The solid-tub machines were good performers but one of the least reliable AWs that were widely made in the 1950s-early 1960s.

As Bruce pointed out the water pumps were TERRIBLE and there were lots of problems with just about every other mechanical part of the transmission and drive line. The brake was much smaller on the ST models and they did not coast to a stop [ the brake was always used when the washer stopped spinning ] and there were few brake problems on the ST models.

The TOL Dispenser models were just a simple flush-through design that gave almost NO PROBLEMS, it was the least of your worries with these washers, LOL.

When Norge introduced their NEW larger models around 1963-4 they to their credit COMPLETELY redesigned EVERY part of the washer and really beefed up the design to handle the larger loads. But durability was still among the worst in the industry and we were seeing three YO Norges on the scrap pile. I remember a local WP dealer took one of these great looking 3 YO Norges and put it out in front of his store around the Xmas holidays with a big red ribbon around it as a display, the machine was stolen within a week or so and he replaced it with another fairly new Norge. I remember him saying he wished he could get rid of all the old appliances that easily, LOL as in those days appliances were generally not recycled and were just buried in land fills .

Anyway these new large Norges did get a little better as time went on into the late 60s and through the 70s and Norge lunched a major advertising campaign in the late 1960s when they put the letters VHQ on the washers which stood for Very High Quality as they were attempting to shake their terrible reputation for poor reliability.