POTD 12-16-10

As many of you may have noticed from the washington wash-in pictures we have the original model in the green color. The original SM was a brilliant example of designing and building a very low cost simple machine. [ think chevrolet Vega ] First of all the pulsating type mechanism would have been too costly for this project and would not have fit in the machine without extensive changes. I also drought they ever considered putting the sycro-swing mechanism in full size machines as it just wasn't heavy duty enough to handle a large load, it would have had to been completely redesigned again for such a use. There were many clever cost saving things that GM engineers did on this machine. Like the one piece wash tub and agitator, only one shaft and water seal needed, the outer tub and drain pump were the same piece. When you were looking at the front or back of the dryer you were looking at the front and back of the dryer drum, it is the only dryer that I have ever seen that was only one layer of steel. About 15 years ago I was trying to advance the idea of getting a Chinese Company to make a copy of this machine it probably could have been built for less than $100. Frigidare had a lot of problems with these machines I wouldn't even start on these, I remember a local frigidare dealer telling me that he had sold 48 SMs the first year they were out and ran 52 service calls on them in warranty. But I differently think its a cool machine worthy of collecting and some day I will get around to doing a video or anyone else is welcome to come and do the video.


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Post# 482025 12/16/2010 at 10:12 (4,869 days old) by dirtybuck (Springfield, MO)
Checkrate/Likes The Skinny Mini was always a washer that I found interesting. It didn't have the traditional up and down agitator like Frigidaire was famous for (at that time), and with the weird tub design, I was curious on how it agitated. There used to be a You Tube video of one in action, but in doing a search, I found it no longer exists. By any chance would someone on here have a copy of it?

Post# 482027 , Reply# 1 12/16/2010 at 10:18 (4,869 days old) by PeterH770 (Marietta, GA)
Checkrate/Likes Like the Pulsamatic was the forebear of the Multimatic, I think the Synchro-Swing mechanism was going to be GM's move from the pulsator to a traditional agitator.

Post# 482137 , Reply# 2 12/16/2010 at 18:26 (4,869 days old) by Unimatic1140 (Minneapolis)
Checkrate/Likes Here ya go... CLICK HERE TO GO TO Unimatic1140's LINK

Post# 482145 , Reply# 3 12/16/2010 at 18:46 (4,869 days old) by laundromat (Hilo, Hawaii)
Checkrate/Likes I saw my fist glance of these during the Miss Universe Pagent in 1969.I remember the song that they sung describing the unit and that it "fits almost anywhere" At that time, the logo was "FRIGIDAIRE bothers to build in more help" They would hammer the words "build in" to the already written sentence.I saw the first one in person at Plymouth Furniture and Appliance on Eastern Ave. In "Balmer hon"!That same day, I saw the first Jet Action 1-18s and was pinching myself on the cheek to be sure I wasn't dreaming.To this day, I'll never understand why they didn't use the pulsating agitator type and the Rapidry spin. I was also dissapointed that they had a plastic tub.

Post# 482152 , Reply# 4 12/16/2010 at 19:13 (4,869 days old) by peteski50 (New York)
Checkrate/Likes *SKINNY MINI!* I too was disappointed that it didnt use the up and down technology that frigidaire was noted for. Even though they just started with the 1/18 technology at the time they could have put the rapiddry technology into this unit. Even with a plastic tub I bet it still would have ok. Peter

Post# 482158 , Reply# 5 12/16/2010 at 19:25 (4,869 days old) by mickeyd (Hamburg NY)
Checkrate/Likes *Agreed* but don't ya just love the dual-jet, water injection. Frigidaire always did something cool and surprising. Funny to see that teeny cork bossing all those big towels around. Wish we had more vids on this cute little bugger.

Post# 482161 , Reply# 6 12/16/2010 at 19:38 (4,869 days old) by golittlesport (California)
Checkrate/Likes Lat's talk RevvinKevin into making us a video

Post# 482262 , Reply# 7 12/17/2010 at 06:23 (4,868 days old) by mrb627 (Buford, GA)
Checkrate/Likes *I agree* This is one of those machines that is so rare, we need to capture it in video for posterity... Malcolm

Post# 482495 , Reply# 8 12/18/2010 at 12:20 (4,867 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)
Checkrate/Likes *ORIGINAL SKINNY-MINI WASHER-DRYER* As many of you may have noticed from the washington wash-in pictures we have the original model in the green color. The original SM was a brilliant example of designing and building a very low cost simple machine. [ think chevrolet Vega ] First of all the pulsating type mechanism would have been too costly for this project and would not have fit in the machine without extensive changes. I also drought they ever considered putting the sycro-swing mechanism in full size machines as it just wasn't heavy duty enough to handle a large load, it would have had to been completely redesigned again for such a use. There were many clever cost saving things that GM engineers did on this machine. Like the one piece wash tub and agitator, only one shaft and water seal needed, the outer tub and drain pump were the same piece. When you were looking at the front or back of the dryer you were looking at the front and back of the dryer drum, it is the only dryer that I have ever seen that was only one layer of steel. About 15 years ago I was trying to advance the idea of getting a Chinese Company to make a copy of this machine it probably could have been built for less than $100. Frigidare had a lot of problems with these machines I wouldn't even start on these, I remember a local frigidare dealer telling me that he had sold 48 SMs the first year they were out and ran 52 service calls on them in warranty. But I differently think its a cool machine worthy of collecting and some day I will get around to doing a video or anyone else is welcome to come and do the video.