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

[guido]

National Geographic crew came last summer to give a look to my vacuum-cleaner collection here in Italy and - after many delays - the program is now airing worldwide on NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL ( and other channels from the SKY - FOX group ).
They were very nice guys and kind and hopefully the program should be something interesting for collectors like us, even if they probably will present it as a "curious" passion. Some collectors did not appreciate the attention and declined the oportunity of displaying their collection. I did not, cause I am proud of it and enjoy every minute of my many different hobbies. Ignorant people who get nervous or aggressive for things they don't know or understand do exist and always will, so...who cares ?
Some other collectors from this site will also feature in this television-special, as far as i know.
By now,it has aired for sure in Brasil, Belgium and Uk but have not seen it yet cause it's arriving in Italy only in late march.
Anyway, I have been told the following article has been published on the DAILYMAIL site :
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/a...ld-men-obsessed-vacuum-cleaners-revealed.html


Hope you enjoy and leave comments. Cheers from Italy ! GUIDO



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/a...ld-men-obsessed-vacuum-cleaners-revealed.html

 

[beko1987]

I'll go through the sky EPG in a mo and find it!

Oh, and you really should move to a bigger place Guido!

Oh, and please don't take the daily fail too seriously. I'm very surprised they didn't link collecting Vacs to cancer or global warming tbh

 

[stricklybojack]

Well said Guido...

Do you have any Italian made vacuums you could show us?

 

[beko1987]

Well,Scott is winning round 1 here! (1st ad break)

Insanely jealous, and having a good game of spottage!

 

[guido]

yes STRICKLYBOJACK

Yes, I do have some italian made cleaners and floor polishers, such as REM ( Rossetti Enrico Milano ) or LESA and other brands. I'm posting some nice pics right now !

 

[guido]

MADE IN ITALY

Here is a TORNADO stick vacuum ( left ) with a VORWERK FB30 floor polisher, both made in Italy in the late 50's

 

[guido]

MADE IN ITALY

This is a nice and rare General Electric produced in MILANO in 1952 by the GE italian division CGE ( Compagnia Generale di Elettricità Milano ) :

 

[guido]

MADE IN ITALY

The smallest of them all ! A hand vacuum by LESA - called SPALESINA - in its 2 versions : the blue one had a special attachment for car use ( lighter-plug and 12 volts motor, today extremely rare with this colour scheme ) while the white one was for regular home use at 220 volts. Both very noisy but powerful. The streamlined design is an italian icon of industrial design of the 1950's and almost every family use to have one !

 

[guido]

MADE IN ITALY

The SUPER REM cleaner in its deluxe edition ( the exterior is covered with celluloid foil imitating wood finish ). Middle 1950's

 

[guido]

MADE IN ITALY

and here is its smaller brother called REMINO :

 

[guido]

MADE IN ITALY

Despite the name, this cleaner was also made in italy. The handle is empty plastic and is used for bringing the dust to the top of the bag ! Very light and powerful !

 

[guido]

MADE IN ITALY

This is my very favourite - and hard to find - italian machine : the LESALU'/1 floor polisher made by LESA in 1959 :

 

[guido]

MADE IN ITALY

and some other REM polishers from the 1950's : these are really "beasts" !

 

[stricklybojack]

Nice!

Love that Lincoln, thanks for posting the pics.

 

[beko1987]

Fascinating!

 

[guido]

MADE IN ITALY

This is a fascinating oddity from the 80's - also an italian icon, with its serious and "military" look - which had a giant success in its days ! It was produced by defunct ALFATEC firm, which closed its doors in the first 90's, few months after the founders sudden death. This was a great cleaner . I still don't have one, so the image is from a design magazine :

 

[guido]

MADE IN ITALY

It was as simple as powerful and could vacuum dirt and water, also together. Here is another image :

 

[guido]

MADE IN ITALY

and here is a SAN GIORGIO vacuum cleaner from 1955. I have it in red, but missing most attachments. Curiously enogh, the wheels were made by GIORDANI, the greatest italian manufacturer of baby-buggies at the time ( probably still today ), the writing is quite clear on the white rubber of the wheels !

 

[jaker15]

A Lesa Klenette

Here's one of those little Lesa's..... this must be the American version? (see link)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VTG-LESA-KL...368?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5ae1b61d98

 

[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