Hoover Conquest 507 Cylinder Cleaner UK

[supermaticjames]

Morning all,

I have acquired this lovely vacuum cleaner over the weekend. I believe it was the pinnacle of Hoover's cylinder range until the Freedom's arrived in the mid 70s and dare I say it, when things started to go downhill regarding quality of construction.

My example has presented me with a challenge or two that I need to address before I can start using it. First of all the plastic rear end housing that covered up the cord reel and rewind mechanism was completely shattered with two big gaping holes in it.

Since this machine is so rare I plucked up courage and bought some fibre glass, filler and paint from Halfords and started to repair the damaged housing. I have to say that I am making good progress with it and that it should look quite well once finished in a few days.

My second challenge is that the cord rewind release mechanism is completely missing, all I have is the cord reel. If somebody has the service information and diagrams for this model I'd be much obliged so I can try and fabricate a release mechanism.

Regards, James.

 

[vacbear58]

Conquest

Congratulations James, these cleaners are not common so another one turning up is a good thing. Sorry I cannot help you at the moment with any ideas on the cord winder, but it would be great to see some pictures of your work. Did it have any tools with it?

Al

 

[vacbear58]

More Conquest

The attached link shows lots of pictures of the Hoover 507 Conquest models

Al

http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?12496

 

[supermaticjames]

Hi Al,

It's definitely worth the hard work and patience because these cost around £39 back in the early 70s and in todays money that's around £450! So they probably didn't fly off the shelves like the Constellation or the 427 did but of course Electrolux was the firm favourite in the cylinder market. It came with the hose, two tubes (one damaged but I have a spare), flip-over floor tool, crevice nozzle and a broken upholstery nozzle but I have one going spare. No turbo brush or radiator brush unfortunately but if anybody here has ones going spare it would be my pleasure to buy them. As you can see from the picture below it was a fragile mess.

 

[supermaticjames]

This is it now after I rebuilt the missing bits with fibre glass and strengthened the existing structure with the same. Since then it's had one layer of filler applied and a second layer will be applied tomorrow. Then I will paint it with the closest paint match I have found and with a bit of luck I should have something that looks like it was never damaged.

James.

 

[super-sweeper]

Smart fix! I thought I was the master of rigging! 

 

[vacbear58]

507

You are doing a great job there James, please keep us posted on your progress.

With all the bitching that goes on about modern day cleaners people tend to forget just how comparatively expensive they were back in the day. £39 was not out of the way for the time though for this market segment as both the Lux 100 and Goblin 701 would have been similar price and others like Nilfisk (at the time reasonably rare but they were available) slightly more expensive.

Now you will need to find a blue serge elephant



Al

 

[vacbear58]

Radiator Brush

James

I don't believe that Hoover ever supplied a radiator brush with any of its cleaners - I have no recollection of seeing one in any of the literature. That said, I never thought that Hoover did sprayers to use with their cleaners like Electrolux did - until I actually saw one!

Al

 

[supermaticjames]

Hi Al,

I'm not sure if that was the correct term for it but in the brochure it depicts a narrow brush and I assumed it was for behind radiators and other crevices.

I've got blemishes all filled in with filler now and I must admit I think it will look lovely when painted on Friday.

James.

 

[vacbear58]

507

James

Thanks for the progress pictures, it looks like you are doing a really good job on it and I look forward to seeing the pictures once its painted.

Al

 

[super-sweeper]

A blemish is a scratch in the paint, this is full-on plastic surgery!! 

 

[supermaticjames]

Finally I've finished restoring the Conquest. You wouldn't think it was damaged at all!

Very happy boy indeed!

James.

 

[kirbymodel2c]

Hi,

<span style="font-family: arial black,avant garde;">James, You've done a great job restoring it. I'm not surprised your happy with yourself.</span>


<span style="font-family: arial black,avant garde;">Is this the first time you've done a repair like this?</span>


 


<span style="font-family: arial black,avant garde;">James

</span>

 

[supermaticjames]

Hi James,

Yes this was a first for me, previously all that was required was some superglue and a good clean whereas this beauty presented me with some challenges which required something more.

I also managed to build a cord rewind mechanism similar to what originally existed. I haven't a clue as to why mine didn't have the mechanism I can only assume that it was faulty or something.

I just superglued some sandpaper to the outer surface of the cord reel where the brake would have applied against and made a metal brake lever with rubber brake material and the end. This is sprung against the reel as you can see from the picture. Finally I made a rod so that the button could operate the lever. It's a bit iffy at times but at least it now has it's cord rewind function reinstated.

James.

 

[portable]

Wow, great job! It's perfect.

 

[vacbear58]

Conquest

You have done a grand job there James and you should be feeling very pleased with yourself.

Al

 

[supermaticjames]

Thanks Al!

It cleaned up so well and as for the damage, it now looks like it never was! Over the moon about owning a Conquest and this just proves that if you have an ounce of patience you can get some lovely rare vacs. Also, even a novice like myself can make complex repairs so have faith in yourselves.

Now for some very 70s looking photos!

 

[edgar]

a beauty

Nice job.

 

[anthony]

my parents

bought one of these in 1970 i seem to remember it being quite expensive [around 40 pounds]it lasted well into the 90s .the first thing to go was the handle my dad replaced the handle with a bit of an old leather belt crudely bolting it on from side to side rather like the handle on an electrolux .then there were numerous splits in the hose that finaly being replaced with the hose from some other cleaner next the cord rewind stopped working dad simply bypassed it [maybe thats why yours is missing].neverthe less it was a great machine the motor finally packed up and it was disposed of .the odd thing is the cleaners box survived longer than the machine itself i found it years later when the house was being sold tucked away in the loft full of 1970s curtains rather like the ones in vacbears brochure