help identifying the vacuum we had while growing up

[n0oxy]

Based on this description, I'm wondering if anyone might have any idea what model of vacuum this was. It was the vacuum we had while I was growing up, at least until third grade when we got an Electrolux special edition which my mom still has.
My parents got the machine around the time they got married in 1970 so it would have been a current model at that time. It was a Eureka upright, color was beige or light brown. It had the outer bag that inflated when the machine was turned on, the paper bag went inside the outer bag so I'm guessing it was the dirty air design but not totally sure since clean air uprights were around by then, I'm inclined to think it was the dirty design though. The bottom part that housed the motor was metal, there was a headlight on the front and fairly close to the light there was a knob for height adjustment. In order to use attachments with it, there was a metal piece that fit over the bottom of the machine, this covered the spinning brush completely and provided a place to insert the hose. The attachments were also beige I think. When the attachments were used, you could definitely tell that the motor was spinning faster although there was no speed switch, the attachment piece probably just made more of a seal. Based on this description, does anyone have any idea what it might have been? I also remember that the upholstery attachment had a fairly thin brush strip.
Mike

 

[eurekaprince]

Mike,

Was the height adjuster a dial that you rotated or a slider that you slid to adjust the level of the front of the machine?

A rotating dial would have been a Dial-a-Nap adjuster, and a slider would have been a Rugulator adjuster. Eureka introduced the Rugulator first in the late 1960’s - maybe as early as 1967 with the first Vanguard upright. The Dial-a-Nap made its debut a few years later, and for about a decade, Eureka offered cheaper uprights with the dial and more deluxe uprights with the slider.

Also, do you remember if the top of the outer dust bag was like a rectangular box, or was it flat like a single fold or crease on a pair of pants? Did the vacuum have an automatic cord rewinder?

 

[n0oxy]

height adjustment and cord winder

The height adjustment control was definitely a knob that you turned, it was not a slider. There was no automatic cord winder, on the handle it had one of those typical brackets that you manually put the cord around. I don't remember the outer bag being like a box, there was a zipper on the front that you unzipped to change the inner bag. Does that information help? I also vaguely remember that the machine required you to change the belt frequently.
Mike

 

[n0oxy]

Eureka Vanguard

According to some youtube videos, the Vanguard had two speeds, the machine I am trying to identify was definitely only one speed.
Mike

 

[n0oxy]

motoor sound

Wow, the machine in this video sounds almost exactly like the one I am trying to identify, ours was only one speed and the cord did not pull out, there was a cord hook on the handle that the cord rapped around. Ours had a large rocker switch to turn it on and off that was on the motor part.
Mike

http://https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifmdNfRRJus

 

[eurekaprince]

That’s great information. You probably are talking about a basic Eureka Dial-a-Nap upright from 1970 - probably model 2010 or 2011 - these came with rocker switches on the motor hood near where the handle attaches to the cleaner.

 

[n0oxy]

got the model number

This is an older thread but I was able to find the model number of the Eureka that I was trying to identify. It had a date of May 18 1970, I'm not sure if that's the day it was made or the date of purchase, the model is 2625a GL
Mike

 

[paul]

Model-Type: 2625-A & Model 2010

Mike,

Just in case you haven't identified the Eureka model your folks owned in the 1970s, I located some information that will help.

According to the 1972 ad below, the model-type 2625-A was an attachment set. VL thread 300148 features photos of eurekastar's restored model 2010 - the cleaner featured in the ad.

You mentioned that the color was either beige or light brown. One of the main colors Eureka used from the late '60s to at least the mid '70s that may have resembled the light brown or beige you recall (but appears off-white to me) is called "fawn beige". I included a photo of the 1972 upright line that shows it. The only other idea is that maybe your folks' vacuum was from the 600-Series uprights, that was marketed at Kmart and some other department stores.