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Thread Number: 79283
/ Tag: Vintage Automatic Washers
How did your interest in washing machines start? |
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| Post# 1032121 , Reply# 1 5/8/2019 at 12:14 (1,807 days old) by DE409 (Maryland) | ||
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Just using the same washer and dryer for most of my life. It still has the mark on it in Sharpie where mom showed me what setting to use when I learned to dry. | ||
| Post# 1032124 , Reply# 2 5/8/2019 at 12:29 (1,807 days old) by Maytag85 (Sean A806) | ||
That’s a very good question. I guess it started with the memories of the 1997 Maytag Dependable Care washer, and the mid 80’s Kenmore 70 series 29” electric dryer at my old house. It all took off in 2015 for me when I stumbled across the Maytag A700 Kevin aka Revvinkevin had up on YouTube, and the rest is history. I discovered many other YouTube channels of vintage machines, and a good amount are from people here on AW.
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| Post# 1032129 , Reply# 3 5/8/2019 at 13:14 (1,807 days old) by norgeway (mocksville n c ) | ||
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I remember our 55 Pulsamatic, I can clearly remember holding me at 4 years old while the serviceman worked on it, I remember it was going to cost 60.00 to fix and as it was 14 years old then Mother decided to get a new one It was a WCDAN solid tub, Our next door neighbor had a 63 Lady Kenmore that I clearly remember. | ||
Post# 1032132 , Reply# 4 5/8/2019 at 13:55 (1,806 days old) by Washerlover  (The Big Island, Hawai’i) |
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It Was the ‘62 Wards Signature That Did it For Me...
My grandmother had a BOL machine and the action along with the sounds it made had me hooked! Although my Mom’s ‘63 Frigidaire Custom Deluxe was okay, and my other grandma had a Wards wringer washer, the ‘62 Signature automatic machine was the greatest! Still looking for one although rare as hen’s teeth...
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Post# 1032134 , Reply# 5 5/8/2019 at 14:14 (1,806 days old) by ea56 (Cotati, Calif.) |
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Watching my Mom do the laundry in our basement in her Bendix Economat. I so vividly remember how the clothes were all mashed onto the agitator when the cycle was finished. Also, watching my Aunt Imogene’s 1955 Westinghouse slant front washing machine. It was fascinating, almost as good as TV was in the early 50’s.
Eddie | ||
| Post# 1032139 , Reply# 7 5/8/2019 at 15:39 (1,806 days old) by Keymatic (London / UK) | ||
Hey Michael,
Good to read your post and hear your experiences of washers as you grew up, like you i too have fond memories of a Thor Automagic washer, not my parents but a lady who use to run a holiday let in Cornwall that we use to stay with for 2 weeks a year, i use to help / watch as she did all the linen on a Monday morning, heavy brown sandal’s pushing down on the pedals to change the operation from wash to spin etc I have had 5 thor automagic’s, 4x pedal operated and 1x lever control, below is a pic of the ones in my collection. Good thread Cheers Keith | ||
| Post# 1032144 , Reply# 8 5/8/2019 at 16:45 (1,806 days old) by Michael (London /England) | ||
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WOW! Those machines look pristine!!! that has certainly brought back happy memorys... | ||
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Post# 1032147 , Reply# 10 5/8/2019 at 17:09 (1,806 days old) by turquoisedude (.) |
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A '55 Whirlpool wringer did it..
That was the washer I have the earliest memories of seeing in use. We had a '64 GE V12 Filter-Flo washer and matching dryer but the plumbing and wiring in the house where we lived was so unreliable that it was safer to use the Whirlpool! Not long after that we moved and I remember watching that GE washer as often as I could! Must be why I have a soft spot for GE washers to this day...
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Post# 1032160 , Reply# 11 5/8/2019 at 19:37 (1,806 days old) by lotsosudz (Sacramento, CA) |
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57, 60 series Kenmore
After our Bendix Economat died in late 56, my parents bought a 57 60 series Kenmore. I spent hours watching the Pregnant Roto Swirl agitator, with the waterfall filter, washing clothes for a family of 7. It had two speeds, and two cycles, Normal, and Delicate. It ran 10 years, washing 10-12 loads a week. 15 loads after camping. I was totally hooked!
Hugs David | ||
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Post# 1032164 , Reply# 12 5/8/2019 at 20:25 (1,806 days old) by wayupnorth (On a lake between Bangor and Bar Harbor, Maine) |
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Mine started as a little kid. My mother had her Kenmore wringer in our basement with separate tubs to rinse and I would grab the clothes coming from the rinse tub backwards thru the wringer. To her first Kenmore Cycla Fabric and on thru many to my 1984 Maytags and 1948 Kenmore wringer that I still use today. I loved to play with anyones toy washers as a kid but liking these were not being a real boy, play sports, no wonder I hate sports now.
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Post# 1032197 , Reply# 15 5/9/2019 at 08:40 (1,806 days old) by bajaespuma (Connecticut) |
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The Felllowship of the Balance Ring I have been told by a few people who I respect that a lot of my "fixations" have the earmarks of symptoms exhibited by children who used to be diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome (now considered as part of the Autism spectrum). Things like fascination with water movement, spinning and obsessions with things that are similar with color differences are common points. I would accept that explanation without hard feelings because I have gotten to know a couple of my friends' children who are diagnosed with Autism who exhibit a lot of behaviors that I observed in my Father and, yikes,in myself. It made some sense and explained a hell of a lot of things.
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| Post# 1032202 , Reply# 17 5/9/2019 at 09:33 (1,806 days old) by golittlesport (California) | ||
Jerry Gay
I also started with a fixation on a wringer washer that I got my arm tangled in the wringer! I was two years old at the time and it was a Dexter washer. Thank goodness I still have my left arm! My mom would sit me on a stool next to the washer so she could keep an eye on me while she did the work of manually feeding the wringer and rinsing the laundry. I became mesmerized watching the action and the agitator oscillating back and forth.
Nana, mom's mother, had an Easy spindier and she would also let me watch so she could keep an eye on me. What else to do with a two year old while one worked a conventional washing machine other than cage them? Ha! She got herself a 1955 Frigidaire automatic and of course I had to watch that too -- a great show with the up and down washing action and dramatic spin cycle. After four kids, my mom finally got herself an automatic -- a 1957 Westy MOL slant-front. That was a great machine to watch with a window and my mom felt I was safe with the automatic shut off should I open the door when she wasn't looking. From that point on I was interested in everyone's washing machine and how they operated. | ||
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Post# 1032209 , Reply# 18 5/9/2019 at 10:55 (1,806 days old) by jeff_adelphi (Adelphi, Maryland, USA) |
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Some AW club history For newer members that may want to know more about how this group got started. CLICK HERE TO GO TO jeff_adelphi's LINK | ||
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Post# 1032224 , Reply# 19 5/9/2019 at 14:38 (1,805 days old) by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.) |
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 Story goes that the paternal grandmother was babysitting and showed me their running 1956 WP Imperial. Maybe I was fussing and she was trying for some distractions. Something clicked and I was hooked. I don't know what was my age but I don't remember the incident. Next early story is Grandpa gave dad the family crank telephone, which I got ahold and disassembled into enough pieces that they couldn't figure how to reassemble. I remember playing with the crank magneto unit but not doing the disassembly. | ||
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Post# 1032266 , Reply# 20 5/10/2019 at 05:19 (1,805 days old) by askolover (South of Nash Vegas, TN) |
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 As far back as I can remember I was watching Mother's 1966 Maytag basic PP washer "hot, warm, cold" and "small, medium, large" regular tub washer. I learned earl on how to stick something in the switch so I could watch it. Then when my neighbor babysat me she had a GE filterflo that would work with the lid up...now that was a treat. We got our first dishwasher when I was 3 in 1974, a KDS17A and it was always my job to push the button to start it every night. I was mesmerized by the glass front dishwashers at Sears and would stand there forever watching them wash. But my interest wasn't just in washers and dryers and dishwashers. Vacuums, mixers, Daddy's tools (wondered what made them work), engines (especially diesels)...I'm still that way. | ||
| Post# 1032345 , Reply# 22 5/10/2019 at 20:59 (1,804 days old) by Blackstone (Springfield, Massachusetts) | ||
It's not a Blackstone, but....
...it was in our back yard. We lived behind the store, so there was usually some type of old appliance in the yard.
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Post# 1032655 , Reply# 24 5/14/2019 at 19:16 (1,800 days old) by Paulg (My sweet home... Chicago) |
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Dad and Hotpoint
My father was an engineer for Hotpoint, in the home-laundry department. 5600 W. Taylor. He was there from 1948 through the late 1980’s.
As a kid I would tour the plants, see washers, dryers, ranges and refrigerators being made. And of course, as our stuff broke, we would pull it apart and fix it. I had my own personal interest in electronics anyway and ended up in the television manufacturing industry. But as luck would have it, the Japanese company I worked for tapped into my appliance knowledge and I ended up doing training seminars on microwave ovens between training gigs for television repair, industrial video and the like. Later on I did forensic evaluations on “incidents” for legal. That was interesting. | ||
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Post# 1033014 , Reply# 25 5/19/2019 at 04:10 (1,796 days old) by chestermikeuk (Rainhill *Home of the RailwayTrials* Merseyside,UK) |
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How did your interest in washing machines start !! 
Mine was listening and watching mums trusty Servis Supertwin Mk2 from 1963, seeing it wheeled to the sink, filled with steaming water and then washed rinsed and spinning all the family of 6 washing, usually three times a week, mon wed fri, starting at 9am and finished by 11am all pegged on the line..
My gran used to pay us to catch sheets n clothing coming out of the back of the Hotpoint Empress wringer, paid us kids 1p a sheet, so we would take our money then go up to Haslams Top Shop, ( a local family convenience store at the top of the road) where we would pick from the 1p sweet tray !! Michael, fab story, those Hoover Keymatics where something else indeed, have included a couple of keymatic pics, was yours the A3008 ?? | ||
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Post# 1033256 , Reply# 27 5/20/2019 at 21:10 (1,794 days old) by Losangeles (Muscle Shoals, AL 35661) |
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My Interest began when...
I was about six years old and I discovered our next door neighbor had a 55 Frigidaire Unimatic. Compared to our very early Kenmore this was the most interesting washer I had ever seen. The woman never minded me watching from beginning to end load after load. I was short for my age and she got a little step stool for me to stand on so I could see. I was most fascinated by the spin. I had never seen anything so fast. Made my mothers look positively turtle speed. After that I was hooked and stayed busy during the summers going from house to house on my street watching a Maytag, a Westinghouse and a Philco combination washer/dryer and then the 63 Frigidaire Imperial Custom with all the buttons and lighted panel. Of course I had to keep my insane interest under raps to keep my parent from having me committed. It wasn't till many years later later and being married to a very understanding woman that I brought home my first vintage washer.
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| Post# 1033560 , Reply# 28 5/24/2019 at 19:59 (1,790 days old) by volsboy1 (East Tenn Smoky mountains ) | ||
I was fascinated by anything that was mechanical, so much so that I had to take them apart to figure how they work, although not always successful putting them back together.
My best friend Mom had a Frigidaire 1-18 and a Maytag Food disposer I was hooked on both machines, He was fascinated in them also . We had alot in common and I don't know if it is just me but, it seems that 75% or more people in here are Gay like me and he is also. It's peculiar and I have wondered why that is? My Dad tried to get me involved in sports but, I was much happier helping Moma or Mamaw in the kitchen, save for fishing. I can still hear my Mamaws G.E. filter flo washing machine in my head to this day. Those are some of my best memories and will always be so. | ||
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Post# 1037312 , Reply# 31 7/6/2019 at 13:29 (1,748 days old) by Whispermatic (Guildford) |
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Hoovermagic...
My interest began really because virtually ever extension of my family had Hoover appliances of all description. Specifically though my grandmother had a Hoovermatic 3301L twin-tub and my mother a 3310E. I was equally terrified and fascinated by them. I loved every part of the design of them and the magic of the “little black circle” as I called it, that caused so much force and movement in the water particularly interested me, especially when the water was pumped out and it slowly was revealed again not moving having worked it’s mysterious magic under the water. Of course I now know it is called a pulsator and know how it actually works, but the magic still remains. I now own too many Hoovermatics to mention, and I still use a 1968 3312L weekly to wash towels and sheets with soap flakes... It still takes me back to watching and helping my mother and grandmother every time. I do also marvel that I am using a machine that still works absolutely perfectly and will be 51 in September. Not sure that ANY washing machines around today will still exist, let alone be powering through loads and loads of washing with such efficiency and well considered design and engineering 51 years from now..!
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Post# 1037315 , Reply# 32 7/6/2019 at 13:41 (1,748 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI) |
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| Post# 1039714 , Reply# 34 7/28/2019 at 16:16 (1,725 days old) by statomatic (France) | ||
I was something like 2 or 3 years old hearing the sound of the Brandt Statomatic 418
(quite the same as the 416 on the photo but with a bleach distributor). This machine was bought new in 1982 then it started to have issues in 94 or 95, I remember helping my father disassembling the machine to replace the bearings (not that easy on these ones). Then the motor has started to fail so the machine ended in the basement and my parents bought an used 516 (same as the 416 but with larger capacity). In 98 or 99 the 516's pump broke so we replaced it by the 418's pump and it worked great. In 2001 my father found a trashed Vedette 5583 (same chassis as the Brandt) which was easy to fix (pump clogged by a pair of socks), my mother bought a new Fagor FE749 (she still have it now) and my grandmother bought a new Arthur-Martin AW3085T (I'm looking for one, always liked the gray/white control panel with red leds). I've even worked on my own household appliance repair business but stopped after five years due to the increasing of taxes, the cheapo machines that cost less than a repair, the stupidity of customers... Anyway I'm still maintaining my collection of vintage machines and doing some funny things like a machine controlled by a PLC. CLICK HERE TO GO TO statomatic's LINK
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| Post# 1040854 , Reply# 36 8/6/2019 at 08:36 (1,717 days old) by quickii (Youngsville, LA) | ||
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scrubflex Wow those pictures bring back memories. Have not seen the 2 in 1 agitator in many many years Cut my teeth on this machine and Westinghouse's FLW | ||
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Post# 1040896 , Reply# 37 8/6/2019 at 15:05 (1,716 days old) by jons1077 (Vancouver, Washington, USA) |
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I can sum it up in one photo
I loved visiting grandma but I REALLY loved visiting her washer and dryer! I needed to wash something so I improvised. :-) Who knew so many years later I’d be so lucky to find an almost exact set.
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| Post# 1040914 , Reply# 38 8/6/2019 at 21:17 (1,716 days old) by eurekastar (Amarillo, Texas) | ||
 My Grandmother had a Maytag wringer washer that she'd had when my Mom was a little girl (my Mom was born in 1938). It was in use by the time I came along too. When my Grandfather was dying of cancer in the summer of 1967, I was staying with them when the wringer washer went out. My Grandmother went down and bought a new Maytag Automatic. She was so excited when it was delivered that I think she called everyone in town. I remember her talking about how it was making her life so much easier. Sadly, my Grandfather died about a month after that but I'll always remember how happy that new Maytag made my Grandmother and her friends coming over to see it too! LOL! I think that piqued my interest. | ||
| Post# 1040915 , Reply# 39 8/6/2019 at 22:14 (1,716 days old) by scrubflex (bronx, new york) | ||
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quickii yeahhh, I was a lil' youngin but, remembered loving to see the 'SPIRAL-Ramp' agitate and that vigorous spray fill fascinated me as well:D...pics courtesy of someone from the club...I can't remember who but, grateful for them :) | ||
| Post# 1040970 , Reply# 40 8/7/2019 at 17:42 (1,715 days old) by twintubdexter (Palm Springs) | ||
 Long before I started working at the appliance store (I was 13) I was fascinated with my Mom's Apex gas dryer. Punishment as a small child usually meant sitting on the laundry room floor as sort of a "time out". The big glass window on the Apex was better than cartoons on TV. You could watch the clothes tumble and see the flames of the burner through the perforated drum in the upper right hand corner. The Apex sort of broiled your clothes dry. I always thought they'd catch fire.
Mother warned me that if I opened the door with the dryer running (there was no door switch) that I'd be sucked up inside like Dorothy's house in the cyclone. One day I took a chance and opened it. Mother lied.
oh yes she did...
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