A Real Rarity: Rosie moves house...

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vintagehoover

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Aug 30, 2006
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My latest purchase, and one of the rarest machines in my collection: a Feb. 1960 Hoover Deluxe 652 in all-original condition. Named 'Rosie' by former owner Clark, they reluctantly parted ways via eBay this week. He can rest assured she'll be a well cared-for member of my Hoover Resthome (large expanses of carpet...dust-bunnies to chase...)

Although she was in great condition to begin with, she's been given a full clean and polish from the chassis up, and runs like new! I'm so happy to finally have a 652 with the original vinyl bag intact; being so scarce in Britain, I never dreamed I'd have one in my collection!

Here's some pics of the new family member:

5-12-2007-11-15-54--vintagehoover.jpg
 
Wow!

That is beautiful. Congratulations. The 65 over here is one of my favorites, but hard to find in good condition. Either the bag or cord is replaced, or the hood is warped. Obviously well taken care of.

Fred
 
Beautiful!

I gave one of these to John Lucia many moons ago, during the first "Great American Garage Cleanup." He was amazed to see it because it too was all original and the motor hood was not warped as he said it usually is. Appartently a design flaw -- heat from the light bulb causes the plastic to heat up and become misshapen.
 
WOW!

Hey Jack!

She looks absolutly stunning :).

It always strikes me as a pity we didnt get the Pink handle - that would have really finished it off!.

Seamus
 
Lovely!

The original 65/652 was one of the prettiest, with all the nice little details that were lost on the later versions. The first picture you posted is now my desktop wallpaper, I liked it so much! I have a spare early type hose for it somewhere too, if you don't have it.

The hoods on European machines seem to survive better than their North American cousins thanks to the one-speed motor, which runs less hot than the two speed USA version, particluarly if the tools are used a lot. I have seen Euro machines with hoods that sag a bit at the front near the bulb, but I've never seen one with a hood that's gone as misshapen as some 65 pictures I've seen. Still, I have a couple of spare hoods, and I'm tempted to 'Hot rod' mine with a later motor and switch unit!
 
Si - Glad you like the picture! It's a pity the floor isn't more photogenic; the carpet's been removed while I'm redecorating. Then I'm having laminate put down, which should look a lot nicer! The walls are freshly painted, though, which should provide a nice back-drop!

As for the hose - I don't have any tools for any of my Seniors. I had a boxed set of U4014 tools a few years back, which got thrown in a skip :( I bought what I thought was a geniune set of assorted Hoover tools, including a Senior hose, on eBay last year. When they arrived, not only were they all pattern parts, but the hose had an 8-inch hole along the side! £20 down the drain! So if you have one going spare, it would be very welcome! Let me know all the details via email, if you want, if you still have my email address?

I've been doing a little bit of work 'under the skin' of the 652 this evening. The blades of the internal cooling fan were quite bent out of alignment, so I've corrected that - it runs more quietly now they're correctly balanced. I wonder what causes this to happen - heat from the motor? Since nothing should actually be coming into contact with them except air...the carbons could do with replacing soon, too...still, not much wrong for 47 years of use!
 
What a beauty!

Congratulations - hopefully, someone will cough up some tools for you. The 65/652 had a distinctive sound that can't be described. I always like here it switch on.
 
LOOK AFTER MY LADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D

Jack,

I thought she looked good whilst I had her in my collection, but WOW OH WOW!!!!! You have a magic hand when it comes to restorations. It would seem that she now smiles even more widely than ever before.

I know that she is going to be VERY VERY happy with her new home and that she will be treated with the greatest of respect.

Happy hoovering, and once again, it is amazing to see her looking sooooooooo damn good!!!!!
 
Thanks Clark, glad you approve! Not a huge amount of work to do on her, really:

- Paint scuffs removed from chassis, handle and hood with white spirit
- Hood and chassis polished
- Flex cleaned
- Furniture guard cleaned
- Aluminium trim polished with metal polish
- Motor cooling fan blades re-aligned
- Threads removed from agitator and belt-spindle

Only took about an hour in total, but made all the difference. I've just added a new page to my website, btw, featuring models 612, 638 and 652. I haven't had time to do the writing for all of them yet though. The link's below if you want to take a look!

http://www.freewebs.com/vintagehoover/thehenrydreyfussera.htm
 

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