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I really love this ad (see below) ... My parents bought an Electrolux E-A in the winter of 1956 while Mama was pregnant with me!
I have several really nice E-As but the one in the photos after the ad is my favorite. I found it on eBay back in 2004. It was in beautiful shape, appearing as though it had hardly been used. It had the original hose that looked to be in perfect condition. It came with all the standard attachments (including steel wands). There was also a polisher, sprayer and vaporizer.
I could see in the photos on the listing that it had a circular aluminum plate riveted to one side of the motor body but I couldn't make out what it said. So I contacted the seller and she replied that it said:
"For Classroom and Home Economics Instruction / Electrolux Cleaner and Air Purifier / For Free Service call Electrolux Corporation, Brooklyn NY, NE8-2356 / HE-5053 / Property of Electroux Corporation."
I got pretty excited about it -- this obviously was a very special Electrolux, one that had been donated to a high school Home Economics department. I had never seen another one like it and in fact had no idea that they had provided these machines. But it was a brilliant sales tactic when you think about it: How many young homemakers who were exposed to the Electrolux in school went on to buy them for their own homes when they got married!
I remember when I was in Junior High school in Virginia that there was an Electrolux E-A in one of the Home-Ec classrooms in the Senior High wing of the small school. I happened to see it when walking down the hall one day and the doors to the Home-Ec Department were opened. I saw the Electrolux sitting in a corner of the room. Of course I snuck inside the room to look at it! It did not have a cord winder, just a halo, so it was exactly like my Mom's -- which she still had at the time -- but it was in much nicer condition! I don't recall whether or not it had the silver medallion on the side but I doubt it did, because I most likely would have seen it.
Anyway, back to the one on eBay -- I also asked the seller about the hose, wondering if it was still flexible and airtight or absolutely petrified and leaking like a sieve! She said the hose is very flexible and not leaking, that the suction was very powerful at the handle end.
I kept my eyes on the listing, hoping I could get it for not a huge fortune! As it turned out I was the only bidder on it and the shipping cost was twice what I paid for the machine!
I wrote the seller and begged her to pleeeeeeeeeeeease pack it very, very carefully. I was particularly concerned about the wheels because they become very brittle over the years.
It arrived in a couple weeks. Thank God she packed it very well and it arrived in one piece. I couldn't believe the beautiful condition it was in! And imagine my sheer astonishment when I opened the front cover and saw that there was still an original 1956 disposable bag inside! That really made clear the fact that it had hardly ever been used.
I also discovered there was a filter in the rear end. Once the new multi-layer paper bags came out during the run of the E-A, Electrolux urged users of the LX, LXI, E and E-A to remove the filter and replace it with the cardboard gasket that came with the new packages of bags. (The original paper bags were only two layers -- an inner tissue-paper layer and the outer filter paper layer. The new ones had three layers of tissue paper.) So that was even more evidence that the machine had sat in some school classroom hardly ever used at all!
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I really love this ad (see below) ... My parents bought an Electrolux E-A in the winter of 1956 while Mama was pregnant with me!
I have several really nice E-As but the one in the photos after the ad is my favorite. I found it on eBay back in 2004. It was in beautiful shape, appearing as though it had hardly been used. It had the original hose that looked to be in perfect condition. It came with all the standard attachments (including steel wands). There was also a polisher, sprayer and vaporizer.
I could see in the photos on the listing that it had a circular aluminum plate riveted to one side of the motor body but I couldn't make out what it said. So I contacted the seller and she replied that it said:
"For Classroom and Home Economics Instruction / Electrolux Cleaner and Air Purifier / For Free Service call Electrolux Corporation, Brooklyn NY, NE8-2356 / HE-5053 / Property of Electroux Corporation."
I got pretty excited about it -- this obviously was a very special Electrolux, one that had been donated to a high school Home Economics department. I had never seen another one like it and in fact had no idea that they had provided these machines. But it was a brilliant sales tactic when you think about it: How many young homemakers who were exposed to the Electrolux in school went on to buy them for their own homes when they got married!
I remember when I was in Junior High school in Virginia that there was an Electrolux E-A in one of the Home-Ec classrooms in the Senior High wing of the small school. I happened to see it when walking down the hall one day and the doors to the Home-Ec Department were opened. I saw the Electrolux sitting in a corner of the room. Of course I snuck inside the room to look at it! It did not have a cord winder, just a halo, so it was exactly like my Mom's -- which she still had at the time -- but it was in much nicer condition! I don't recall whether or not it had the silver medallion on the side but I doubt it did, because I most likely would have seen it.
Anyway, back to the one on eBay -- I also asked the seller about the hose, wondering if it was still flexible and airtight or absolutely petrified and leaking like a sieve! She said the hose is very flexible and not leaking, that the suction was very powerful at the handle end.
I kept my eyes on the listing, hoping I could get it for not a huge fortune! As it turned out I was the only bidder on it and the shipping cost was twice what I paid for the machine!
I wrote the seller and begged her to pleeeeeeeeeeeease pack it very, very carefully. I was particularly concerned about the wheels because they become very brittle over the years.
It arrived in a couple weeks. Thank God she packed it very well and it arrived in one piece. I couldn't believe the beautiful condition it was in! And imagine my sheer astonishment when I opened the front cover and saw that there was still an original 1956 disposable bag inside! That really made clear the fact that it had hardly ever been used.
I also discovered there was a filter in the rear end. Once the new multi-layer paper bags came out during the run of the E-A, Electrolux urged users of the LX, LXI, E and E-A to remove the filter and replace it with the cardboard gasket that came with the new packages of bags. (The original paper bags were only two layers -- an inner tissue-paper layer and the outer filter paper layer. The new ones had three layers of tissue paper.) So that was even more evidence that the machine had sat in some school classroom hardly ever used at all!
