There seems to be a lot of misinformation floating around about the ages of old Rexair models, and Rexair's own website (www.rainbowsystem.com) is partly at fault. My buddy Sherry in Customer Relations at Rexair and I have talked about it. She would like to correct the misinformation on the website and other Rexair sources, but since it doesn't affect sales of new machines top management doesn't care. The chief problem is that they incorrectly picture the Model C, built between 1950 and 1955, as the original Series A, which was built from 1936 until 1940. Briefly, the correct info is that the Series A, which was chocolate brown in color, and which did not have the oval shaped front nameplate, as the later models did, but only the round top nameplate, was the first model, built from 1936 until 1940, when the Model B was introduced. The Model B is black in color, and had the front nameplate. The differences between the to models are limited to cosmetics, and a change in the construction of the water pan. The Series A water pan did not have the welded-in shelf on which the rubber diaphragm laid, but rather used a metal diaphragm with a rubber gasket cemented to it. The model B (and Model C, for that matter) had the rubber diaphragm which lays on the shelf. Model B was introduced in 1940, and brought back after WWII and continued in production until 1950, when Model C was introduced. Model C is silver hammertone in color, with red nameplates and trim on the attachments. The Model C introduced the curved lower wand and lock-on rug and floor tools, replacing the straight wand and friction fit tools of previous models. In 1955, the completely new Rainbow Model D was introduced, gold painted in color. When Rexair restructured their organization from factory owned branches (like Electrolux had until recently) to independent distributors, in 1959, the legal department advised them that the name of the product should be separated from the name of the company, as the people in the field were no longer Rexair's employees, nor could Rexair control what they might do. Hence the name "Rainbow," which had been the name of the Model D, became the name of the product, and Rexair, Inc. remained the name of the company. The very last gold-painted Model D's in 1960 had a decal reading "Rainbow" with a multi-colored rainbow design replacing the earlier "Rexair" script. (By the way I'd like to find one of these with the "Rainbow" decal for my collection). By spring of 1961 the gold painted machine was replaced by the version with the chrome plated top and copper colored painted lower section. This continued as Model D until a Power Nozzle receptacle was added in 1974, and the model designation became D2. In 1979, the copper color was replaced by a chocolate brown color. In early 1980, the bypass motor which would be used in the D3 series was installed in the D2 bodies, and these are called Model D2A. The new motor was ready for production before the new body, hence this brief transition model.
Correct ages of old Rexair models
- Thread starter rexairman
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