I've always loved those silver-specked bags. I'm old enough to remember when the 561 was a new machine, and the bag was a charcoal gray color. The silver streaking was very pronounced against the dark gray background and just shimmered -- truly beautiful.
What I am not sure of is which model that the speckled bag originally appeared on. I have seen plain gray bags on machines as late as the 519, and speckled bags as early as the 517. It may have been a gradual transition between those two models.
The other 'strange factor' is the bag on the 513 and 514 machines. Both these machines had a very dramatic logo, where the K and Y of Kirby extended down the front of the bag and met at a point at the bottom.
But the strange part is, the 513 bag was the same flat gray cloth as other Kirby bags, but the 514's bag had silver speckling!
Then when the 515 came out, Kirby went back to a plain gray bag with the newer, simpler logo - just the Kirby name in a circle - that bag logo was used until the 562.
I wonder why they had that speckled bag for one model, then went back to plain bags until later on, and then back to speckled bags. This kind of stuff just drives me nuts!! (Yes, I know, it's a short drive......)
