Another Vintage Hoover for the Emporium!

[vintagehoover]

This eBay transaction must break some sort of speed-record; it was listed early this morning, I bought it at 8.40AM, paid for it at once via paypal, and had it delivered to me by the seller at around 7PM this evening!

It belonged to the mother of the seller's late partner, who had inherited it from her mother. In 1995, she was about to throw it out until he persuaded her to give it to him, in case it was worth anything. Since then, it's sat in his airing cupboard, until this morning - prompted by an imminant house-move, he listed it on eBay, and it's now in my possession.

It's a 1926-29 Model 543, the second in my collection. The other one I have is a factory-reconditioned example with a different badge.
First, a picture of it as it arrived; all I did before I took the photo was turn the motor round, since the switch was on the wrong side!

 

[vintagehoover]

Up and running...

Having been given it's '3 drops of oil', the motor runs very quietly and smoothly, although the agitator, when connected, is very clattery. I will try to remedy this at some point.

 

[vintagehoover]

With a close relation...

Next to it's near-identical sister, the Model 541. At the moment, the 541 looks in rather good condition in comparison! The only technical differences between the two are the fact that the 543 has the Agitator, and the 541 does not. The 543 would also have had the new 'Duventyne' bag, whereas the 541 would have had the silvery-white sateen kind.

 

[vintagehoover]

The underside...

I think this is quite an early example; compared to the other 543 I have, the Agitator is of a different kind, as it the brushguard, the height adjuster is the older kind, like on the 541, and there is no 'Model 543/serial number' plate on the underside.

 

[vintagehoover]

As it as right now:

This shows how the cleaner is now, after the dirt has all been cleaned from the chassis; the paint has flaked off quite a lot...I'm going to repaint it when I find some suitable paint. It's a restoration in progress, so watch this space for further pictures - given the weekend coming up, I should have some time to work a little magic on it!

 

[vintagehoover]

The badge from my other 543:

No 'Hoover Special' over here, just this rather unexciting, slightly-larger replacement badge:

 

[74simon]

Brilliant, Jack!

Fancy it being so local too! When I started collecting, I'd never have imagined that so many elderly Hoovers would have survived - I reckon in five years time they'll outnumber surviving The Ones hehehe. Can't wait to see her after you've worked your magic!

Nice choice of DVD by the way - that's a great film! Coathangers at the ready...

Si

 

[vintagehoover]

Hey Si!

I'm sure the seller was pleased I was local too - he said he'd deliver to anyone within a 50-mile radius if they used the BIN price - could have ended up a 100-mile round-trip for him!

He and his new partner/wife came in to see some of the cleaners...spent the whole time giving me a very suspicious look! I don't know if he just thought I was mad, or if he thought it was some kind of wind-up - he seemed to be expecting a camera-crew to jump out at any moment!

As for the DVD, I assume you're talking about 'Mommie Dearest'? I guess we shouldn't say too much about it, I'm sure we have Joan Crawford fans among us! But yeah, a classic, if not for the reasons it was originally intended! Sadly it hasn't arrived yet; I have several items en route, including the DVD, a US 450 manual, a UK 475 manual (my US 475 manual came today), a batch of 15 vintage Hoover ads, and another item I won't say too much about yet (don't get too excited, it's nothing as good as your 160!) - unless Seamus has already mentioned it to you!

 

[74simon]

Let 'em think you're mad!

Hell, you've probably got the finest collection of pre-war Hoover cleaners in the UK! I know what you mean though, I just tend to tell people I run an online museum, which kinda justifies it. Mind you, I give much less of a damn about what people think now.

It can be funny though, after meeting a workmate's mum once, she mentioned to her that I collected Hoovers. Her mum paused, and then said "You know, for a minute there I thought you said he collected HOOVERS!", before chuckling at her 'mistake'...

Yeah, I love MD, but I like phony Joanie too. I must see more of her stuff, but I do find thirties movies a little hard going. 'Strait Jacket' and 'Johnny Guitar' are ace though.

Seamus hasn't spilled the beans... so keep it secret! I don't wanna jinx it lol. Can't wait to see what it is though.

Si

 

[vintagehoover]

She's great in 'What Ever Happened to Baby Jane' - have you seen that? If not, put it on your 'to do' list!

 

[vintagehoover]

Lol, we've wandered off the topic slightly, haven't we!

 

[seamusuk]

LOL!

Hey Jack

To get back on topic have you had a chance to buy paint today

Seamus

 

[vintagehoover]

No - I've decided to leave it until I get paid for all the work I did last week, since money's now a little tight! A bit of a shame because I wanted to get it all fixed up this weekend, but looks like it'll have to wait until sometime next week...

 

[sfovacman]

Vintage Hoover Emporium is great!

Just visited the Vintage Hoover Emporium and signed the guest book. What a great site.

Jim Kirby
Emporia, KS USA

 

[vintagehoover]

Thank you

So glad you like it!

Here's a video of the 543 with the motor running - both with and without the motor cap:

 

[vintagehoover]

And a second video:

The 925:

 

[vintagehoover]

Oops - 543 video link didn't work!

Here it is:

 

[myhooverco]

Wow great find! The 543 was a well built but flawed machine. The older 541 motor just could not handle the newer beater bar agitator. This was the last of the oil drop motors too. Ah but they sound so smooth and silky. You have great luck finding these machines with such nice bags on them. It is interesting that you did not have the Hoover Specials. Our machines were basically the same thing, just rebuilt. Thanks for sharing it with us. Happy Hoovering.

--Tom

 

[hoover119dude]

hi jack. i miss your vintage hoover emporium website being online. check out my thread for my hoover 700 rebuild. what can i use to polish it to a high shine like yours?? maybe you might even have the spare parts i need to make her great again. gary.