Eureka 200 Series model data

[texbodemer]

SERIES MODEL NAME/STYLE FEATURES BODY COLOR OUTER BAG YEARS NOTES
200 200 AUTOMATIC BGT
201 AUTOMATIC BGT, HP 1971
210 AUTOMATIC HL, HP 1957
228 AUTOMATIC HL, HP 1969
238A CLASSIC BGT 1965
238AK CLASSIC BGT CHR/BLK
238D CLASSIC BGT WHT/LB LT BLU 1967-69
238F CLASSIC BGT WHT/LB LT BLU 1971
238K CLASSIC BGT CHR/LB LT BLU 1968-1969
239 CLASSIC HD, BGT
240 AUTOMATIC HP, HL, ADJ WHT/LB LB 1966-1968
242 AUTOMATIC HP CHR/LB LB
245 AUTOMATIC HP, HL, ADJ, CA, 2SM 1968
S 246 AUTOMATIC HP, HL 2-TONE BRN 1947-1956
248 HEAVY DUTY HP CHR S/O
250 AUTOMATIC HL, HP TAN/CHR TAN 1950
255 AUTOMATIC HL, HP. 1956-1959 FIRST EUREKA UPRIGHT WITH DISPOSABLE BAG
258 A AUTOMATIC BGT, HP 1959-1966
258B AUTOMATIC BGT, HP 1967
260 AUTOMATIC HL, ADJ, HP, 2SM WHT/LB CHR/LB LT BLU
260B AUTOMATIC HL, ADJ, HP, 2SM WHT/LB CHR/LB LT BLU 1963
260DK AUTOMATIC HL, ADJ, HP, 2SM CHR/LB LT BLU 1967
260EK AUTOMATIC HL, ADJ, HP, 2SM CHR/LB LT BLU 1968-1970
265A AUTOMATIC HL, HP, CA WHT/LB LB 1966
265AK VANGUARD HL, HP, CA CHR/LB LT BLU 1967
266 VANGUARD HL, HP, 2SM
270 VANGUARD HL, ADJ,CA, 2SM, HP WHT/LB CHR/LB LT BLU 1967-68
271 VANGUARD HP, HL, ADJ, CA, 2SM CHR/GOLD 1968-69

 

[paul]

Nice work. What are your sources?

I didn't know that the Vanguard debuted in 1967.

 

[texbodemer]

My sources include

My sources include the Seattle Times Archive, Newspapers.com, etc. I look up a model, and write down the features advertised, and the date of the paper. I should probably catalog the regions, too.

 

[eurekaprince]

According to the copyright on this YouTube clip, the first Eureka Vanguard made it’s debut in 1968. It even had the old top-side hoseport like all the other Eureka uprights of the early 1960’s. The neat Tool Caddy shows the Bottom Plate you had to attach to the underside brush roll window to block off the suction for hose cleaning!

 

[eurekaprince]

Well, maybe not the first…..the tv commercial was made in 1968, but the first Vanguard was made in 1967.

 

[paul]

Ah, I've been thinking of subbing to newspapers.com. I used to live in a city that had its newspaper microfilms digitized, so all one had to do is enter a word, phrase, or number to locate editions containing it. That would really hasten the process. Is that how newspapers.com works?

 

[paul]

Miscellany

Was the S200-series different than the 200-series, or did the 'S' get dropped at some point?

I noticed in the June 1947 GOOD HOUSEKEEPING advertisement that George W. Walker designed the featured upright. In the November 5, 1947 SATURDAY EVENING POST advertisement two uprights are featured--the Supreme (triple-action brush "Disturbulator", two-speed motor, automatic brush adjustment) and the Deluxe (recessed searchlight, low-slung styling for low furniture). Are these considered the first of what would become the F & G uprights?

In the 1978 advertisement of the Model 1458, the fine type at the bottom states that The Eureka Company is a Division of the National Union Electric Corporation. I find it interesting that AB Electrolux is not mentioned instead.

 

[paul]

SATURDAY EVENING POST ad - November 8, 1947

Slight correction: The upright cleaner in this ad states that it was styled (not designed) by George W. Walker; although I found no other source that specifically indicates that, so his association with Eureka-Williams was apparently short-lived.


From Automobile in American Life and Society:

George Walker designed more than three thousand products in his lifetime--cars, watches, radios, washers, alarm clocks, and more--for such clients as Peerless, Graham-Paige, Willys, Burroughs, Admiral, Kelvinator, Ford Motor Company.

Walker was born on May 22, 1896, on the south side of Chicago. He graduated from both the Cleveland School of Art and the Oris Art Institute of Parsons School of Design in Los Angeles. His major accomplishments in auto design included the 1949 Ford, the 1950 Lincoln, the 1951 Mercury, the 1952 Ford, and the 1955 Thunderbird. After retirement, he became mayor at the age of 80 of Gulfstream, Florida, and he served as a director of two banks and of the Palm Beach County Hospital; in the early 1980s, he designed a home and its furnishings in Arizona. He died on January 19, 1993.

 

[paul]

Just noticed I got the 1947 GH & POST advertisements mixed up.

So, looking at a 1958 Eureka Shipping Record on another thread, I noted that there was a D Series and an S series in the '40s - likely for Deluxe (more luxurious) and Supreme (more powerful). Going by the Shipping Record the featured models in the POST ad are the D360 and the S246. The GH ad in Reply 7 likely features the D262.

Btw, I'm guessing the S prefix was dropped around 1960 as it was used at least until 1958.

Another thought is that the R series referred to Rudimentary or Regular features, because all 3 types were sold in 1949.

 

[eurekaprince]

Re: the 1978 advertisement…

I am not sure if AB Electrolux was legally allowed to mention their name on any North American advertisements until they bought back that right a decade or two ago.

Eureka Williams - and later The Eureka Company - had always been a division of National Union Electric Corporation since the 1950’s. In the summer of 1974, Sweden’s AB Electrolux bought up most of NUE’s stocks on the public market and thus effectively took over ownership of NUE and all its component companies including Eureka.

AB Electrolux continued to buy up various North American appliance companies and was constantly reconfiguring the corporate structure of their North American operations. So at some point, Eureka went from being a subsidiary of National Union Electric to being a subsidiary of White Consolidated Industries to being a subsidiary of Electrolux of North America. You can see the progression on the copyright notices at the bottom of Eureka’s advertisements, instruction manuals, shipping cartons and even packages of genuine bags and belts.

 

[paul]

Thanks for the info., Brian!