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Cory, Good luck on the Royal bid. As for the Kirbys, I have a G3, and had a chance a couple of weeks ago to try out my sister-in-law's GSix. Frankly, I couldn't tell much difference between them. Rick

Windsors are real workhorses I'm betting they'll be running fine in 15 years.

The Cat! What I want to know is how they got one of my cats into the picture. That looks amazingly like my beloved Scoop -- now 14 (well into vintage territory) and still going strong.

500 cfm?!? What WON'T it pick up? <br Looks like it's meant mainly for industrial apps. I'm guessing it would be too powerful and too loud in an office/commercial or home setting <br And that price ($1,045 for the new one) would buy quite a few Sanitaires or Guardsmen ... <br

Good commercial machines. They've been around for a long time, generally as a rugged no-frills brand. Used to be an independent company, then merged with Castex, a maker of carpet extractors. They're now a part of the Minneapolis-based Tennant Company...

Great finds! Congratulations, Kyle! I've never actually seen a Convertovac anywhere but in old magazine ads, and I'm old enough to remember seeing them advertised on TV when I was a kid. That one would be really cool for your next TV appearance!

And that fact alone tells us nothing about who makes it. It could still be a Eureka product, made in a Eureka plant -- Electrolux AB (Eureka's owner) has invested heavily in China. Or it could be that Eureka has licensed it to a Chinese producer. Or it could be a reverse-engineered patent...

Eureka/Sanitaire has private-labeled this machine for MANY companies over the past 3 decades, including among others, Clarke, Advance, Tornado, Nobles, PowrFlite and Kent, to name a few. In fact, I'll go so far as to say name almost any commercial machine manufacturer, and you'll find that...

Yeah, there's a certain menacing look to the Bisons, like they're a Kirby's evil twin, or maybe something out of a Stephen King novel. If you ever want to have a little fun with your neighbors, take one outside on a nice warm day when people are out and run the speed control up and down a few...

Thanks, Tom. So the Guardsman upright on the Hoover website is a variation of the Convertible? That's pretty amazing that the same machine has been in production for 50 years. That says a lot for the quality of the design.

If memory serves, that machine was sold for many years in the commercial market under the Kent brand, and later Euroclean before Nilfisk-Advance took over the brand. (Kent was once an Electrolux AB trademark). I'm not certain, but it's also possible it might have been sold as an Advance, in red...

Kyle, great pics. Congratulations on the Bison. I have two green ones, a Mark I and a Mark II, although only the Mark II runs. I'm still looking for a Centurion, and I live three miles from the plant where they were made! Rick

I guess I'm just more used to the look of the bigger machines like Kirbys and Royals, things that look more like a heavy duty power tool than an appliance. In comparison, the Convertible seems kind of delicate, feminine if you will. I'm sure that was a part of its appeal, especially with all...

I have to admit, I've never been wild about the Convertible. Older Hoovers, sure. The DAM, yes. But the Convertibles have never really interested me at all. They're fairly common in the thrift shops here, and I can't count the ones I've passed by. Until Saturday. I walked into a Salvation Army...

Great machines one and all My favorite has to be the 500 series, because that's what my grandmother had when I was growing up. Could have been anything between a 516 and a 560, but I like to think it was a 519 for the year I was born. On a related note, is it still possible to get a cord with...

Yeah, if the price is reasonable, you probably can't go wrong. As for the paper bags, there is a converter kit that will let you use Eureka F&G bags. I paid $30 for one for my 519 at a vac shop last summer.(more than I paid for the vac itself) It's just a heavy vinyl bag with a zipper up the...

Don't judge Oreck too harshly here Not that I'm a fan of Oreck vacs, but give the company some credit. That factory was nearly wiped out by Katrina, and half the workforce left town and didn't return. The insurance premiums doubled. Frankly I'm amazed they were able to reopen it for 16 months...

While pricing a replacement brush roll the other day for my Kirby Gen3, I came across a shop that sells them for the G3 and G4 with stiff black bristles (standard?) or with softer white bristles. I'm wondering how much difference there really is, and which one I should get. The G3 is a daily...

Flip it upside down There should be a plate on the bottom with a model number on it. The Kirby experts can tell you more about it if they know which model it is. Personally, I like the older, smaller Kirbys (the 500-series up through the DS80) They're so much less bulky than the later Classic...

The former Bison plant ... ... is now the headquarters building for E-One, a fire truck manufacturer.