eBay - Kirby Tradition - Is It Really NOS???

[kirbyclassiciii]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-NOS...050?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item33862811da

Can anyone really believe the description? Serial # has been re-etched by someone else.

If this vacuum truly began life with that serial # back in the summer of 1979, it would have had a metal 10-blade fan, the locking headlight cap, and speed switch just underneath the cap, and speed switch engagement pins on the hose and nozzle.

The attachment case wouldn't be blue plastic but rather cardboard like the other boxes.

~Ben

 

[kirbykid]

the bumper looks like it has some scuffs on it.

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

Evan,

Serial is F127631, but it is etched differently than Kirby factory engineering would have done. If this were a legit serial number back in the summer of 1979, these are the features it would have had originally:
* Headlight cap assembly with lock
* Speed switch on underside of headlight (instead of on fan case)
* 10-blade metal fan (instead of 11-blade gray Lexan fan)
* Cardboard attachment case (not the blue plastic one)

~Ben

 

[kirbykid]

Yeah. It is most definatly a fake.

 

[dysonman1]

It's not a fake, it's a newer model. There's no shag king pictured, and I can't see the hand portable handle in the pictures. Also, the bags say "Style 1" on them. Until the Heritage came out, the 'style 1' bags were the only bags Kirby had, and they didn't have a 'style number' on the package. I'm not sure where you got the idea you could tell the age of a Tradition by its serial number, but that really started with the Heritage 1 model. The plastic attachment case, new pack of bags, missing shag king and portable handle, etc. all lead to the fact this came almost at the end of the run of the Tradition, not the beginning. Still, a great machine - but - the Tradition was the least effective cleaner Kirby ever made, due to the very narrow fill tube, which restricts air flow to the bag. To make a Tradition clean well, you need a Heritage II mini emptor, fill tube, and bag adapter OR a cloth bag conversion.

 

[ncovert]

Somebody definitely re-etched an earlier serial number onto that machine. Look how "shaved" it looks and how "sloppy" the letters are placed. It may be new old stock, but definitely not originally an F serial number.

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

1979 Kirby Tradition Traits

This is how a 1979 Kirby Tradition would have looked.

From L-R: headlight cap with lock button, speed switch under headlight, and speed switch engagement pin (and suction relief vent) on rug nozzle.

~Ben

 

[kirbyloverdan]

Tom

Is the only one right .
I have no idea where some of you imagine this non sense from .
You may think you know about Kirby's but Tom proved nobody knows anything about this Kirby .

Dan

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

Dan,

Perhaps you'd like to see this picture for judgment.

~Ben

 

[dysonman1]

I was in High School (a Senior) the day the Kirby office in St. Louis got the very first shipment of Tradition models. I went that very day to look at them. The fill tube was not packed inside the sani-emptor. You had to soak the vinyl bottom in hot water to get it to go in. The fan was Lexan (that was a featured change Kirby was bragging about). The headlight hood safety switch was of course there. The attachment cartons were cardboard. Our St. Louis Kirby office ordered Kirby's 250 at a time - they went to a public warehouse and the distributor would pick 5 or 10 from the warehouse (and pay for them) at a time. His third shipment of machines (at about a six month interval) revealed the change back to the 'old' safety switch but that very first shipment with the old safety switch still had a locking headlight (just no safety switch in it and no 'pin' on the hose coupler or rug nozzle). The next shipment did away with the headlight locking pin. For at least half the time the Tradition was available, our distributor mainly sold the Tradition without the bag adapter. He'd been selling 'against' paper bags for so many years, it was hard to get him to adopt the disposable bag idea.

 

[electrolux137]

I really have a hard time understanding why someone would go to all the trouble of sanding down the serial number on a vacuum cleaner and engraving a new number on it.

First, this assumes that the culprit has access to heavy-duty industrial equipment -- not the sort of thing that crackheads who are passing hot merchandise have in their garage workshops.

Second, what would be the point? A vacuum cleaner is not, in the grand scheme of things, a high-ticket item. I just can't imagine that there are bands of crooks stealing boxes of Kirbys and re-engraving them to conceal the fact that they were stolen. Or, even more ridiculously, making counterfeit Kirbys.

Cars, trucks, boats, high-end electronics, large-denomination currency, I could see... But vacuum cleaners??? Really!

It's fun to be enthusiastic about old vacuums and discuss the many and minute differences in various factory runs and modifications of features and components. But when enthusiasm runs into obsession to the point where it is troubling someone for days on end, then it may be a symptom of a mental-health disorder. Most people just don't get this compulsive about such relatively meaningless things.

Believe me ... I can get all bunched up into obsessing over tiny little details as much as anyone else can. Don't even get me started on the Electrolux Model E! But I also realize there does come a point when I just need to "get over it" and get focused on more important things in life. Whether the Model E switch-plate has one screw or two is not going to affect my day-to-day life.

 

[dysonman1]

At that time in history (early 80's), there was a vac shop called Discount Vacuum in Texas that was running ads for NEW door to door vacuums. He obtained them from distributors who were going out of business, or had too much stock, or not enough sales. Whatever. He got them. BUT, he could NOT sell them with the original serial number, because the manufacturer would terminate the distributor. Many times, the distributor was just selling off extra cleaners to make a little extra money, but didn't want to give up direct selling. The serial numbers were removed and replaced by another 'new' number. I have a brand new Classic III in the museum with no serial number at all, because it was sanded off. I know it was 'bojacked' through a vac shop, but it's still 'brand new' all the same. This used to be very common. Now, manufacturers use hidden serial numbers to 'catch' the bojack distributor who sells the machines to unauthorized resellers.

 

[electrolux137]

 


 


 


Well, that's a logical explanation and, not having been in the business except very fleetingly, it would not have occurred to me as a possibility.


 


Still, however, I don't see the point in endlessly fixating on things like this. Just my 137<span class="st">¢</span>'s worth...

 

[super-sweeper]

Which reminds me,

Ben, I have the '79 Tradition's Headlamp switch over in the Spa. I did find some numbers, and would be glad to read them off tomorrow, If I could remember for once!

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

Alex,

Pictures of that are necessary. I'd bet money the number on the switch is 134378 or 134379.

~Ben

 

[super-sweeper]

Get ready to win some money,

Here's the numbers found on the '79 Tradition's Headlamp:


 


Ben-You were correct. On the right bracket is stamped "134379, As you predicted.


On the top, It rads the General information:  6A 120V AC 502-562, Along with the older Kirby circled logo.


 


How did you know?


 


-Alex.

 

[ncovert]

Alex, I bet Ben just guessed. The safety switches usually start with "1343" and the last two digits are either the year the machine was made, or in some cases the year before it started production. In your case, 134379 means 1979.


This formula applies for a lot of Kirby part numbers.

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

Alex,

Like Noah said, the "1343XX" means speed switch item.

~Ben