Another Hoover Portable!

[justjunque]

Hey, all.
I got a very unexpected surprise today. That's kind of a silly thing to say. Aren't ALL surprises unexpected?
Anyway, I stopped by the in-laws', and sitting in the driveway was their orange and brown Hoover Portable, which I thought they threw away years ago!
They stumbled across it somewhere, in the garage or basement. And, knowing that I'm into vacuums, they decided to give it to me!
The first thing one notices is that it's filthy. And, the first job I was going to do was to remove the old bag, which I expected to be full. To my surprise, I opened it up to find that there was no bag! And, it had been used that way. The bag compartment is full of sand and crap, from the vacuum's last job as the car vacuum. It does still have the pre-motor filter in it, so I'm hoping that kept most of the junk out of the motor.
While my first turquoisey Portable is a model 2210, this one is a 2201. Maybe one of our resident Hoover experts can tell me how that breaks down. They appear identical to me, aside from the colors.
They even both have cord winders.
This one has had a rough life, it seems. But, I'm hoping it still runs well. It's going to take a TON of cleaning, that's for sure! At least it's all there, and they didn't throw it away, like I feared.
The lid fits a little wonky, and doesn't feel "right" when you open it. I don't see anything broken on my initial inspection.
Enjoy one pre-cleaning picture.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

Wow, beautiful machine.

Love it.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

They are basically the same.

As far as color, it might be " pumpkin"   Tom will know..   I'll have ask him.   Tom anderson that is.    It should match  handicap, polisher, and floor a magic. Ita terrible when they remove the bag.  But, of course, it works!

 

[justjunque]

It's funny. The first vacuum I remember my family having was a Portable. But, the lid was that gold color. I always hoped to someday own one like it. Well, I now have two Portables, but neither is that color!
That's okay. I like both of the colors I have. It would just be neat to have one just like Mom had.
Ironically, Mom's didn't have the cord winder either, and both of mine do.
Pumpkin would be a good way to describe this color. And, orange and brown are the colors of the high school in our town! Maybe that's why the in-laws bought this one, way back when.
Man...that textured surface on the lid sure makes it a bugger to try to clean!

 

[gottahaveahoove]

There's a reason it is textured.

Know why?   Guess?

 

[justjunque]

Is the texturing supposed to help keep it from getting dirty?
Or, so scratches don't show?

 

[paul]

Congratulations, Barry! Looking forward to seeing your model 2201 all spiffy. I found newspaper ads for it from 1968 to 1971 along with some black and white magazine ads from 1966 to 1967 that lacked model ids. Also, Tom (hoover1060) posted a 1968 Hoover Diamond Jubilee magazine ad for it in thread 974; the thread also has photos of the France model 2209. Its colors seem to be pumpkin and seal griege—according to that thread and some Hoover contemporaneous model references in other VL posts including: the identical model 2209, the Constellation model 858, Dial-A-Matic model 1120, Floor-A-Matic model 3600 (separator cover), and Shampoo-Polisher model 5479.

The Model 2210's colors were likely named tropical island green and pearl white, like the Convertible Special model 36. Advertisements I found in the online newspaper database went from 1968 to 1970.

Although the specs in the ads I located were general, some features that may have been different between the 2201 and 2210 besides the color scheme may have been the motor amps and/or design (eg. triple-fan), rear wheel size, and cord length; which the casing color may have signified. The main distinction of the '60s Portables was that the Deluxe versions contained cord reels. Another thought, is that dyes may have been used simply to deplete reserves from other model productions. Customer option, retail company request; or Hoover execs' color preference may also have come in to play if the amps, wheels, and cord lengths of your Portable models turn out to be identical. Incidentally, the harvest gold & seal griege Portable model 2110 was also advertised in 1968 (I didn't check the range of years). Unfortunately, model numbers are only listed in some ads, so it may be that both the 2201 and 2210 debuted earlier than 1968 and were sold past the ad years I located. I did find the exclusive Smith-Crown Co. model 2208 ad in 1967, so that's yet another reason more than one Portable model/color was sold concurrently.

Photos:

1. 1968 Feb 21 LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD - Model 2201
2. 1968 Aug 1 VICTORIA ADVOCATE - Model 2210
3. 1968 Oct 28 PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE - Models 704 & 2210
4. 1969 Feb 13 PITTSBURGH PRESS - Models 1010 & 2210
5. 1971 Jun 12 DAYTONA BEACH MORNING JOURNAL - Models 1140, 1151, 2011, 2201, 5140

 

[justjunque]

Thank you, Paul!
Your ability to dig up information always amazes me.
Right off the bat, the rear wheels on both of mine appear to be the same.
It's a little difficult to read, especially on the dark brown of the 2201, but I believe the power ratings are the same on both.
I'll attach a picture of the inside of my 2210. It always struck me as odd that the panel in front of the cord winder is orange. I figured it had been replaced at some point. But, it may have been John who told me it may very well have come from the factory like that. If Hoover had some extra orange parts laying around, they would put them to use.
Also kind of strange, that panel in general is not present on my 2201. It doesn't really look like it's missing. It just looks like it was never there.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

It is textured

To hide the inside support from showing.

 

[paul]

You're welcome, Barry! Thanks for the compliment and photos!

Well, maybe if/when you get inside the motor housings you'll see some internal differences.

The absence of the panel in the 2201 may have been a cost-cutting measure or an attempt to decrease the weight. I agree that it doesn't seem to be missing.

The pumpkin panel of your 2210 is a mystery, but it may well be that your cleaner was made at the tail end of the run, and the tropical panels had run out; or maybe it was a case of a line worker that wanted to break up the monotony of her/his job, or who wanted to express her/his creativity, or who was too lazy to replenish the supply of the matching color panels on a Friday afternoon, or whose gf/bf worked on the pumpkin line, and after stealing a kiss with her/him on company time hurriedly retrieved the wrong panel so as to avoid being caught by the foreman (in the days prior to cameras), or who was a '60s rebel breaking with conformity, or who was colorblind; or was it a rival who switched a bunch of the panels out after said worker left for the day in order to get her/him in trouble, or was it a service tech who just didn't give a rip about color matching, or was it that the factory painter of the tropical panels line went home early and no relief worker could be found ... the possibilities are endless! Hahaha!!!!

Ok, I've had my fun! So another thought that came to mind is whether you've asked your in-laws if they still have the 2201's instructions booklet. Those were typically stamped on the back cover with the one-digit month/two-digit year of printing. Or the date of purchase may have been recorded in it.

P.S. Fyi, Another pumpkin (or similar) color Hoover appliance is the Penncrest model A109 (aka model 3500) floor polisher. I like having twin cleaners of the same color if I can—whether a vacuum cleaner and a shampooer or polisher; or a pair of different vacuum cleaners: upright, tank, canister, stick, compact, hand held; household, household-industrial, commercial, heavy-duty; different nozzle widths; or an upgraded model and its predecessor. So, if you do, too, then you have another possibility.

Happy Hoovering!

 

[paul]

After thought ...

I would have thought that the 2210's tools would be pearl white like the hose and base. The dark seal griege ones may further indicate the end of the model's production run.

 

[justjunque]

Paul,

Thanks for the laugh! The possibilities are nearly endless!
I just came in from clearing snow. The older I get, the more I dislike everything about winter.
So, I needed a chuckle.

I was surprised by the dark colored tools on that one too.
I know nothing about the history of that one. That was a thrift store find from some years ago. It's also crossed my mind that maybe the previous owner had more than one of them, and kind of swapped out some bits and pieces.
And then, I suppose it's always possible that the factory just had more brown tools to use up.
The in-laws are doing some weeding out, and they said they're going to keep their eyes open for any vacuum tools or anything. I'll have to mention manuals too. I don't know that they're the type to keep them though. They're definitely not the type to read them. So, who knows. The manuals may have gotten pitched when the machine was brand new.

 

[justjunque]

Also, John...
Thank you for the information about the textured lid!
I was starting to worry that you were going to leave us with a cliff-hanger!
I don't remember if I ever asked you. Is my 2210 the same as the one in your avatar? If so, I'd be curious to know if the on-board tools on yours match the light color of the hose.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

Avatr?

I'll gladly look at my tools for you.

 

[justjunque]

LOL.
Avatar? Profile? The little picture that accompanies your posts.
Thanks. That would be nice. I'm guessing they're probably the light color. On most, if not all Portables that I've seen, the tools match the color of the hose and hose compartment.
Maybe mine is a FrankenHoover.

 

[paul]

Glad you had a good laugh, Barry!

Wouldn't it be great if your in-laws just tossed the carton into the attic, basement, or garage rafters—with the booklet inside. You never know. I hope so.

I was on a roll in looking online for the Hoover blue and orange cleaners (whatever their names of your Portable models), so here you go (or anyone else that's interested). I'm sure there are other models in similar colors, but I tried to stick to the mid-'60s to early-'70s contemporaneous machines to your models.


Color Matches/Near Matches of your Model 2210:

Dial-A-Matic Model 1140 Marine Blue

Constellation Model 454 Nassau Blue

Convertible Model 1070 Marine Blue

Convertible Special Model 36 Tropic Island Green

Shampoo-Polisher Model 5460 Nassau Blue ?

Slimline Model 2010

At one time I had the Dial-A-Matic, Constellation, & Convertible Special and was hoping to get the Portable and/or Slimline, Shampoo-Polisher and maybe a Handivac if there was one in a similar color from that era; but I ended up getting rid of them.

____________

Orange/Brown or White additions to list in reply #6:

Sweep-All carpet sweeper Model 8300 sunset orange/white

Deluxe 2-speed Handivac Model 2951

Btw, check out thread 5023 for some pumpkin/brown photos.

 

[justjunque]

Just got back around to taking a closer look at the lid, and it's not good.
The plastic is broken on both sides of the lid, where the screws go in to attach the metal hinges; for lack of a better term.
I'm not going to get into trying to repair plastic, so that's something I'm just going to have to live with. I'll just open the lid very gently.
Unless someone has an orange lid they're willing to sell!

 

[paul]

Pictures could spur some ideas.

 

[justjunque]

The best I could do with a picture.
You can see where the mounting point is broken where the lower screw goes.
It's the same on the other side.