The DD machines were differently more reliable and longer lived, as the years go forward it will not be uncommon to see DD WP washers still running when they are 30-40 and even 50 years old.

We were a warranty service provider for WP from 1979-2009 and when the DD washers were introduced in the early 80s we could tell within a few years how much less service the required during the 1st year warranty period. BD washer had around a 20% failure rate during the last 10 years of production and almost from the start the DD machines had less than a 10% call rate during the first year, which is really high by today's standards.

Today SQ TL& FL washers have only around a 1 or 2 % failure rate in the first year, from what I can tell WP-MT and probably the Chinese LG stuff is about the same low rate of failure.

John L.

Started full production in mid 1981 and took over all full sized 24" wide models almost immediately.

John L.

did something with this line similar to FORD with their Crown Vic, Mercury Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town Car - you know, the one which ran for two decades or so and ended up being police cars the last few years of its life.

They were very reliable because so many had been built over such a long span of time that even a low-quality company was able to figure out and get rid of the bugs.

Personally, I don't find a 10% failure rate all that good, but when you consider what GE and White Industries were putting out in the 1990s and later, well, yeah, in the land of the blind, the one-eyed is king.

Personally, I still prefer the BD - so much easier on clothes and cleans just as well.

Are the Speed Queen front loaders still good machines to buy new?

In A Word YES, but supplies are limited, soon we will only be getting the commercial versions which will be about $1000 more and will have no labor warranty.

John L.