A late 60s Sears Best 2 speed canister

kenkart · Sep 9, 2014

I think this was one of the first Powermates with the beater bar, good strong cleaner..

kenkart · Sep 9, 2014

IMHO...

Sears gave you a great deal in the 60s and 70s on vacuums, Whirlpool had really perfected the Kenmore cleaners by then., they were as powerful or more powerful than just about anything at any price.

eurekastar · Sep 9, 2014

I really like the tool storage on that model. What is the secondary color? It's a little hard to tell. Thanks for posting!

marks_here · Sep 9, 2014

It was a grey colour I think

super-sweeper · Sep 9, 2014

Sears truly was it's best at that time! A solid vacuum for a solid price...where did I put my Charge-Card and DeLorean keys?

bnsd60m9200 · Sep 9, 2014

@ bill. it's a light olive drab. the bottom color. the bumper on the pn matches it

DesertTortoise · Sep 9, 2014

I have one of those. That's the Avocado Bombers twin brother. The lower half is a medium green with just a hint of blue in it. The top is mint green. The lower half is steel and the lid plastic. If you pop the palm of your hand on and off the hose end while it's running there is enough lid flex to get the tools jumping in their holder. The lid hinge is a plastic living hinge, which was pretty innovative for that time period. The motor is rated at 2.7 peak horsepower. Sealed suction is 100 inches but airflow is a meager 34 cfm. Most modern full sized canister vacs have more than triple that airflow. They are also a lot smaller than the cream, blue, green and brown colored plastic bodied Kenmores that would come in a few years. Heavy machine though.

You can use a HEPA bag for a Numatic Henry in these as well as a little HEPA dome filter for the top of the fan housing instead of the thin open cell foam of the original filter. Good vacuums, solid and durable. We certainly got our money's worth out of ours. Now all it needs is some paint and a good lid hinge, or a lid with a good hinge still riveted on.

DesertTortoise · Sep 9, 2014

Supersweeper, if you take the prices Sears was charging for those and inflate them to 2014 dollars you were paying the equivalent of $1000 today to buy one of those. They were very expensive vacuums.

hydralique · Sep 9, 2014

Nice vac . . .

Love the onboard tool storage and colors!

vac-o-matic · Sep 9, 2014

I was just looking through a 1969 Sears Spring/Summer catalog, and I believe that's the model shown on it's own color page...the others are in b/w. It retailed for 139.95 w/powermate.

DesertTortoise · Sep 9, 2014

Can you scan that page and show it here or e-mail it to me? I have no literature on mine. I would really appreciate it.

DesertTortoise · Sep 9, 2014

This is my favorite really old Kenmore canister. 4.1 peak horses, variable speed motor via a dial on the rear of the lid that operates a potentiometer and the off/on/floor switch was on the hose. The original hose fell apart circa 2007 or 2008 and when I re-hosed it I wasn't even thinking of collecting vacuums. This is what Sears was selling. I was grateful to even be able to find a hose. I would be equally grateful to find another one today to be perfectly honest.

The last four images were taken this past weekend after finishing all of the restoration except for re-foaming the pre-motor filter grid. The requisite foam is still on it's way from Israel, sigh. Other that that, it's done. One of my all time favorite vacuums.

super-sweeper · Sep 9, 2014

D.T, if people will pay $700 for a new Dyson, why can't I go into debt for a shiny new Kenmore?

kenkart · Sep 10, 2014

Oh for Sears

To sell THAT again!

stricklybojack · Sep 10, 2014

DT, I have nearly that Kenmore vac...

and another same vintage, identically styled Kenmore machine, but smaller in size. Unfortunately i didn't snap a pic of jr. yet and i won't be able to for a number of months. [this post was last edited: 9/10/2014-09:00]

rugsucker · Sep 10, 2014

Sears vacs

Sears always had a variety of vacs that that could be used by anyone who was near a store or could turn the pages in the catalog.Nobody had all features at once.The Kenmore was first with a direct plug in electric hose with built in wiring. Even the prettier Whirlpool had a pigtail cord.The Electrolux had a better,easier bag system and gear belt.Tool Storage-This was even better,again,from the WP and had a specific,marked location for the 4 tools.The front half of the lid was also used as the tool holder for the Sears(by Whirlpool)central vac and hung an a rack under the hose and behind the wands.