Ha! Oddly me too. From the time I was just a toddler, I would push around our Electrolux rug and floor tool with just one of the two wands attached making it just the right size for me! My best friends Mother also had Electrolux and hers was an AF in the gray and beige color with the wrap around the hose wires for her Late 1205 or Golden Jubilee era metal top power nozzle. It was so different from our blue model L with full electric hose and the blue plastic covered power nozzle that I always wanted to look at hers. My one grandmother had several Electroluxs over the years which made visiting her house fun, and my other Grandmother who died when I was two but my Aunt lived in the house afterward had an XXX and it was so unique to me. I have that XXX today as my Aunt passed away. When we would travel to our relatives homes, I always wanted to see what type of vacuums they had, most had an Electrolux and maybe a Regina Elecrtikbroom for quick cleanups. I was always fascinated at the different configurations or colors of Electrolux people would have or even if someone had the identical one to ours. I never came across anyone with a Kirby until my Adult life. I remember one lady’s house where I had playschool, basically in home daycare for preschool age kids from a neighbor...one had a pink Hoover convertible which went so nicely with her pink shag carpet and another had a Hoover Dial a matic and I never got to see it with the attachments in place. Being kind of shy I didn’t ask too many neighbors about their vacuums but would notice and comment about them if they had it out of the closet when I visited for some reason. In kindergarten I played house with the girls, it was more fun to pretend using all the appliances and the washing machine. I was also fascinated with peoples washers and the different kinds everyone had. I hated our whirlpools they were so noisy as our laundry was part of the half bath off our family room, several relatives had center dial Maytags in various colors and always liked those because they were so quiet and smooth running, had white tubs with turquoise agitators and pilot lights over the center dials. About the only other thing that really fascinated me was cars and for a boy, this was normal so didn’t seem odd. I was a GM product junkie in the 70s and 80s since we had a Chevrolet station wagon and to this day I can identify and be right on target with almost any GM car as far as the year just by looking at its grille and or tail lights. I was extremely observant and detail oriented as a kid. Consequently as an Adult, I’ve ended up with undoubtedly many Electrolux vacuums, a few Newton Iowa made Maytag washers and dryer and finally...a GM station wagon...well they call it an SUV today but it’s a Chevy Equinox.
I never dressed as a vacuum for Halloween, but I did dress up as an Electrolux salesman one Halloween in my young adult life...our office required everyone dress up, so I put on a tweed blazer, wore my Electrolux Silverado hose over my neck, and brought along all the attachments and even brought a spare bag and cut the bottom off to display the 4 ply design and finally brought a bag of dust with me to dump on co workers chairs for a demonstration!
As a kid, it was not common for me to find anyone else like me and I didn’t that often though in high school I did have a few friends and we would chat up about vacuums or washers and dryers one in a while. I wonder if all of us just really like vacuuming so consequently, we love our tools for the task...the vacuum cleaner. I know plenty of guys into their power tools for various hobbys because they like that hobby. Maybe this is all derived from our hobby of loving to use a vacuum. I just find it fun and somehow incredibly satisfying to run the vacuum. I can’t imagine there would be someone into collecting vacuums who hates vacuuming! People who like to sew get into having sewing machines...people who like to cook get into having their kitchen appliances. Or is it just that we like the fascination of this big machine that gets used to clean the carpet and floors with minimal effort like magic As the alternative is taking a carpet outside and shaking it out or beating it with a stick? Hmm maybe a combination of all these things.
Well anyway, we all like vacuums and that’s OK...I’ve often thought perhaps it would be a fun job to work in a vacuum repair shop ....anyone else? I do find it odd that the vacuum repair shops aren’t usually run by “vacuum nuts” like us, though my experience with almost every Electrolux store I’ve gone into and told them I collect and have several of the machines, is always happy to help me out with anything I’m trying to do to rehab an old one even if it means I’m not buying a new machine or even a part. I guess they are liking that I appreciate their knowledge and expertise and want to engage them in some detail of interest.
