Constellations

[real1shep]

I have two pumpkin colored Connies. One was hardly used and pulled a good 58" of water or so. The other one had a rougher life, although the paint is fine...pulled like 45" of water. Someday I'll go through that motor. My house is mostly hardwood except for a kid's rug for my grandson. I enjoy runnin' the Connie...even figured out how I can maneuver the exhaust to keep the dust bunnies ahead of me. Does a decent job on the floors...that is until I get out a G, a 1205, a Super J, or a Diamond J etc. Then I realize I'm just kidding myself with the Hoover...lol....especially with the kid's rug.


 


Rinky dink floor attachments too...I mean they work but compared to the Lux quality, not so much. Still having fun with the Connie though.....not enough to continue collecting them. Those round Teflon/rubber type seals they use in the wand sections....I can't find any of those to save my life! Must be a substitute I haven't heard about?


 


Kevin

 

[electrolux137]

~
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I've always liked the Constellations for their dramatic, atomic-age styling, along with a lot of personal nostalgia. I remember going to a department store in Virginia in the early 1960s when I was a little boy, where right next to the escalator was the vacuum cleaner department. However, you could see it all over the store: A beach ball was affixed to the ceiling by a length of fishing line, suspended over a hose connected to the blower of a Constellation. The exhaust caused the beach ball to bob and jiggle up and down -- an ingenious attention getter! My mom would leave me in the vacuum cleaner department while she shopped, knowing I wouldn't stray from Sweeper Land!


 


The two I like best are the 454 for its turquoise color and the 843 for its tilted design that really made it look like it was about to rocket off into space!

 

[real1shep]

Cool story about the display with the beach ball! The little guys are endearing, I'll give 'em that. But with almost 30yrs of manufacturing...what the heck happened to all the spare parts?? You'd think those tube seals would be all over the place. And the floor attachments were shared with other Hoover lines as well. So I would think parts would be plentiful.....


 


Total Jetsons look for sure. You can't have lived through the 'Atomic Age' and not look at these with just a wee bit of nostalgia. I'm stopping though with the two...unless I blunder onto one in real life for dirt cheap, in like a turquoise....


 


Kevin

 

[paul]

Real1shep,

I agree with your assessment of the Connie. I have the Tropic Island Green Model 454 and was also disappointed with its suction. For light cleaning--especially on low pile carpeting it probably would be just fine, but for thicker carpeting, shag, or higher amounts of contaminants it could easily be "beat" by Electrolux, Kirby, or other cleaners.

I wonder if its successor, the Celebrity, gave a more effective performance?

 

[real1shep]

The Celeb shared a lot of the same floor attachments. I think I have a floor head bought from a Celeb part out.


 


I like the way that sounds "Tropic Island Green"!


 


I almost bought Hoover's recent reissue of the Connie. Supposed to have great suction(don't know about flow). The hose and floor attachments looked even cheaper than the originals. But the unit sure looked up to the task. Some didn't like the way the new one 'followed' you around the room. I might pick up one of those yet if the price is decent. It was never clear to me if the reissue could use the same hose as the original...?  I bid on one on the bay, but every time I asked the seller a question, he either didn't respond or gave some flaky answer. I can't deal with disorder like that when I'm bidding....


 


Kevin

 

[bnsd60m9200]

Kevin, have 5 connies myself (two penncrest) and enjoy them. easy for quick pick ups and great on bare floors. works well on deeper pile carpet with my hoover shake rake attachment. as far as spare parts for ANY vintage hoover, you wont find any new. reason why? one word TTI. when they bought the logo rights , within months ALL parts for old machines were discontinued including the rubber seal you mention inside the wands. best bet for parts is old vacuums shops that hoard parts or estate sales. those are really the only two reliable places to get parts for machines that are approaching 50-60 years old.

 

[vacerator]

Take an old gasket

or other parts to an independent fabricator, or someone with cad design skills can transfer dimensions to a cad system computer. Unigraphics, Catia, Auto desk inventor, or other design system software can do it.
There have to be few small rubber and tooling fabricators around still.
They do it for classic car restorers.

 

[kenkart]

Re Connie Suction

Something must be wrong with yours because I have a bunch of them and they all have excellent suction, my 82 pulls over 80 and so do most of the others, I have about 10 or 15 of them, great cleaners, although the early ones had better rug tools and wands.

 

[real1shep]

With respect, I find that hard to believe they're pulling 80" of water. That would be the equal of my Diamond J or the Super J.....just not seeing that in the cards or the gauge. The one that had very little use and was pulling almost 60"...I went through the bearings, polished the commutator, tested the armature and replaced the brushes...no change on the gauge.


 


Kevin

 

[real1shep]

<a name="start_32645.357832"></a>"Take an old gasket

or other parts to an independent fabricator, or someone with cad design skills can transfer dimensions to a cad system computer. Unigraphics, Catia, Auto desk inventor, or other design system software can do it.
There have to be few small rubber and tooling fabricators around still.
They do it for classic car restorers. "


 


If you're talking about 3D printing, I'm hundreds of miles away from anything like that. The results I've seen for like plastic gears for example are dismal and expensive(I'm told it's getting better). I have no doubt that these could be fabricated by someone in the old-school rubber biz, but where to find them.


 


Kevin

 

[gottahaveahoove]

I love to use

a Connie. I find they have great suction. I think I have every model of Constellation, now.... even the 2 new ones. Yay!

 

[vacerator]

Not 3D

printing. Machining and molding.