Convertibles

[vacu-finder]

Does anyone know the Timeline of the Hoover Convertibles..?
I.E. Model and year of manufacture..? I find a lot of stuff on this site but sometimes the year of manufacure is a little vaque.
I'am interested in Hoover Upright models fromn the 50's and up.
Even the timeline for Concepts, and DAM's.......

Thanks,

 

[vac_whisperer]

I know that the Convertibles were made fom 1957 to the late 80's. Thats all I can tell you.

 

[thevacuumman]

They were made till about 1990 maybe 1991

 

[guardsman69]

the hoover convertible was created in the mind of henry dryfuss as he waited to have his 1956 chevy serviced ....he took the bulkier outdated citation.....now a vacuum of color.... as far as it would go and began sketching ....inspired by the amount of chrome trim on these vehicles their rounder curvier bodies and their pastel color .....examples of this inspiration were the bail metal guard or fork cover and the trim around a new low to the base hood and wrap around lens that ended in 1977 with the red cross convertible red and white u4123-001 which lacked a headlight in lieu of a red pannel with the trade mark 1970s convertible script.....as for the production run....1957 to the last convertible domestic line at sears u4725 and 27 in 1993....the u4515 guardsman also left that year and became the commercial floormax line models c1525,27,29of round handled commercial vacuums as an alternative upscale line to the regular orange commercial convertible uprights c1627 ....the hoover convertible lives on today in our guardsman line and the line of commercials i designed called the professional line....models ch50000 and ch50020 i personally fought for this line with tti vice president and various designers to put back the metal bottom plate and seal and headlight in the decade shaped ch50020 which is now an led light strip and transformer. i am a distributor for that line in my area and they are awesome uprights...one thing i did loose in that line was that i wanted red not black utilitarian hoods....he will be here at the showroom in a few weeks and i will havemy guardsmans here to illustrate the point...u4313 guardsman gets them every time

 

[gottahaveahoove]

there is some truth to it all however...

According to the Engineering Report circa 1951 on file at the Hoover Historical Center, I was able to discover this. First this...you will notice the hard handle grip it was similar to the 28 etc. listed as an experimental design.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

then...

You will note the Handisac feature. Notice the "cap" on the handle grip which is so different from the rubber ones we all know and love. Again, this is an "experimental design" circa 1951 revealing that this design was thought up long before our model 65 became a reality.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

finally...

In this circa 1951 experimental design, you will notice a most unique handle bail which never came to be. There is also no HOOVER medallion in the base. This would be the closest reflection of a Citation model 64. Of course I would never want to start a fight here (never did, never will), but it is curious that this came to my attention just yesterday. I see this discussion in the forum. I hope that these photos give us all a different slant on the age old questions of Convertibles.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

one more thing...

You'll see a prototype for tool conversion from the same Engineering Report circa 1951. You'll notice a most primitive converter that we all know never became a reality. The first converter, as we all know, was separate from the hose but was nothing like in the photo. A spring loaded cover closed around the belt pulley, thus making a tighter seal. Could it be a cost factor or a durability issue that caused this to be scrapped? I just hope these photos help to clear up any unanswered, misconceptions, etc. I am so lucky to have seen these pictures, straight out of the book!

 

[hoovercelebrity]

Thanks for sharing those, John.  I've seen those as well, and have copies of them.  They are very cool.. As fabulous as the design is, I'm glad they waited until 1957 for the Model 65 Convertible, and we got models 29, 62, 63, 634, 64 in the interim.


 


Fred

 

[guardsman69]

JOHN I ONLY MEANT THAT HENRY WAS STYLING THE CONVERTIBLE UNIT AND TWEEKING ITS COLORIZATION AND TRIM..... BACK THEN IT TOOK YEARS TO FINALIZE THE TOOLING OF MASS PRODUCTION FROM PROTOTYPE....ITS AMAZING TO SEE BASED ON THE CITATION HOW RADICAL THE CONVERTIBLE WAS A HEAD OF ITS TIME .... YET HOW FUNDAMENTALLY THE SAME..... FORMER TTI VICE PRESIDENT AND DESIGNER JOHN REMMERS TOLD ME THERE WAS A CRAB CLAW CONVERTER THAT ENCAPSULTED THE CONVERTIBLES AGITATOR CAVITY THAT SLID IN FROM BEHIND BUT ALSO COVERED THE BRUSH CAVITY AND JACKED THE UNIT BACK AS THE ONE WE CAME TO KNOW..HAS TOM SEE THIS OR KNOWS ABOUT IT. SADDLY THE ONE WE KNOW LEFT THE ATTACHMENTS SUCTIONLESS.....PROBABLY TO SELL MORE SLIMLINES AND CONSTELLATIONS......AND PORTABLES

 

[vacman117]

Is the caps lock really that necessary?

Chase

 

[guardsman69]

IT HELPS

 

[gottahaveahoove]

Now boys,

Those of you who know me, (esp John), know that I don't EVER start fires, OR throw gasoline on existing ones. Perhaps it was intended to never let the convertible tools be as strong as canisters for several reasons: a very strong suction might damage the rest of the convertible, (i.e. break a fan), they were never intended to be as strong as a Portable, Slimline, Constelaltion, etc. You know that the suction on a Dial-A-Matic is far stronger and never goes near a fan, motor, etc. WE all know and appreciate quality of design, planning, marketing, etc.The vast models, styles, colors, features, price ranges are evident of that.Something to ponder. Now, everybody go and run a nice Convertible, Pixie, Handivac, etc,, then go to bed and get a good night's sleep. (be sure and brush your teeth, too). Stay tuned, who KNOWS what'll happen tomorrow. 'night.

 

[vacu-finder]

Thanks a bunch Guys that pretty well wraps it up for me. Still looking for my first pick.

 

[vacbear58]

Cloth bag version?

Absolutly fascinating stuff John, do you have any more available for the likes of the connie? portable? or even some European models.

I am intrigued though by the description in reply #6 which is described as "cloth bag version" - could this be referring to a shake out bag rather than one using paper bags? Or could there have been a "hard bag" version in mind?

It stikes me that the handle bail (or something similar) used in this same picture would have been more aestetically pleasing when used with a cord rewinder (J C Penny?) than the conventional one that was used.

Al

 

[vac_whisperer]

Im still looking for my first Convertible, too.

Im hoping to find one of the original cloth-bagged Convertibles. (By cloth bag, I mean one of the early ones that didn't haved the vinyl bag.)

 

[gottahaveahoove]

there are some....

pictures of the connie etc. but they are too dark to reproduce here.

As far as the cloth bag, the only cloth bagged Convertibles were a commercial line other than this prototype but with Handisac all bags were vinyl.

 

[brandon_w_t]

Vac whisperer.

I think you may be refering to the previous series. The 60 series with the models 29 62 63 634 and 64. Those all had some sort of variation of a dump out or paper bag system with a satin like bag.

 

[vac_whisperer]

Brandon- I have actually never saw an original one in real life and from the pics ive seen they appeared to have a cloth bag.

But, of course, I would also absolutley LOVE to have a 60 series machine, too!