CLASH OF THE COLLECTORS tv show airing now worldwide on NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

[guido]

Oh yes !

Yes, that's it ! And in very good conditions too !
LESA had a distribution in the USA too called "LESA OF AMERICA", based in New York city.
This little marvel was created by MARIO BIANCARDI - a project manager at LESA - in far 1957. A copy of it is displayed in the TRIENNALE DESIGN MUSEUM in MILANO, together with the VESPA, the original FIAT 500 and other italian design icons of the 1950's.
After this funny-looking vacuum-brush, a more square model called "SPALESINA 2" was launched too, as a sort of ugly re-styling.
LESA closed its doors quite suddenly in 1970 - after years of top selling their famous line of portable turntables ( the socalled LESAPHON line ) - due to low sales ( Japanese products arriving from east such as NATIONAL-PANASONIC, SANYO, etc were lighter and cheaper new products, and quickly destroyed the internal market of the time ). Heavy workers strikes did the rest and LESA was closed by the italian government together with other famous brands like MAGNADYNE, GELOSO, PHONOLA, etc.

 

[guido]

here is the SPALESINA 2 VACUUM-BRUSH

here is the SPALESINA 2 VACUUM-BRUSH

 

[stricklybojack]

That San Giorgio...

looks fan-tas-tic! I grew up skateboarding, and there wheels are key, and i have to say vacuum manufacturers have a lot to learn about making wheels for their products...major area of over sight no doubt.

 

[electrolux137]

I have DishTV and do get National Geographic Channel. However, I searched the program listing for the rest of the day today (Wednesday) from around 6:30 p.m. and through the entire following week and didn't find any listings for "Clash of the Collectors at all, incluuding none for today. I wonder if it will air in the U.S. on a different date. I'd sure like to see it.

 

[electrolux137]

I have found the video of the full "Clash of the [Vacuum Cleaner] Collectors" show. As soon as I can get FTP access [something's wonky with my server], I'll upload it and post the link here. It's a really fun show!

 

[guido]

YES

I am quite curious to see what has come out of that show...if you find the link - Charlie - I really hope it will work for me too, as some links are blocked for being viewed in the European area, don't ask me why ! cheers, guido

 

[kenkart]

Thank you!

For posting those great pictures...That Lincoln was sold here as a Regina Brush And Beat!

 

[watsonw]

SPALESINA

Hello Guido,

I recall visiting my physiotherapist as a boy during the mid to late 1960's and one day he produced a cream coloured rounded plastic bodied mini vac which now was obviously of the SPALESINA type.

Do you know which make this could have been? I had never seen one before or since.

Great pictures. Love that particular type of bag thats fitted to your Hoover 700.

Does your 541 run well?

Love the TORNADO cleaners, a friend and fellow collector has one; very well made and good performer. I think that a well designed stick type cleaner is so versatile.

I'm sure that the LINCOLN was marketed under the PHILLIPS brand in the 1970's over here and was in dark orange.

If we ever have a UK vac connvention You and Tommy (Milan) would be very interesting to meet.

Was it you or tommy that won the original and complete Hoover 160; it came from Wales which is about one hours drive from me?


Regards, Walter.

 

[vacbear58]

Lincoln

Is a variation of the Electrolux 152/160/170 (which was a hard bag), these are still on sale, someone posted a link to one just recently

 

[electrolux137]

Okay, I've posted the video. It's a fairly big file, about 150mb, so it may take a couple of minutes to download -- depending on how fast your internet connection is.

I suggest you right-click the link and choose "Save Link" rather than just sit here and wait for it to load. Then you can play it from your computer at your leisure.

This is a privately hosted file, so please don't pass the link around all over the place and send my bandwidth through the ceiling. Thanks!

http://www.boulevardvac.com/misc/clash.mp4

 

[ultimatevacman]

I've just watched the program, and I must say that your collections are impressive. Especially yours, Guido. Nice work guys, keep on collecting!

 

[guido]

Hi WALTER !

Thanks Walter,

the SPALESINA vacuum-brush was produced in ivory-white or blue colour, both with red finishings. But they were quite common in europe in the 1950's and many small appliance factory had their own ( similar ) models such as CGE ( the LIZ brush ), ADLER, ELCHIM, etc . HERE ATTACHED IS ANOTHER FAMOUS VACUUM brush from 1955 produced by Elchim ( wich stood for ELettromeccanica CHIMiniello ) with design by GIUSEPPE DE GOETZEN and won the 1955 COMPASSO D'ORO award for industrial design.

Yes, my HOOVER 541 runs good, even if it sounds little bit "tired" due to the fact that the fan is missing some blades . I will try to find a spare one in the future, Also the bag holder is missing, but I renovated the chassis quite well few years ago.

The TORNADO was found almost MINT IN BOX about 15 years ago but short after it was brought to the basement for about 12 years. All attachments, original stand, cable and original box were lost ( ! really sorry about that ! ) and it even collected rust, shame on me, really.

In case this years convention will take place in UK, I will surely be there ! Hopefully Tommy - wich I meet quite regularly - will also join us ! That would be great !

 

[electrolux137]

The downside to this television program is that, as expected I suppose, there's a slightly mocking tone to the story -- little hints about all the collectors all being single (wink-wink-nudge-nudge), spending all their spare money on - what? - vacuum cleaners?! - having so many machines that their living spaces are overrun with them - their family members (with one VERY RARE exception) complaining about "all the damn vacuums" etc. etc. etc.

I love it when I tell someone I collect vacuum cleaners and their reaction is a blank stare and then a perplexed "--Why?"

Having been teased, mocked, ridiculed and dismissed all my life because I collect vintage vacuum cleaners does make me a bit sensitive to this aspect of my interest in them. Granted, the show does take a kinder approach than television shows have sometimes done in the past, where the hapless collectors are made to look like absolute fools. But still, there's that subtle undercurrent of "These guys really are kooks, aren't they!"

The upside for me, personally, is that the collector with 330 vacuum cleaners doesn't make me feel so had somehow! I only have about 40 or so - granted, that's down significantly from about the approximately 150 of them that I had at one time. But I'd never want to go back to having that many again. It really does become a burden.

The other upshot is the surprising number of people there are who like vintage vacuum cleaners. Most of my life, until 1990 when I met another vacuum cleaner collector for the first time, I thought I was the only nut on the planet who liked old sweepers. But I'm far from alone, as it turns out. The Internet has brought together all sorts of groups of like-minded people, and that does include the kooks who collect vacuum cleaners. We're gonna take over the world!! hahahahahaha

[this post was last edited: 1/30/2014-12:10]

 

[guido]

Thanks CHARLES !

Thanks for posting that !

And thanks for your comments, I totally agree with you. I was fearing they might make it sound like a "disease" or something similar, so - after watching the episode - I started breathing again !
But they were serious enough not to do that, as they had promised. Of course, they underlined the collections as "unusual", time consuming and "space-killers" for our families, but the main intro clearly and cleverly explaines that - all over the world - like it or not - people collect everything ( as you also say on your website, right ? ).

I also enjoyed the quick and funny cut of the episode - which is pleasant - and I suppose the imaginary competition among us collectors was the " blending element " for all three collections, that's all.

Finally, you Charlie are from an earlier generation of vacuum collectors then me...probably the ones that started it all !
Internet, online markets and well done forums like VACUUMLAND made the rest.
I remember seing some Hoover marvels for the first time on your site, many years ago, and saving much precious info about the different models.

Sincerely, I am not sure I would have started an "official" vacuum collection if I hadn't seen your wonderful cleaners first !!!! I probably had stopped much earlier with my few machines.
And also I remember getting sad when you had started giving so many vacuums away ! I couldn't believe you was getting rid of so much beautiful stuff ! ( at the time I was still looking for a pink convertible, i remember ! )
Maybe giving some stuff away really were the seeds that are now spreading around the world, who knows !?

Anyway it did work !

Maybe you didn't know about that but...thank you also for introducing me to this crazy-funny world of cleaners that I am enjoying everyday more !

Cheers from Italy !

 

[gsheen]

Hi Guys

Here are some of my pics from when they filmed me, I have not seen the documentary yet, I tried to download Charlie's link but I only manage to get as far as Scotts Collection before it times out.

As I stated in another thread I am very worried as to how they portrayed me and how they twisted what I was saying, They also were only interested in part of my collection and would not let me Focus on many of the models I like the most.

All of these pics were taken when they filmed me. I have also downscale'd my collection considerably since then too

 

[gsheen]

We had to totally Move our shop around to how they wanted it to look for the perfect shot.

 

[gsheen]

They wanted to focus on the modern part of my collection instead of the older Vintage machines, Funny as These modern ones have mostly been sold off now.

 

[electrolux137]

Gareth, did you try saving the file to your hard drive first? If you do that, there shouldn't be an issue with timeouts since you'll be running it locally and not via the Internet.

 

[gsheen]

Here are some of my Vintage Ones

 

[gsheen]

Hi Charlie

Yes I did but it only save half and times out, I am going to retry at my shop tomorrow morning Its 10.42 pm now, My internet is more powerful there.

Thanks G