The 1230 Series is powerheads. You're probably thinking of the 1253 Power Team, which may have also been orange. Thanks.
Eureka Princess Canister TV Commercial
- Thread starter eurekaprince
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Ah yes. The famous Eureka 1255 Roto-Matic Power Team. The top-rated power nozzle canister in the 1974 Consumer Reports vacuum ratings. It was the top pw canister because it was a Best Buy at only $130….very good value for the money. Excellent deep carpet cleaning gave it the top score. The second pw canister in the rankings was the Eureka 1265 if I remember correctly - the deluxe Roto Matic Power Team using the Sweet Sixteen body in burnt orange with Cordaway and headlight.
vacerator
Well-known member
Did the Sweet 16 bodied 1265 come with the Extruded aluminum Vibragroomer, or did you have to upgrade to the next model up in gold, or to the 1279 Brandywine?
The 1265's Roto-Matic powerhead, premiering in 1972, came with a Disturbulator with square ends. The Brandywine TOL Roto-Matics with headlights, launched in late 1977, were the first to be equipped with Vibra-Groomers with hex ends; the hex ends having been introduced on the uprights in 1975.
I have no verification, but the 1266 that succeeded the 1265 in 1975 likely had a Roto-Matic with a hex-end Disturbulator along with the 1267 catalog line model and other BOL & MOL units that followed. One can never assume with Eureka, however. At times overstock was used for later models; and changes may have occurred within a model's run under a different Type.
Wish I could go by Roto-Matic powerhead model-types, but these were never mentioned in ads and at some point it seems that Eureka discontinued ID-ing them with the foil labels; although maybe they were marked in some other way. The only way I have identified the ones I have are from those who have shown the labels in online photos and videos. My own Roto-Matic from the 1980s has no label, and I have found no ID or specs elsewhere on the outside (haven't looked inside, though).
vacerator
Well-known member
Ok, thanks' for that info. Paul. Many colors too. Blue, gold, orange, Brandywine, then later brown, cream, green, and grey. Then the ones made for Wards and JC Penny.
You bet, Mike.
Yeah, Eureka believed that variety is the spice of ... appliances. Other variables besides colors and brush rolls were amps, peak horse power, exhaust (port for hose or non-port), Tool-Pak (if included - covered or uncovered), electronic suction control (Vactronic)/non-electronic slide control/manual wand control, bag indicator or sans, canister (sans powerhead), Power Team with lighted or non-lighted powerhead, standard or large rear wheels, standard or wide handle, Quiet Kleen (with sound reduction) or standard ... and some, I believe were mix-and-match; for instance a step up from a budget model with no control panel might have a lighted powerhead, etc. In the '60s and early '70s there had also been different types of hoses including ribbed vinyl and nylon braided. And yes, the private labels may have had their own features such as the JCP 1450 Power Team that had a Prince-style vacuum selector that had been discontinued on the main line by that time (mid-1970s judging by the color). There was definitely something for everyone.
P. S. I neglected to mention that my statement about the Brandywine Roto-Matics being the first to have the V-Gs is based on a poster's comment from an archived thread; not my personal knowledge. I have found nothing to the contrary based on online photos, however, and it seems to me that the poster had been a longtime Eureka collector (TheSpiritof76) and knew his stuff.
Oooops! I meant to type “pn canister” not “pw canister”!!!! In those years, Consumer Reports justifiably had two separate sets of rankings for canisters - one for suction only canisters, and another for power nozzle canisters.
