An Unusual Convertable/DAM

VacuumLand – Vintage & Modern Vacuum Enthusiasts

Help Support VacuumLand:

Updated design

All European DAMs (with the exception of powerdrives) were made in France. The updated design emerged here on the mid 1970s moving the "classic" switch and flex entry from the handle to the main body of the cleaner. This strikes me as a useful cost saving measure. The brushroll height control was updated too

vacbear58++6-14-2012-17-01-41.jpg
 
two speed

the mid/late 1970s design was in a White/Bright yellow colour scheme. This model is two speed which seems like overkill considering that it still retained the three way suction control for both brushroll and tools. I cannot swear to it but I think the yellow version has a single speed rocker switch

vacbear58++6-14-2012-17-07-36.jpg
 
Brushroll

The brushroll seems to have been updated to resemble more that of the Turbopower and Turbomaster so that the beater side is fragmented. You cannot replace the brushroll strips either. What is unusual about this is the the whole DAM series seems to have been replaced here by the Concept 1 (we did not have the Concept II) in around 1980 or so. We know that there was a special a burgandy coloured DAM sold here in 1989, but this is the first sighting of this version I have seen, so I can only presume it was a special as well. The model number is U5074 and the serial number 70402423

Al

vacbear58++6-14-2012-17-10-57.jpg
 
Morning Al,

Can only have been of exclusive stock as none of the brochures inform of it, daresay it would of been advertised on an A4 single sheet flyer than any pamphlet that most other ranges were shown in.

That Brushroll is giving me a headache - I cannot for the life of me think what other machine I have seen it in. Certainly not a Hoover. I dont doubt that Hoover couldnt of outsourced such a thing so late in the Convertibles production run and it may very well be genuine but I am wondering what the Brushroll is like in Mikes Burgundy machine (I never thought to look assuming it was a metal beater roll like th rest) and if that is the same.

I want to think Panasonic or Later Electroluxes - (widetrack era) Its certainly been outsourced by Hoover or retro fitted im sure. Now to think which machine I have seen it in.
 
Brushroll

Rob

I was talking to Mike about it last night and he seemed to think his was the same. Although as I say we lost the the DAM here around the turn of the 1980s it is possible that it carried on in other areas for longer - from memory TommyMilan has posted pictures which show a far wider range of DAMs than we ever had here.

I wonder will we ever be able to track down all the varities and flavours of Hoover cleaner we had here in Europe - I doubt it somehow.

I dont know a great deal about the widetrack Luxes but would they not be rather later. You might, however, be onto something with the Panasonic for did Hoover not sell the DAM design to Panasonic when they brought out the Concept 1?

Al
 
Hello all,
yes it is a Convertible from the mid-late eighties, I have a german brochure that shows it. the ones I have in my collection have various colours and the last from 1986-1989 was here in two tones of grey. Maybe I can find the post where I shared the pictures of them!
 
Looks to me like they were made for Hoover by Panasonic as an exclusive line.

Almost like the Hovver TP2 that was labelled Blomberg Dirt ~Devil etc.

As for the brushroll I suspect it would have something to do with #Hoovers Patents and thus Panasonic had to fit their own design which beggars belief seeing whom it was made for.
 
Tommy while I too am interested in the life and times of the Convertible, I am also intrigued that your leaflet shows the U1012 junior on sale next to the U1036 and also the U4058 Senior which was something of a once in a lifetime style here in the UK.
 
NOT AT ALL!
As the hoover factory in France closed in the late Eighties, replacement parts for model built there became very hard to find, and those plastic brushrolls (taht did't clean very well and used to wear quickly) are almost impossible to find. Maybe in the USA you could find a used genuine DAM metal brushroll and it will fit perfectly. Some hoover repair centers in Italy used to fit a "SENIOR" brushroll, by modifying it and replacing its side bearings, one of my dams had this treatment and it works nicely!
tommy
 
Thanks to Tommy

For tracking down those old threads for me it makes interesting reading. And such a great collection of cleaners you have - I hope they did not come to too much damage from the rain getting in.

It never ceases to amaze me just what variety of different models and variations Hoover had in different countries, although Electrolux in Europe is pretty much the same in that respect.

I used to be amazed and the quantity and overlap of Hoover cleaners in the UK, but it seems even more so in Italy for not only had you Compact and Sensotronic but the full range of Freedoms too, we only had the Freedom 1000 at that time (actually up to 1986).

Benny,
It is no surprise to see the 1012 along with the 1036 although personally I would have thought that the 1036 would have been replaced by the 1104 by this time and apparently no hard bag version of either cleaner. The 1012 carried on here in the home shopping catalogues long after it was dropped from the "official" UK line and indeed there was even a hardbag version of it too!

And the "Ranger" 4058 cleaner, never called a Ranger here but sold, I believe, as a Co-Op exclusive. And what a variety of tool sets there must have been for all those models too.

Rob
To be honest it did not occur to me that this brushroll might be a replacement although I will say for a plastic brushroll it does not show much sign of wear, and of couse what Tommy says makes sense about replacements - perhaps it is teh case that an authentic or "pattern" brushroll for a Panasonic model fits a DAM too

Al
 
DAM those Convertibles..

Lovely find there Al, and the 3 way switch, never seen those before and didnt notice it on Tommys previous literature until just looked again...

The bruchroll reminds me of the Hoover Turbo Activator, I quite like it, brings an updated modern feel to it!!

Heres a pic of the styles here, but cant find a pic of the activator brushroll

chestermikeuk++6-15-2012-05-12-14.jpg
 
That is really nice!  I had a circa 1968 DAM but gave it away when I moved last year.  I wish I'd kept it because I think Hoover's DAM is the first clean air upright to ever be made.  When i first got it, it stunk to high heaven, so I took it apart and removed all the insulating foam everywhere it was found.  I then washed it thoroughly.  I just about lost my sanity too!  That was the hardest DAM vacuum cleaner I've ever seen to take apart and reassemble. 
 
Vacbear thank you so very much for telling me the U4058 was an exclusive machine as I did not know this. All I knew was there was nothing else like it that I ever did see, not even in an other colour. Maybe if it was made for the overseas market it was highly convenient for Hoover to place it on sale over here as an exclusive line. I can't see what makes it any different from the ranger on sale at that time in all the shops, except for the plastic chassis, which I would assume gave the cleaner a lesser price ticket. Then I sit here and wonder if it was a bottom fill cleaner, because if it was this would be a potential disadvantage over the ranger. But I suppose if it were a good deal cheaper to buy it may not matter to a consumer.

The U1012 was a remarkably strange beast as it hung around like a bad smell. I think a good five years after the U1036 was put into production before the U1012 ended, as as you quite rightly point out, the U1104 version was on sale by then in the UK. At that moment in time I do remember that cleaners with a side mounted dustbag were looking rather dated as most softbag cleaners now had the bag on the bag or the front. Because of this, I found it strange that Hoover were making so many models of Junior cleaner, in both U1012 and U1036 / U1104 styles. This was in addition to selling their own reconditioned Juniors which looked even older again!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top