Another "basket case" finds the home!

[danielsand]

I promise this will be the last one! (says the confirmed addict!).

As some of you remember, so far I have restored several Kirbys (515, Omega, Heritage 2, and G4).

G4 is getting ready for the "photo op", and the pic will be posted probably tomorrow (waiting for delivery of the headlight lens, everything else is done).

So yesterday,.......a "friend of a friend" calls, with the usual "I've heard you are restoring old Kirbys". Turns out, he has the Ultimate G Diamond, left over from his long gone mother, that he was using in the garage (DIRTY!). It needs few things, but "runs good". Sure,....I'll take it, and give it a "new life".

The thing IS dirty! The wooden brush is BLACK (it was a natural wood color originally), scratches, grime, dirt, ripped outer bag, broken power cord, ripped nozzle bumper, missing few hubcaps.......but it does sound good, and all controls operate as they should. It will need a "face lift", and few parts, but it's worth the effort.

If any of you have a serviceable "diamond" outer bag, I'm on the market for one. The rest is easy. A LOT of cleaning, sanding, and TLC, and the thing will be like new again.

That's FIVE Kirbys in a scope of six weeks, and I NEED to stop!

 

[danielsand]

Never mind about the Diamond bag. Just got everything I need from Kent ("kirbyfans"), for $69.- ....not bad. A week of entertainment in restoring this thing.

 

[vacuumfreak95]

I understand!!!

After just restoring the Ultimate G I totally want to do another. I'm constantly watching for another Kirby to cross paths with.

 

[danielsand]

I posted in another thread that I will restore more Kirbys, as they become available to me, and give them to friends as presents. I am seriously reconsidering that decision.

It's not that I am addicted to having dozens of Kirbys in my house. I am addicted to restoring them, and seeing what can I do with what I was given, and seeing "before" and "after", right in front of my eyes. Once I put this much work in one, I look at it, and I can not bring myself to part with it, especially knowing that whoever I give it to, it will end up with scratches, water stains, oxidation, etc, all over again! Basically,....I feel sorry for the stupid thing, that I saved from the certain demise in the local landfill.

Nobody,.....and I mean NOBODY will take care of ANYTHING, unless they put some serious elbow grease into it (work for it). The perfect example is my own daughter, that gets ANY car she wants, whenever she wants, and she doesn't have to work for it. I fork the money, I do the maintenance, and the thing is FILTHY inside (according to MY standards). No appreciation for anything, unless you work HARD for it. "Easy come, easy go".

I think I'll stay away from Kirbys for a while, and if another one is offered to me, I might decline (or I'll feel sorry for the neglected thing, and take it anyway!). It's a curse, for sure.

 

[ronni]

Another consideration for you would be to advertise your services and get paid for your Kirby hobby.

I agree that not everyone takes care of their belongings but nonetheless you would get opportunities to work on many different models and extend their usefulness.

Yes, like any hobby, gathering (in your case) or collecting (on a larger scale) grows more interesting with time and accomplishment.

By the way, if you don't have manuals for your cleaners I'm thinking that Kirby may supply you with complimentary electronic copies of them like other companies do.

 

[danielsand]

Thank you for your reply. I have the original manual with Omega, and electronic downloads for the rest. What really surprised me, is reading the Ultimate Diamond manual, and looking for explanation on operating the "dual speed switch" (or "delicate"). I knew what it does, but not how it needs to behave (lights up green, when it's in the delicate mode). And to find out this, I had to search the web. Nothing about this in the manual.

About your idea of restoring these for the clientele......

I don't think that the average user out there cares how these machines look (judging by the condition of the ones that I ran into), as long as they work. Once they stop working, people send them to Kirby (and they came back polished), ditch them, or have them repaired by the "indy" shop. I doubt that the average user is sending the machine to Kirby, just for polish (this is just a welcome addition to the service/repair). IF there are people out there as anal as me, they might bring it to me for polishing/detailing, but I've been in that business for ten years (with cars), and I don't want to deal with public on that level EVER again.

Of course I could hire some workers to buff/polish/detail, but then we go again,.....EDD, OSHA, EPA, Workman's Comp, Insurance, City, Tax Franchise Board,....on the top of the complaints, damages,......I am glad to be out of all that.

 

[ronni]

You're welcome.

Glad to know you have all your manuals. It is weird that the Ultimate G manual didn't include the dual speed switch information. Maybe the feature was added later.

Regarding the idea of running a little business it was just a thought. I was thinking that you would focus on repairs with polishing being a request for those who appreciate that. I've known others who do such repairs as extensions of their hobbies and for some extra cash. I just like the idea of fixing rather than throwing. I haven't run a business so the "alphabet soup" never crossed my mind. I can imagine that would be tough to "digest".

Anyway, I congratulate you on your new-found hobby and agree with what you mentioned in another thread that Kirbys are fine machines even though they and their sellers and selling procedures have some detractors (like any brand). Besides their deep-cleaning ability they are very versatile. I also like how The Kirby Company shows pride in its heritage by displaying product history information on its website and offering the refurbishing program.