reading old threads can definitely be a wealth of knowledge
Was just looking at some old threads and found this one, and this has allowed me to figure out what model Electrolux my mom has. I've actually been wondering about this for a while, when we bought it, I was going in to third grade I think, I remember we bought it in the summer, and we had a very hot summer that year, I'm thinking it was the summer of 1983. My mom still has it and the motor still sounds great, I was over there the other day and took it out of the closet and fired it up. The hose definitely needs to be replaced though, it's the original cloth hose and the suction is less than half of what it's supposed to be. Even with the suction relief knob closed, when you put your hand over the end, there is still lots of air going through the hose which indicates that the material has cracked. I'm going to get a new hose for her. I couldn't figure out what model it was because the motor sounded like a 1205, but it was bought at a time when the motor should have been what was used on the Super J, Olympia, etc. It wasn't a model L because there is no pig tail on the hose, and it was bought new after the L was discontinued. When I was there the other day, she mentioned that she remembers paying extra for the cord winder. I don't remember that being mentioned, but I was walking around the store playing with the other vacuums when it was bought. There is also no knob to control the automatic shut off. I had not heard of the special edition before reading this thread, I've read a few articles on the history of Electrolux vacuums and that model was never mentioned, but after reading this thread, I'm quite sure this is the model she has. Since I'm blind, I can't tell what color it is, but as far as functionality goes, it sounds like it's basically a model 1205 without the automatic shut off control. I don't remember what power nozzle came with it other than to say that the short pig tail cord that plugged in to the wand was hard wired in to the nozzle, it was not a cord you could remove.
Mike