ever you call it) loose and hanging, plus the bleach dispenser bottle has disintegrated.  

I wonder what other surprises are in store as I explore further.

At least the electrical schematic is complete and intact!

Kevin

The condition of that bleach reservoir baffles me!  I am trying to think of what might cause the entire tank to have disintegrated like that.  I don't know much about the details of plastics but I think that reservoir was made from something like either polypropylene or polystyrene.  Since household bleach has been sold in plastic bottles since at least 1970 I can't think that it was either bleach or hot water that did THAT. 

Great Save Kevin, that bleach dispenser reservoir deterioration is baffling, it looks like the reservoir was exposed to sunlight for about ten years, but the rest of the machine including the nicely intact wiring diagram does not look like it was out in the sun. I does not look like this washer will not be that difficult to fix if the timer and other electrical parts are OK, repainting the front to match the top may be the most difficult thing.