It takes a lot of skill and patience to do that!

Oh wait, station wagon. I guess it wasn't too bad then.

It was a nice day! It was the first time I went to Guelph. And I guess it was the last time I ate at this restaurant!

Kittens? Try full-grown catz!!!! And it has the suds-saver!!!!

Paul, your talent for finding vintage treasures borders on the ridiculous. I hope that filter-pan is nice and shiny!!!

Another pretty GE!  Solid tub too - do you have a solid tub GE already?  They wash beautifully and hold a bit more than many solid tub washers.

Can't wait to see more, drive safely!

Roger, about the earthquake, I couldn't feel it but I heard it!  At about 12:20 AM, I was over the phone with a friend who lives about 10 miles away from where I live and we both wondered for a second or two about what was happening! My uncle who lives on the Montreal south shore (I live on the north shore) felt it more!

But still...

Paul, this is the forbidden machine of my childhood. I could only dream of actually seeing it in operation. My Aunt Alice had your glorious new find in pink, in her kitchen, the suds hose curled up in back. I was not allowed to go any where near the machine, even though she never had it operating when I was there. (In her later years, she mellowed into a real sweetheart, and gave me a WP Imperial Washer and a Lady K Roto-rack.)

Now that you have the much sought after model, I can have an ancient dream come true. Once again, you have the chance to make Aworg history, As far as I know, we have no footage of a Suds-return operation on early solid tub GE's. Come on, Handsome, you know you can do it .

Congrats on scoring a real rarity, and thanks for the sweet memory. Could you paint it pink, (giggles).

Your friend,

Michael

I just love that control panel.

I'll never forget the first time I saw one of these. It was in Old Saybrook Connecticut and I must have been 10 or so. Our neighbors, the Petruzellos, lived next door to us and the house was a large white beach bungalow that housed the children and grandchildren of 3 families during the summer months with the grandmother, Rose, running the whole show. The #1 son, Joseph, had many apartments for rent in Meriden CT where they lived full-time and would, from time to time, snag an old washer for his mother to use in the beach house. Many washers passed through the Petruzello's entryway on their way to the dump; a Maytag, a couple of Rollermatics (which, I think Rose preferred) but in the middle of one summer, this GE showed up in the washer spot. When I first saw it, it looked strangely familiar (I didn't notice the brand until I realized it was like ours but MUCH older {3 years was a long time back then}). When I opened the lid I immediately focused on the weird prehistoric filter pan that was made out of copper, not plastic and sat on the activator, which was the same size and shape as ours but PINK!, via a hole in the middle of it that balanced on the activator cap collar. Suddenly I noticed how much of the machine was so GE, but that everything was PINK and the control dial was in the wrong place. I was smitten and it has taken me 45 years, but now I know what this bizarre machine was all about. It only stayed there a couple of months, either broke or Rose didn't like it, but long enough for me know their was such a thing as an ancestry to these machines.

A good family friend here in Beltsville bought a 1956 custom built house in 1960 and it had a pair of these. The house was built by a just married couple and the wife died so the guy sold it and moved on, then our friend Dorthy bought the house and she always lived alone so the GEs never got a lot of use. They still only made it to about 1968-9 and were replaced by a pair of MT 606s. I always cut the grass for Dorthy and did all kinds of minor repairs around this nice house for her, she was a very generous person and I learned a lot from being around her.

A ten year life span for automatic washers built in the 1950s was considered excellent, stuff owners bragged about and in spite of the high cost of washers during this time period few washers built in the 1950s made it to the 1970s. Build quality and reliability got better and better through the 60s, 70s, 80s, and really started to take off in the mid 1980s. If Dorthy could have bought [ in 1957 ] a MOL WP washer & dryer that is being built today it would likely last 30 years under the same light use conditions, probably without more than a single service call. I predict that there will be thousands of today's washers & dryers around in 30 years for future collectors. This is also partly due to the large number of  people living alone and the huge # of 2nd and vacation homes where the appliances get little use.

Was the power cord you removed one that had the waffle and clothes iron plug (bakelite with no ground lead)? Please don't throw that away!

The filter pan and the activator are in great condition! The activator collar is a little droopy, but that will actually help with the filter-flowing. Tub looks pristine too! The 855 -857 difference may be that yours was a model made for export to Canada (GE had special Chicago models at one point because of different plumbing codes).

At any rate, it's gawgeous and I hope it will be an easy fix. If you need weird bent hoses for the suds return system, you can find them at auto parts stores. Aferim!

So here's my story. When I was a kid in the early 1970's, I found a couple old washing machines. One was GE FF Solid tub and a Philco from the mid 1960's.  Since I could not drag them home to play with, I took them to the nearby woods to play with. Mostly just to admire their design and see how they worked. I was very facinated with them. Jump forward about 35 years and I decided to go back in the woods to see if they still were around. After years of rusting there was no sign of them except the agitator from the GE. I brought it home and turned it into this lamp. I have the lamp still and it's in my living room. At least I was able to save something of it from my childhood.

Joe

Jamman_98