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!
[URL unfurl="true"]http://minneapolisfed.org/Research/data/us/calc/[/URL]