Electrolux 1205 questions

[mister299]

I recently acquired a model 1205 from my mother in law (she was going to throw it out).  It is in fairly good shape except the hose is crushed in two places.  It is a nice looking woven electric hose so I hate to put an aftermarket vinyl one on it (it is off white with dark brown checks, I'm not sure if that is original or if it would have been aqua).  Is there any way to fix or straighten it out or is there no hope for it?  Also, any guess on a date of manufacture?  The serial number by the front wheel is Y32377T.  She told me it is from 1969, it was her parent's machine, they bought it new.
Thanks for your help,
Andy

 

[shagking]

Unfortunately, I don't think you can fix a woven hose. 1969 is probably the right date for the vacuum. The 1205 was made from 1968-74; the earlier models had smooth paint and the later models had textured paint like the Super J and olympia have.

 

[goadie12]

Well if it isnt too crushed you can most likley hit it with a hammer and re-form it I know I have been able to do it before when hoses are crushed thanks. Zach

 

[collector2]

Off white with brown checks sounds like it could have been a replacement hose from when the Olympias were out. The original hose was blue with white checks.

 

[danemodsandy]

Hose Still Available

Hi:

Aerus still makes a replacement hose for metal-bodied Luxes. Just search "electrolux hose genuine" on that auction site, and be prepared to pay around $100 plus shipping. The hose is vinyl in Fog Gray. It is longer and more flexible than the woven hoses were, and it will make a huge difference in the performance of your machine.

There are aftermarket hoses, too, but some do not swivel like a genuine hose does, and the suction control is different.

The correct blue-and-white woven hose for your 1205 would be great to have, but a genuine Lux vinyl hose would be the next best thing. By now, it will be hard to find a correct woven hose that doesn't leak. And if you used it for "daily driving," it would probably start leaking pretty soon - forty-year-old rubber can't take too much use.

 

[rugsucker]

1205

All good information.An early,early 1205 would have serial no. on bottom edge of cordwinder.Electrolux only supplied branches with hoses of current model color.If a Super J needed a new hose in 1983 you would have a grey hose on gold machine an d so on.New vinyl hose is best for daily use but if you want original color to display I would have many original Elux hose that look OK but do leak air if interested.

 

[danemodsandy]

That was one thing that always puzzled me about Electrolux, and I was a customer back in the day.

For all their reputation as a luxury brand, they didn't care a whole lot about what matched what after the sale was closed. We see the results of that laid-back approach all the time today - hose and tool mismatches on vintage Luxes are everywhere.

I personally like today's Fog Gray vinyl hose - while it's clearly non-original, it's a factory part that is also an upgrade, since it's longer and flexes better. And the color goes with every model, pretty much.

You got any blue/white 1205 hoses for display purposes?

 

[Real1]

+1

You see that a lot in Luxes, especially if they had a long service life. The turquoise G's almost always wound up with tan wheels from the later models. I even found out (here), that the front and back wheels on a G are slightly different; fronts are smaller than rears and the rears seem to have a slightly different composition on the outer, wear ring.

Kevin

 

[mister299]

Thanks for all the info!

Too bad it sounds like it is not the original hose, at least it still has the correct pn-1. I will try hammering out the kinks in the hose, I was amazed at the suction especially with the flaws. We plan on using it as an upstairs vac instead of lugging our rather heavy Filter Queen Majestic up the stairs with a power nozzle.

 

[aeoliandave]

"hit it with a hammer and re-form it"


 


Well, that's  the crude redneck bonehead way, for sure. (No offense intended) (much)



 


Clamp the hose crush zones - wrapped and protected in s washcloth - between two blocks of wood in a bench vice and slowly turn the handle just past 'too much'. Using the corner of the vise jaws applies even better precise force to the crush zone - and stubborn individual coils - and the hose coils will return to true roundness again.


 


I would never simply bang it with a hammer...that's the equivalent of dusting the furniture with a live chicken.



 


Dave

 

[westingman123]

Davy, Davy, Davy!

You have SUCH a way with words. LOL. Do hurry back to St. Louis when you can--you really only got to scratch the surface.

Keith

 

[collector2]

Hey Sandy:

In Canada Electrolux had appropriate replacement hoses available up untill the early 70's. They werent always exact but they matched the models (eg - the model 57 was brown and tan - the original hose was a tan, the replacement was a brown - still matched the machine). After the AP100 came out they started to just use the one colour of hose, whatever the present machine was using.

Doug

 

[danemodsandy]

Doug:

Electrolux always treated Canada better than the States, I think! You guys had more accessories available for longer than we did down here. The tool caddy and library brush are two that come to mind.

 

[rugsucker]

Elux hoses

blue-white hose--The simple answer is I have very few hoses before G,afew G hoses and 1205 and after very many.Various conditions and not airtight.Will look for nice 1205,however they started with direct connect to telescopic wand which proved troublesome and then curved chrome handle to use with long sheath cord.----hitting with hammer--If you change "hammer" to "rubber mallet" there are some hoses that can be helped by turning and tapping.

 

[Real1]

Rubber...

mallet is OK, if you take care and don't rush yourself. Also you can carefully measure the OD of a good segment of the original hose. Try to find a suitable length of plastic pipe (like ABS/PVC), that has the same ID as your hose's OD. Cut the pipe in half lengthwise and use the two halve to clamp around the hose and squeeze in a good vice. Make sure it's a manageable jig...like a foot maximum.

Kevin

 

[collector2]

Sandy:

Up untill the 80's Electrolux in the US and Canada operated as seperate entities (Subsidiarys of the same company but still independant) which is why there was such a difference between them. The Canadian head office people were excellent and listened to the feedback from their salesmen as to what the customers wanted.

When free trade hit - the Canadian plant and most of the head office was closed down and controll was moved to the US. This pretty much screwed us completely. As the lesser sized market we wern't taken into account at all. It was just assumed that if it worked in the US it had to work in Canada. WRONG!!! The customer needs are different as are their tastes. Two good examples of this are the dual action accessories (They were delux in the US when they first appeared while Canada considered them BOL) and the heavy metal tank cleaners (When they tried to push the Grand Marquis and Legacy in Canada sales dropped like a lead balloon.)

So it wasnt a matter of how the company treated the two subsidiaries. It was a matter of the parent companies (First Electrolux AB then Sara Lee Foods) bein smart enough to recognize that they were dealing with two different markets and allowing the companies the independance that was necessary to properly serve both markets (and, in turn, prosper in both)

Doug

 

[danemodsandy]

Doug:

What's funny about all that is that what works in the U.S. doesn't always work in Canada, but what works in Canada usually works in the U.S. - on those rare occasions that companies let us Americans have their Canadian offerings.

One prime example that comes to mind is the Canada-spec Pontiac Parisienne, which took the place of the U.S.-spec Bonneville Brougham. MUCH nicer car, and how we appreciated it! Pretty much a Buick Electra without the price tag.

 

[collector2]

LOL - it isnt a matter of us "Letting" you have it. Your own guys dont want to allow us to send stuff like that down there. (It's not possible that someone outside the US might make something better than the US you know)

 

[danemodsandy]

Doug:

What actually happened with the Parisienne was that GM wanted to use its Michigan assembly facilities for other purposes, and wanted the Bonneville and/or Grand Ville made in your Oshawa, ONT plant, which was already making Pontiac-badged products. However, the Parisienne had more in common mechanically with the American Chevrolet Caprice than it did the Bonneville (though the sheet metal was Pontiac), and the decision was made just to go with the Parisienne, to save costs. The Bonneville name went on to a smaller car, where it began to fade from public consciousness.

I remember my 1988 Parisienne Safari nine-passenger wagon with great fondness; it was white outside, beige inside. It looked like Lana Turner should have been ferrying Sandra Dee to private school in it. Beautiful car, if a fairly thirsty one.

Anyway, America loved the Parisienne.