Hello Everyone, New Here

[briankirbyclass]

Hello Everyone, and greetings from NE Kansas,my name is Brian, im new to the forums, but have been lurking in the background for awhile,,just thought id jump in and say hello.
Im a former Kirby Salesman, back in the late 70s,thru 80s,,i was with Kirby from the Tradition model, thru G3.
I dont have a large collection, but do have a few favorites.
Have been in love with vacuum cleaners since i was little, and here i thought i was the only one!
Just wanted to say hello, and thank you for all of your input, ive learned so much from all of you, just by reading the forums. Am planning on being at the convention this year in Cleveland, and hope to meet you all then too.
Have a great weekend everyone,winter is almost over!

 

[arh1953]

Welcome Brian, you are definately not alone! You'll love it here.

 

[kc_kirby]

Hey Brian!

Hey Brian, your not too far from me. I'm in Kansas City and I'm a big Kirby fan as well. Email me ([email protected]) sometime, I'd love to meet you.

 

[mattshaver]

Cool Beans Brian...

I love Kirby vacuums too. Any secrets you wanna share? LOL.

 

[briankirbyclass]

Thank you all so much, its a pleasure to meet all of you.
I have a buddy that owns a vac shop that has been in business since 1967, and in the same location,,,he has owned it since the late 1980s,and gets a rare machine in once and awhile,so, i'll keep an eye out. He is the local Kirby service center also, so,of course he specializes in Kirbys.
I got a beautiful Kirby model 560 from him, that i sent back to the plant for rebuilding,and they did a beautiful job on it. I cant imagine it looked any better when it was brand new.
Of course, the trim,bag, and all is "Sorocco" colored now, but they did leave the original red belt lifter!
Its such a beautiful machine, and shines so brightly, i hate to use it too much!
The last time i stopped by his place,someone had given him the original boxes with handles to a model 500 Filter Queen, in really good shape,not much equipment inside,except for an old dried up bottle of Filter Queen Sudz but did have the original paper work to the machine the boxes went with, along with the order forms and information/pamphlets, ect for ordering additional supplies, i grabbed it all up of course!
If you'd like to talk vacs, please E-mail me, my addy is [email protected]
Maybe all of us in the area could get together for a Mini Meet sometime, would sure be fun!

 

[briankirbyclass]

Hey Chad, you are not far from me at all, im in the Lawrence, KS area. Would love to get together sometime. Please E-Mail me too, [email protected]

HAHA Matt, well, the only thing i can think of at the moment is DONT EVER suck up any coins with a Kirby! lol

Do you have a favorite model? Id have to say the Kirby Heritage 2 is my most favorite, i love how the rug nozzle has "Wings" that spread out and hug the carpet. Its my daily driver, for carpet anyway,,for strait suction, or any above the floor cleaning, i prefer the Tri Star (1990s,Silver Model), or the Filter Queen Majestic Tripple Crown.
The old Lux's have a special place in my heart too, I would LOVE to have a Hospital Model G someday.

Hey, thats a good question, whats everyone's most favorite Kirby model, and why?

 

[briankirbyclass]

Hey Matt, i just thought of something, altho you all probablly already know,,,whenever or if ever you shampoo your carpets with the Kirby Carpet Shampoo System, or as we used to call it the "Rug Renovator", dont leave the sudz in the carpet to dry,,,doing this will only attract more dirt, and can leave a sticky residue on the carpet, especially if the carpet should ever get wet again somehow.
After shampooing,and completly working in the sudz with the Kirby,,rinse the carpet with an extractor and clear water,(such as a Hoover,or whatever you have) several times.
After the rinse water stops foaming,(which indicates the sudz have been neutralized), go over the carpet again several times with just the extractor, and you will have ONE CLEAN CARPET,,,as clean as your going to ever get it anyway!
You probablly know that any kind of soap or sudz just attracts dirt, its the RINSING of whatever your shampooing that removes the dirt.

This has been your Handy Butler Kirby hint for the day. lol

 

[kirbymodel2c]

Hi Brian

I'm also a massive kirby fan.

What kirby's do you own?

What positon was you in kirby when you was with them?

Have you seen my collection?

james

 

[briankirbyclass]

Hey James, yes, ive seen your collection,,all i can say is WOW!
Infact, thats what i say when ive seen anyone's collection on here, WOW! Everyone's colletions here are just amazing.

The Kirby company was very good to me, when i worked for them, but as you probablly know, the company itself has very little to do with the Distributors. I was just strickly a salesman, didnt want to get involved in the "Drama" of the heirarchy.
Luckily, the dist. i worked for was excellent, and had very few problems, and we all made ALOT of money,back in those days.
Our distributorship won huge sales awards year after year, and gave the salesmen excellent incentives. Along with several other salesmen at the time, i earned a new Pontiac Firebird, several nice vacations, ect, and enough money to do whatever i wanted!
Of course,i was young and dumb back in those days, and this was also in a time when a Kirby Salesmen was welcomed into people's homes, Kirby, and any door to door sales had a much higher repuatation then.
So, my experiences with Kirby, and the whole business of selling them was very positive.

My Kirby collection is very small, but all have been factory rebuilt.
I have a kirby model 560,Kirby Classic 1CR,Kirby Tradition,Kirby Heritage 2 Legend(in plated Gold, it was a sales award from the factory), and of course an 80th Anniversary G4.
Also have a regular Heritage 2 Legend,(Factory Rebuilt)that is my daily driver.
The gold plated Heritage 2 Legend is packed away in storage,i dont want it to tarnish!
Would love to have a new Sentria, but just no room for it! GRRRRRR

I was raised with a Kirby Dual Sanitronic 50,(that Mom HATED!) but like a dummy gave it away a few years ago,,,could kick myself now!

 

[mattshaver]

WOW!!

My favorite Kirbys...let's see it would have to be my grandma's (Nanny's) DS50. I love that machine and I get it too in May!!! It's the first vacuum I can remember and I loved how the bag inflated when you turned it on. After all, my mom's Kenmore didn't do that. There was a unique sound and smell to that machine that I can remember and still has to this day.

I remember my younger brother trying to hug the bag when it was on. Hard to hug a moving vacuum cleaner. LOL.

As far as a collection goes:

Right now I have a Sentria that's my daily sucker (driver) as well we a DS50 and a Tradition I'm working to restore. I did have a G6, but she is being delivered as a surprise gift to my grandparents. I cannot wait to get that phone call from them when the UPS guy shows up.

I'll share that one with you all...LOL.
Matt

 

[normvac]

Brian, welcome to the club. So glad you have joined and are sharing your Kirby experience.
I have a Heritage that I love and use as my main clenaer.
grew up around my grandmother's 510. Then bought a new
1970 Classic, when I was married. Acturally demo'd 5 of
them and sold 3 on a part time basis. That's how I paid
for that Kirby.
Glad your planning on coming to N. Canton. Will be looking
forward to talking with you.
Norm

 

[briankirbyclass]

Thank you all so much, it will be fun to talk to all of you in person at the convention, looking forward to it!

HAHA,jeeeez,isnt life funny,,,and i thought i was the ONLY ONE!

(are we all this way?)

My vacuum obsession has always been a sore spot for my mother, she couldnt take me to anyone's house when i was a kid, the first thing id do is find out WHAT kind of vacuum they had, and WHERE it was kept! lol

My grandmother(who was more sympathetic to my plight!)was babysitting me one day ( i must have been about 5 or 6) and was called to be an emergency fill in at a Bridge game, so, she had to take me with her.

Of course, you know what my first order of business was!!

To this day, (that lady who's house we went to), whenever she sees me, will tell about me running the vacuum ( an Electrolux blue model G with power nozzle) all over while they were trying to play cards!
She says she never even showed me where the vacuum was,,,i just went and got it out! lol

aahhh, the good ol days! lol

 

[1926700]

wichita ks

hey ur also in kansas id like to talk to u
ill send my phone # to ur email


jason

 

[hygiene903]

Hello Brian!

Welcome to the club! My favorite Kirby is my model D-50, which was given to me by Norm Brown. I am almost finished restoring it, having polished it and replaced the bag, front bearing, and lamp socket. Just the handle to polish yet and go back over the rest, and it's done. I love the color scheme, the way the light shines through the emblem on the hood, and of course, the way it cleans!! Almost any of the 500 series models would come in a close second (I have a 512 but haven't started on its restoration yet), but the D-50 will ALWAYS be my favorite Kirby.
Again, welcome to the club!!
Jeff

 

[charles~richard]

"My vacuum obsession has always been a sore spot for my mother, she couldnt take me to anyone's house when i was a kid, the first thing id do is find out WHAT kind of vacuum they had, and WHERE it was kept! lol "

-------

From my "Sweeper Obsession Memoirs:"

I began to get chided and reprimanded by my parents -- and teased by my siblings -- for my interest in vacuum cleaners. I knew, even at 6-7 years old, that this made my parents uncomfortable. Mama's finger-wagging mantra got to be, as we'd be driving over to someone's house to visit, "YOU stay AWAY from their SWEEPER!" Of course, I always made a bee-line for the "sweeper closet," because it was simply an "irresistible force!"

 

[briankirbyclass]

Thank you Jeff and Charles,, its a pleasure to meet you, and everyone here. Im really looking forward to the convention this year, and meeting everyone in person who is attending.
Charles, ive seen your website many times, its just excellent, thank you so much for sharing it.
Isnt it great that so many of us have had simular experiences as kids?

I'll never forget a very sweet and kind older neighbor lady when i was about 5, she had a Montgomery Wards/Eureka canister, light blue, with the Vibra Beat nozzle.(late 1960s)
I had never seen such a thing, and was totally inthralled.
This neighbor would let me come over, and drag out her vacuum anytime i wanted to,,,HA, what a thrill!
A few years later, she had a Beam Central Vacuum installed,,,be still my heart! I was over there every chance i could get! lol

How many people these days would let some nutty little neighbor kid come over and drag out their vacuum? Not Many!
I dont even know if i would, myself! lol

AAhhhh good memories.

 

[briankirbyclass]

Jeff, the Kirby DS 50 is one of my very favorites too. My Grandma had bought one new in 1966, and HATED it,,which of course made me love it even more! I remember the Kirby logo glowing from the top of the headlight hood when id use it,,,just thought that was soooooo cool.
Seems she had gotten a lemon tho,,,for some reason, the belt lifter on that DS 50 was sharp,and every time she would try to turn the belt lifter, it would cut the belt off. Boy she HATED that Kirby! lol

Grandma then bought a new Lux Golden J in the mid 70s,,wow,,you can imagine how excited i was about that! lol

Grandma always said, "Gee, dosent take much to make you happy!
You like that vacuum so much, then get busy with it, and dont forget to do the stairs!" lol

 

[xraytech]

It seems like everyone's grandma had a kirby, Grandma has A classic one my great grandmother gave her when she got a new heritage, I was scared of it when I was younger I liked her convertible better, but the kirby grew on me and now I use it and I have my own generation 6 2000 Edition