Thread Number: 69159
/ Tag: Vintage Automatic Washers
Found a '68 Frigidaire Washer/Dryer Set This Weekend! |
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Post# 919504   2/5/2017 at 16:28 (2,608 days old) by drh4683 (Chicago western suburbs)   |   | |
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I came across these purely by accident this weekend. I went to a local estate sale only because it was a nice looking original home. Once I walked in, it was obvious nothing in the home had changed since 1968. Original owner home, totally untouched. All original kitchen with all Frigidaire appliances in Canary Yellow. (Ok, so the refrigerator was the only thing not original...) It was a large ranch with a full basement, but it happened to have an 1st floor laundry room. That's when I spotted this super nice canary yellow Frigidaire Custom Deluxe washer and dryer set. It was the last day of the sale and they gave me the set for $50. They even came with the owners manuals.
I was able to speak to the son and daughter of the original owners. Their parents signed the contract to get their new home built in September, 1967 and sometime in 1968 is when they moved in. The builder only used Frigidaire appliances and they said their mom always liked Yellow, so that's the color she chose for everything. However, the washer and dryer were hardly ever used. The original owners were depression era people, so it made sense when the son and daughter told me that their mom always felt that washing clothes with a washing machine was a terrible waste of water. She *always* washed clothes by hand in the tub. They said they could count on one hand the number of times they remember the washer and dryer getting used when they were growing up. Well it shows, they appear to be very low hour machines and they work just fine still. I do not think the machines were ever moved, not even once, even for a floor cleaning because there was a little piece of newspaper covered in dust stuck to the floor under the washer from 1971! It was also behind the dryer wedged behind the unit near the floor is where I also found the owners manuals also covered in a thick layer of dust! The washer is a model WCDAN and the electric dryer is a model DCDAN. As for the bright yellow color, I didn't think this shade of yellow was still around as late as 1968. |
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Post# 919509 , Reply# 1   2/5/2017 at 16:43 (2,608 days old) by gansky1 (Omaha, The Home of the TV Dinner!)   |   | |
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Post# 919510 , Reply# 2   2/5/2017 at 16:47 (2,608 days old) by mickeyd (Hamburg NY)   |   | |
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Any time you think you've heard it all, and then......NOT! Many tales of people shunning their new automatics and abandoning them to a dark corner as they continue with their wringer washers, but shunning a washer for doing laundry by hand. Woe, Nelly!!! That's a new one on me.
Congratulations and what great instincts on going to the hunt. For 50 bucks you really stole them, their true priceless value gleaming in the pix showing the rollers, motor and control panel wiring, and the brand new tub and jet cone. Mahhhdone. So glad and satisfied that you got the story, for me, always one of the best parts of the hunt, and this one is a doozy. |
Post# 919512 , Reply# 3   2/5/2017 at 16:57 (2,608 days old) by appnut (TX)   |   | |
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Post# 919513 , Reply# 4   2/5/2017 at 17:05 (2,608 days old) by toploader55 (Massachusetts Sand Bar, Cape Cod)   |   | |
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Post# 919514 , Reply# 5   2/5/2017 at 17:09 (2,608 days old) by rp2813 (Sannazay)   |   | |
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Post# 919517 , Reply# 6   2/5/2017 at 17:12 (2,608 days old) by turquoisedude (.)   |   | |
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Post# 919531 , Reply# 7   2/5/2017 at 17:48 (2,608 days old) by pumper (SE Wisconsin)   |   | |
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Post# 919532 , Reply# 8   2/5/2017 at 17:50 (2,608 days old) by pumper (SE Wisconsin)   |   | |
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Post# 919539 , Reply# 9   2/5/2017 at 18:07 (2,608 days old) by norgeway (mocksville n c )   |   | |
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My Mother bought in early 1969 to replace the 55 Pulsamatic that died, I remember these well, ours lasted17 years and was used every day. |
Post# 919540 , Reply# 10   2/5/2017 at 18:15 (2,608 days old) by Gyrafoam (Wytheville, VA)   |   | |
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That set may be a '69 production run. In any event, those are great workhorses. Address any rust issues sooner rather than later. Do you have the "Repairmasters" for the set? You will love those. |
Post# 919567 , Reply# 11   2/5/2017 at 21:11 (2,607 days old) by Washerlover (The Big Island, Hawai’i)   |   | |
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Post# 919569 , Reply# 12   2/5/2017 at 21:13 (2,607 days old) by Travis ()   |   | |
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Beautiful! Jaw dropping beautiful. |
Post# 919577 , Reply# 13   2/5/2017 at 21:42 (2,607 days old) by panthera (Rocky Mountains)   |   | |
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Post# 919588 , Reply# 14   2/5/2017 at 22:11 (2,607 days old) by peteski50 (New York)   |   | |
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Post# 919596 , Reply# 15   2/5/2017 at 23:24 (2,607 days old) by oldskool (Kansas City, MO)   |   | |
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Congratulations on a stunning find. |
Post# 919597 , Reply# 16   2/5/2017 at 23:35 (2,607 days old) by Stricklybojack (South Hams Devon UK)   |   | |
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Post# 919599 , Reply# 17   2/5/2017 at 23:51 (2,607 days old) by whirlykenmore78 (Prior Lake MN (GMT-0500 CDT.))   |   | |
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Post# 919624 , Reply# 18   2/6/2017 at 05:22 (2,607 days old) by mrb627 (Buford, GA)   |   | |
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Post# 919633 , Reply# 19   2/6/2017 at 07:04 (2,607 days old) by joelippard (Hickory)   |   | |
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Post# 919646 , Reply# 20   2/6/2017 at 08:47 (2,607 days old) by swestoyz (Cedar Falls, IA)   |   | |
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What an amazing find, Doug! And to think if you had not gone to the sale the set probably would have ended up at the scrap yard.
The black knobs are interesting, I don't recall seeing many N line washers/dryers with black selector knobs.
Are you planning on putting these in as daily drivers?
Ben This post was last edited 02/06/2017 at 09:09 |
Post# 919655 , Reply# 21   2/6/2017 at 09:55 (2,607 days old) by bajaespuma (Connecticut)   |   | |
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Post# 919656 , Reply# 22   2/6/2017 at 09:58 (2,607 days old) by Unimatic1140 (Minneapolis)   |   | |
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Post# 919658 , Reply# 23   2/6/2017 at 10:16 (2,607 days old) by programcomputer (Ann Arbor Michigan, USA)   |   | |
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I have had the same issue for SEVERAL days too on any post going over one picture. What is the deal? I have checked my computer and all seems fine I've allowed cookies/from site so Im kinda stumped. When you go to click on other pictures using the red arrow, a loading circle appears, but never loads any other pics....
HELPO!!! |
Post# 919659 , Reply# 24   2/6/2017 at 10:17 (2,607 days old) by programcomputer (Ann Arbor Michigan, USA)   |   | |
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Post# 919660 , Reply# 25   2/6/2017 at 10:30 (2,607 days old) by foraloysius (Leeuwarden, Friesland, the Netherlands)   |   | |
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Post# 919669 , Reply# 26   2/6/2017 at 11:34 (2,607 days old) by brainardcooper (Columbia, SC)   |   | |
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If they were selling that range in the first picture, it would be awfully tempting! |
Post# 919670 , Reply# 27   2/6/2017 at 11:39 (2,607 days old) by MixGuy (St. Martinville, Louisiana)   |   | |
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I can really picture this model being a best seller offering flexibility for most everyday use without the frills of the top of the line models. Really like the Sunny Yellow Color too! |
Post# 919701 , Reply# 28   2/6/2017 at 14:27 (2,607 days old) by norgeway (mocksville n c )   |   | |
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Our washer had the same black knobs. |
Post# 919734 , Reply# 30   2/6/2017 at 16:48 (2,607 days old) by moparguy (Virginia)   |   | |
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Beautiful set, and sunny yellow just has to put anyone in a bright happy mood every time you see them! Congratulations! |
Post# 919765 , Reply# 31   2/6/2017 at 19:23 (2,606 days old) by hippiedoll ( arizona )   |   | |
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Post# 919774 , Reply# 32   2/6/2017 at 19:59 (2,606 days old) by goatfarmer (South Bend, home of Champions)   |   | |
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Post# 919836 , Reply# 33   2/7/2017 at 01:39 (2,606 days old) by gregingotham (New York)   |   | |
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what a find! |
Post# 919839 , Reply# 34   2/7/2017 at 03:37 (2,606 days old) by gorenje (Slovenia)   |   | |
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Post# 919862 , Reply# 35   2/7/2017 at 07:59 (2,606 days old) by mayken4now (Panama City, Florida)   |   | |
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Post# 919878 , Reply# 37   2/7/2017 at 09:44 (2,606 days old) by MixGuy (St. Martinville, Louisiana)   |   | |
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I can really picture this model being a best seller offering flexibility for most everyday use without the frills of the top of the line models. Really like the Sunny Yellow Color too! |
Post# 919902 , Reply# 38   2/7/2017 at 12:25 (2,606 days old) by miele_ge (Danbury, Connecticut)   |   | |
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Post# 919913 , Reply# 39   2/7/2017 at 13:48 (2,606 days old) by toploader55 (Massachusetts Sand Bar, Cape Cod)   |   | |
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Post# 920002 , Reply# 41   2/7/2017 at 23:05 (2,605 days old) by PhilR (Quebec Canada)   |   | |
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Post# 920056 , Reply# 43   2/8/2017 at 10:06 (2,605 days old) by RE563 (Fort Worth, Texas)   |   | |
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I remember seeing this growing up. Everyone that had them seemed really happy with them. A while back Robert our webmaster, did a comparison of his unimatic version washing 5 pairs of jeans against a whirlpool doing the same 5 pair of jeans for roll over. I'd love to see one of these machines doing a load of jeans to see how it would handle the turn over.
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Post# 920142 , Reply# 44   2/8/2017 at 18:50 (2,605 days old) by CircleW (NE Cincinnati OH area)   |   | |
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I have to say, those are EXTRA nice! I'm not sure when Frigidaire dropped Sunny Yellow, but it was the last of the "pastel" colors before they went totally to "earthtones", with the intro of Harvest Gold. |
Post# 920496 , Reply# 46   2/10/2017 at 09:40 (2,603 days old) by newvista58 (Northern NJ)   |   | |
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Post# 920737 , Reply# 47   2/11/2017 at 13:38 (2,602 days old) by drh4683 (Chicago western suburbs)   |   | |
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Thank you all for the kind words! For the time being, I'm going to keep these on display in my basement. I've been using my '73 avocado 1-18's as my daily drivers up in the laundry room since 2010. So far those have been doing quite well and will perhaps switch them out with these in the future.
I also must point out one thing that I found interesting; Even though the woman who owned these thought washing machines were a "waste of water", she apparently didn't feel that way about the dishwasher as that unit looks like it was well used. The electric range however was in very nice low-hour condition. I didn't ask if either were for sale, but I was told the house is going on the market just as it is and will be sold in "as-is" condition. Here's additional photos of the house while it's still in it's original condition: |
Post# 920765 , Reply# 49   2/11/2017 at 17:04 (2,602 days old) by goatfarmer (South Bend, home of Champions)   |   | |
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Post# 920940 , Reply# 50   2/12/2017 at 12:03 (2,601 days old) by 48bencix (Sacramento CA)   |   | |
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This set is just wonderful. Hard to believe the condition it looks like it just came from the factory. |
Post# 925904 , Reply# 51   3/9/2017 at 20:48 (2,575 days old) by TrainGuy (Key West, FL)   |   | |
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