A new member with a great story....

[jetaction]

I have been active in the appliance club for some time and decided it is time to join your club as well. (the check is in the mail Terry!) At a recent wash in at Roger's Tuscon, he sent home with me a Hoover Convertible model 68. Very fun vacuum but I have a question. On the bottom of the zipper the teeth are knarled and broken. Can I have a new zipper sewn into the vinyl? I love having the right bag for that vac so if possible I would like to preserve it or find another. Any thoughts? While in Tuscon I was talking with some of the Vac guys and mentioned that I would like to find the 50's GE Swivel Top I remember my Grandmother having. After I returned home to Minneapolis, I found one of Ebay that had been sold two days earlier! Thinking the seller might be a vacuum club member I emailed him to ask if he was and if he knew of another GE for sale. To make a long story short, the original buyer decided not to purchase the vac, and I got to buy it. Even better is that the original buyer had the missing attachments which he sent to the seller who sent them to me! Can you believe this? I am so glad I contacted the seller even after the auction was over. I am so very grateful to the seller, who is none other than club member "Swiveltop". Here is a pic of my new toy, I think it is complete with the exception of the owners manual. I like having those so if anybody has the manual that I could get a copy of I would greatly appreciate it and would glady pay for the reproduction and postage costs. What a great group of collectors you have in your club, I am glad to be a member!

 

[vac-o-matic]

Welcome!

Hi Don and welcome to the club. The people here are a great bunch, and they come with a wealth of knowledge. You will definitely enjoy and benefit from being a member. Your GE is beautiful! I have one also, in fact, that was the canister I grew up with, and our upright was a Kirby 505. I have some of the later swivel-tops, but they do not have the panache of this one. I think this model put GE on the map for vacuum cleaners, three other family members had them as well as a couple of neighbors. Although I'm a lover of Constellations, I always thought GE put out a better canister. Enjoy!

Rick

 

[luxg]

Yay another new member!!

Welcome Don, I am so glad that you have joined us. To everyone out there reading this you should see Don's washer and dryer collection. His sets are really awesome. Hopefully he will post some pictures soon. That GE is one of my favorites. It looks brand new!! I had an aunt that had one but I never got to play with it so when Robert was kind enough to give me one he had found at an estate sale I was so very happy! Don that is a great story too on how you got the machine. Once again, welcome to our club. You are going to really enjoy it. Be sure to mark your calendar for the September convention in Omaha!! Terry

 

[air-waycharlie]

Don,
I've heard good things about you from several AW folks. Glad you are joining us!

If you have a really good tailor, (or you can handle a Singer yourself), a new zipper should be able to be sewn in. You may want to make the vinyl as soft as possible by treating it with some kind of vinyl treatment.

Just make sure whoever does understands how old it is and that it is not really replaceable. I've done it before and I think you will be able to also.

Hope to see you in Omaha and keep checking in with us!

Charlie

 

[chestermikeuk]

GE

Hello Don

Welcome to the club from over here, thats a mighty fine Swiveltop and I do love the colour, remember seeing Terry`s when he got his, the fittings are the same as our Morphy Richards family vac of the 60`s only in grey,

Looking forward to seeing you in September, in Minni and/or Omaha...

Cheers, Mike

 

[charles~richard]

Pink G.E.

Hi Don!

My maternal grandmother had a pink GE, along with a Singer hand-vac that threw out sparks when touched it to the metal radiator on the floor, a Bissell "Grand Rapids" carpet sweeper and I think something else. But the one I remember the most is the G.E. She kept it stored in a corner of her cluttered sewing room with the floor nozzle hooked onto the base somehow so the wand and hose would stand there upright. She would NEVER let me run it, only the Bissell (boring!)

Hers was a little different though -- the swively part on top was pink and not polished aluminum.

I did not know until very recently that this model, along with the Roll Easy, was designed by Freda Diamond!


http://www.137.com/rolleasy

 

[vinvac]

Welcome Don!!!

It is always great to add another name to our wonderful family of vacuum collectors. I too have heard wonderful things about you from some who attended the washin in Tuscon.

I sincerely hope you will join us in Omaha for the Great Bison Roundup. We are inviting folks from the AW site to join us this year as well. It will be a great time for everyone. Good food, good friends, Vacuums and perhaps some Washers.... what more could you ask for.

See you in Omaha!

Morgan

By the way.... GREAT LOOKIN G.E. and the story of how it made it's way to your home is awesome.

 

[scott55405]

Welcome, great to see you here Don! Very nice GE!

 

[eluxomarty]

Beautiful GE

I have one to thanks to Charles Richard , again a model that my Aunt had when i was little. Must have been a very popular model! Welcome to the club!!! Hope to see you in Omaha!

Marty