Not Terribly Rare, But -
- One hell of a vacuum! Well worth putting back into shape, trust me. Hoses and filtering parts are all over eBay, and almost anything else needed can still be had from TriStar.
To begin putting it back in shape, I recommend a new cloth bag, a new motor filter, and a new paper bag, all of which are readily available on eBay. Compact, and now TriStar, say that the use of a paper bag is optional, but it makes a huge difference in filtration. I personally feel it makes a huge difference in how much dirt winds up in the motor! Oh, if it has an afterfilter, you'll need to replace that, too.
After a good cleaning inside and out, and installation of new filters and bags, you should have a pretty damn good straight-suction machine, unless it needs motor work. Compacts will suck the chrome off a trailer hitch, and they'll take an amazing amount of abuse. My mom (known in the family as The Appliance Killer) bought one new, and even
she took thirty years of no maintenance and outright abuse to kill it.
If it does not have tools, universal ones will fit. Vintage Compact tools do turn up on eBay, though, and they are of amazing quality, especially the floor tool and the rug tool, which are of cast aluminium. TriStar still has all the replacement brush strips available. If you need anything from TriStar, I recommend going through TriStar Canada (
www.tristarvacuumscanada.com) - much friendlier, faster, and customer-service oriented than the American company.
Congrats on a neat find, and welcome to the ranks of Compact/Tristar owners!
