electrolux~137
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2009
- Messages
- 2,950
Well, this weekend I found one of my "Holy Grails."
For many years I have been waiting to find a 1960s Johnson Wax Floor Care Machine, in vivid (almost fluorescent) turquoise to round out my nearly complete collection of Johnson Wax floor polishers. It has a single 10"-diameter brush.
Yes, even in the face of drastic reductions to my collection this was one machine I have been dying to have for many years, so when one came my way I happily jumped on it!
As some other of us vacuum cleaner collectors, I also have a very soft spot for floor polishers. In particular, the exquisitely beautiful Electrolux Air-Powered Floor Polisher and Scrubber, and Johnson Wax electric polishers, even more particularly the '50s and '60s turquoise models.
Their last machine was sold in the mid to late 1960s and was called the "Johnson's Floor Care Machine." I have wanted to find one for many years. One came up on eBay a while back and I got into a bidding war over it and finally had to let the other bidder take it because, oh break my heart, it just went too high for me.
But recently one became available!!!
So where, inquiring minds want to know, did I find it? You may recall a posting here a couple of weeks ago by Mark Berger, "Large Hoard of Vacs For Sale" -- a collection of mostly vacuum cleaners that he was selling for someone else. I didn't see anything in his initial posting that interested me, but in a subsequent posting he added "Johnson’s Wax Floor Buffer/Scrubber."
Curious as to what model it was, and not really thinking about getting it in the face of the "Great Reduction," I posted a query to Mark asking him which model it was. When he wrote in a reply post that "It is a Johnson's Floor Care Machine ... It has a one piece V-shaped handle with a plastic grip" well, I almost fell off my chair!
I emailed Mark and told him I was very interested in it and asked what the seller wanted for it. Cut to the chase, I got it for a very good price and PayPal'd him the money.
When I got to church today, there was a coffin-sized cardboard carton waiting for me in my office! Excitedly, I opened the box and there it was, in all its radiant turquoise glory! AT LAST!! A dream machine found!!!
I want to publicly thank Mark for arranging the sale of the polisher and also for the incredibly meticulous and careful packing job he did. Mark, I could tell you put a lot of time and effort into it, and I really, REALLY appreciate that. I would have just been sick, brokenhearted if it arrived damaged -- thinking of the long, slender, easily-snapped handle ....... I am elated to report that it arrived in perfect condition.
¡¡¡¡¡¡¡ THANK YOU MARK !!!!!!!
Now, of course, piccies!!!
Here are some of my other Johnson Wax machines.
The third one down is one of two commercial models. This one has a 12" brush and this beast is a real ball-buster, weighing about 75 lbs!! There was a larger 16-in. brush model that I've only seen in photos -- I can only imagine what THAT monster weighs!
Now, the remaining machine (that I know of) that I need in order to have a complete set of Johnson Wax polishers is a model like the one in the three-shot above, finished in a metallic blue color. I have not seen that model since I was about four years, but remember it clearly!
Something else I'd love to find, although Lord only knows where I'd put it, is one of the Johnson Wax polisher rental racks you used to see in the front of some grocery and hardware stores.
When I was a little boy, every time my mom would shop at the Colonial Grocery Store, I'd dash from the car, through the automatic door (in itself a great wonder!) and over to the Johnson Wax display with a row of shiny turquoise polishers, accessories in boxes with bright red letters, and bright-yellow cans of Beautiflor wax (the most heavenly smelling floor wax ever created). It would be a real kick to find one of those display racks someday. (Heck, I'd love to find just a photo of one!)
[Glamorine and Blue Lustre also used to have similar rental racks of floor polishers and rug shampooers. The Glamorine machines were similar to the Johnson-Wax machines, with a single large polishing brush.]
Incidentally, Johnson Wax made a special "badged" version of their Floor Care machine for the Singer Company. It was sold by Singer during the era of the beige "canned ham" machine, beige pot-type canister and the beige slimline upright, and was done up in the matching two-tone beige color scheme.
For many years I have been waiting to find a 1960s Johnson Wax Floor Care Machine, in vivid (almost fluorescent) turquoise to round out my nearly complete collection of Johnson Wax floor polishers. It has a single 10"-diameter brush.
Yes, even in the face of drastic reductions to my collection this was one machine I have been dying to have for many years, so when one came my way I happily jumped on it!
As some other of us vacuum cleaner collectors, I also have a very soft spot for floor polishers. In particular, the exquisitely beautiful Electrolux Air-Powered Floor Polisher and Scrubber, and Johnson Wax electric polishers, even more particularly the '50s and '60s turquoise models.
Their last machine was sold in the mid to late 1960s and was called the "Johnson's Floor Care Machine." I have wanted to find one for many years. One came up on eBay a while back and I got into a bidding war over it and finally had to let the other bidder take it because, oh break my heart, it just went too high for me.
But recently one became available!!!
So where, inquiring minds want to know, did I find it? You may recall a posting here a couple of weeks ago by Mark Berger, "Large Hoard of Vacs For Sale" -- a collection of mostly vacuum cleaners that he was selling for someone else. I didn't see anything in his initial posting that interested me, but in a subsequent posting he added "Johnson’s Wax Floor Buffer/Scrubber."
Curious as to what model it was, and not really thinking about getting it in the face of the "Great Reduction," I posted a query to Mark asking him which model it was. When he wrote in a reply post that "It is a Johnson's Floor Care Machine ... It has a one piece V-shaped handle with a plastic grip" well, I almost fell off my chair!
I emailed Mark and told him I was very interested in it and asked what the seller wanted for it. Cut to the chase, I got it for a very good price and PayPal'd him the money.
When I got to church today, there was a coffin-sized cardboard carton waiting for me in my office! Excitedly, I opened the box and there it was, in all its radiant turquoise glory! AT LAST!! A dream machine found!!!
I want to publicly thank Mark for arranging the sale of the polisher and also for the incredibly meticulous and careful packing job he did. Mark, I could tell you put a lot of time and effort into it, and I really, REALLY appreciate that. I would have just been sick, brokenhearted if it arrived damaged -- thinking of the long, slender, easily-snapped handle ....... I am elated to report that it arrived in perfect condition.
¡¡¡¡¡¡¡ THANK YOU MARK !!!!!!!
Now, of course, piccies!!!
Here are some of my other Johnson Wax machines.
The third one down is one of two commercial models. This one has a 12" brush and this beast is a real ball-buster, weighing about 75 lbs!! There was a larger 16-in. brush model that I've only seen in photos -- I can only imagine what THAT monster weighs!
Now, the remaining machine (that I know of) that I need in order to have a complete set of Johnson Wax polishers is a model like the one in the three-shot above, finished in a metallic blue color. I have not seen that model since I was about four years, but remember it clearly!
Something else I'd love to find, although Lord only knows where I'd put it, is one of the Johnson Wax polisher rental racks you used to see in the front of some grocery and hardware stores.
When I was a little boy, every time my mom would shop at the Colonial Grocery Store, I'd dash from the car, through the automatic door (in itself a great wonder!) and over to the Johnson Wax display with a row of shiny turquoise polishers, accessories in boxes with bright red letters, and bright-yellow cans of Beautiflor wax (the most heavenly smelling floor wax ever created). It would be a real kick to find one of those display racks someday. (Heck, I'd love to find just a photo of one!)
[Glamorine and Blue Lustre also used to have similar rental racks of floor polishers and rug shampooers. The Glamorine machines were similar to the Johnson-Wax machines, with a single large polishing brush.]
Incidentally, Johnson Wax made a special "badged" version of their Floor Care machine for the Singer Company. It was sold by Singer during the era of the beige "canned ham" machine, beige pot-type canister and the beige slimline upright, and was done up in the matching two-tone beige color scheme.
