1960 Sears Kenmore Lineup

[dial-a-nap]

I snagged a Spring and Summer 1960 Sears catalog on Ebay last week so I did some scanning from the pages of beautiful offerings.

3rd Floor, Vacuum cleaners, floor polishers and accessories!

 

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[buffster]

Thanks for Sharing...

Greg, thanks for sharing these pages from the Sears catalog. Excellent scanning job. I've never seen any of the Kenmore vacuums pictured; where have they all gone? I especially like the Power-Mate and would love to see the wheels on the Aurora, Horizon and Vanguard models.

 

[tolivac]

My stepmom had one of those "wheelbarrow" type Kenmore canisters-hers didn't have the powernozzle.It was a nice machine.

 

[arh1953]

Sears Has Everything!

That's a really interesting selection for 1960, the uprights are pretty, but 1930s Hoovery looking. I put in an order for the Horizon!

 

[luxg]

Thanks Greg, those are so fun to see again. I am amazed at the prices on the floor polishers, seems pretty high for back then. I wonder how the prices on the vacuums compared to say and Electrolux of the same time period?

 

[compactelectra]

Yeah for Sears Canisters

Here is a picture of mine. From the year before I believe - The Saturn. They were way ahead of their time for power nozzles.

 

[dial-a-nap]

I was wondering if your Kenmore was from this year, or close to it, Fred.

I posted the laundry and dishwasher pages on AW.org - there certainly was a lot of style that year from Sears.

Roger and I were looking at the uprights - they do resemble Hoover's offerings from the 40's! Could that Economy model be any more stripped down?

The prices are always fun to ponder as well, that Lady Kenmore Power-Mate cleaner would be $975 in 2007 dollars! It really puts into perspective how expensive these things were back then and the attitudes of their customers who expected quality, reliability, serviceability and performance for their hard-earned money.

The link is to a consumer cost calculator - check out some of the other prices from catalogs and ads, it's amazing!

http://minneapolisfed.org/Research/data/us/calc/

 

[petek]

Growing up we had the similar canister but in salmony pink, the Satellite, no power nozzle. It was always there so the folks must have bought it around 1955/56 just before my big debut on the world scene

 

[kirbyvacuum]

Thanks

Hi Greg Thanks so much those old Sears units were like a blast from the past. Just by looking at then we can see how quality has gone with the wind. So thanks again Doug

 

[ohio_tuec]

Kenmore Uprights

I kinda like that economy model upright. Say what you will about its utilitarian appearance, being made of die-cast aluminum, I'm sure it was a durable machine. I'm surprised that in 1960, Sears still offered an upright with a cloth bag. I would have thought Kirby and Royal were the only ones still doing that at the time. Does anyone know when this model was discontinued?

 

[petek]

Just noticed that those two uprights have the similar body design to my Kenmore floor polisher, it must be from around the same time.

 

[hoover1060]

Those Uprights

Were made by Birtman electric. Notice the cheap model didn't even use paper bags!

 

[vinvac]

At one point in my collection I had the cheaper model upright in that picture. It had one of the best cloth bags I have ever seen. A lady that lived below us in a mobil home, the only mobile home in town at that time, had it. She bought it new and rarely used it. I am actually partial to cloth bags.

It was a great little vacuum and cleaned very well.

Morgan

 

[petek]

A lady that lived below us in a mobile home? I've only ever heard of double wides, not double deckers LOL

 

[vinvac]

No, I meant down the hill from us in a single wide...LOL

Morgan

 

[hamiltonbeachbo]

YAY, from a diehard Catalog Cruiser

Greg,

Love your posting from the '60 Sears catalog. These machines are great. Sears was definitely a leader in design and function, I just never thought much of their quality. Probably a bias I picked up from my folks.

As a kid, I absolutely loved cruising through department store catalogs. We didn't have that many come to our house but we had neighbors that got seasonal editions of JC Penny, Sears and Montgomery Wards. My folks used to get Bennett Brothers Blue Book through their business. I knew how to quickly find the vacuum section without anyone else noticing. Then I move to small appliances and then, of course, those other sections of eye candy.

BTW, I had a great time going through your catalog collection during your wash-in event. Funny how you had them on shelves in the basement guest room. It reminded me of when we were kids and we'd be laying around someones bedroom reading comic books, catalogs and whatever. Alot of fun.

Thanks for the posting!!

Pat