Check this out

[DesertTortoise]

Very cool vacuum and something I very much want, but the price!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Panasonic-C...161414189027?pt=US_Vacuum&hash=item2595090fe3

Knock a hundred, hundred and ten off the price and it might be a good buy, maybe with enough alcohol, but not at that price. You can buy brand new Panasonic canister vacs for less.

 

[kenkart]

I gave..

One of those away a few years ago, Got it in a pile of old vacs, it cleaned up like new and performed well, but I personally dont collect the new stuff, about the newest thing I own is a Silverado..

 

[dysonman1]

The dual sweep agitator wasn't all it was supposed to be. It never raised the nap since the brush was always going in a 'forward' direction. There were problems with the bag too. It always seemed to have a hole develop in use, right at the top where the full bag indicator's underside touched the top of the paper bag (which is a single ply, fairly thin bag). Lots of dust leakage, not very good filtration. Nice for the time, but the whole dual sweep power nozzle was loaded with problems. I fixed many of them in my time.

 

[durango159]

They're interesting high suction power machines.

The bags for the unit are Panasonic C-3. My family had the Panasonic JetFlo 240 MC9527. They purchased it Brand New from a dealer for $240-- but that may have been discounted cause my dad may have traded something in with it?? Very similar machine the MC9527 but NOT the DualSweep power nozzle and it had a gas pump handle grip. I was in 6th Grade I believe when my parents got one. At about 4 years old it needed a $50 on/off switch repair. At about 6 years old it smoked up our house and was replaced by a Hoover PowerMax S3603-040 canister.

I don't ever remember the holes in the bag that Tom mentioned. I was always the one that changed the bag and did maintenance on it. I changed the bags at about 3/4 full sometimes they got fuller-- it had 2 heavy shedding dogs to clean up after. The PreMotor filter was white and was supposed to be static charged--claimed in the manual as non-washable due to the static charge. There was an in-accessible post motor black colored filter at the exhaust on back of machine where a hose blower port was located. With machine being used in "RUGS WITH FULL POWER" mode the machine dug power nozzle a little too low on certain carpets and slowed agitation. I was replacing stretch belts about quarterly as the machine wouldn't groom as well. My Dad used to yell at me if he saw me using machine in the plain "RUGS" mode which I thought cleaned better with better agitation than the "RUGS WITH FULL POWER" mode. Power heads are very very quiet!

 

[DesertTortoise]

So do I offer the seller $110 and see what he or she says? Negotiate from there, set an upper limit of, say, $125? Anything more than that back out and wish them a nice day? It's one cool vacuum. Some day I want one, along with a few other select Panasonic machines.

 

[durango159]

These machines are hard to find parts for. I think mine dying out early was a lemon and not the norm for these machines. I have a friend that found one of these -- non-reversible agitator model, refurbed at a local vac shop for about $90 and it works very very well. With condition being as this guy says and you have the funds, I'd push closer to $150 for a maximum. Others feel free to post opinions!! These were VERY powerful machines. Power settings for any cleaning task. 14" power nozzle with dual brush agitator, on/off brush roll foot pedal, long retractable cord, 360 swivel hose. The hose handle is a universal end that will fit many other attachments from Kenmore canisters, Eureka and most central vac tools. If you have an air turbine nozzle around the house or get a Hoover Windtunnel one that would it, this Panasonic would power an air turbine nozzle extremely well I think!!

 

[DesertTortoise]

It's a collectable. It can have a few warts. Comparing warts on old machines is part of the fun of a collection. Same with old cars or motorcycles. You wouldn't expect a 1978 Harley Davidson XLCR-1000 Café Racer to be as refined as a modern sport bike or perform as well, but that does not detract from it's desirability as a collectors bike. It was a waypoint on a path forward to what we have today. Same for an old BMW R90S or R100RS (an old favorite of mine). Slow by todays standards and a little fragile in places if you abuse them but you look at one of these Beemers from the mid/late 1970s and look at other bikes of that era and marvel at it's comparative refinement. In some ways modern bikes have slid backwards from those old BMWs. Modern bikes don't have two huge underseat storage trays, nor do they have tire pumps mounted to the side of the frame, a cable lock tucked into a frame tube under the gas tank (standard equipment!) or a complete tool kid with every tool necessary for routine maintenance including feeler gauges for checking valve clearances and a hook wrench for adjusting the steering head bearings and a tire patch/plug kit. All standard. Now if you are lucky you get a multi-tool thing that does almost nothing, and no place to store tire plugs and a pump.

Same thing for vacuums. I will bet this Panasonic is a nicer vac than their parent Matsushita was building for Kenmore at that time through their American division. Just a guess of course. You can see some shared DNA but the Panasonic was manufactured in Japan for the whole world while Kenmores were manufactured in the US for the US and Canadian markets exclusively. That is the sort of difference that makes them interesting to collect, warts and all.

 

[DesertTortoise]

The seller came down a lot. A whole lot. When all is said and done I'll be in as far with the Lux I bought for $25 at the Starvation Army but needed and still needs parts and work to be perfect as I am into this thing.