seamusuk
Well-known member
Hey Guys
Picked this up today- its the contract version of the U4002 Ranger. Its different from the standard version in 3 major ways..
1. Its Battleship Grey as opposed to the mustard yellow of the standard domestic version....
2. It has a shake out bag.......
3. It lacks a dirtsearcher - instead it has a coluor matched blank where the lens would normally be....
Why is it known as a Contract version you ask?........
From pretty much the beginnings of Hoover over here until the 70s and possibly into the 80s Hoover has a contract hire department. Under this system commercial customers would "lease" their Hoovers for a set payment per month to include all routine repairs/servicing.
The service aspect was provided by the usual network of Authorised dealers. They were paid a minimal ammount to carry out the repairs/servicing, but when the customer had their machine replaced under the contract terms every 2-3 years ownership of the replaced machine passed to the dealer who had looked after it and they could then refurbish it and keep the sale proceeds.
They are VERY rare - indeed im only aware of one other collector who has one of this model. There were Contract Juniors as well, again equipped with a shake out bag.
Seamus
Picked this up today- its the contract version of the U4002 Ranger. Its different from the standard version in 3 major ways..
1. Its Battleship Grey as opposed to the mustard yellow of the standard domestic version....
2. It has a shake out bag.......
3. It lacks a dirtsearcher - instead it has a coluor matched blank where the lens would normally be....
Why is it known as a Contract version you ask?........
From pretty much the beginnings of Hoover over here until the 70s and possibly into the 80s Hoover has a contract hire department. Under this system commercial customers would "lease" their Hoovers for a set payment per month to include all routine repairs/servicing.
The service aspect was provided by the usual network of Authorised dealers. They were paid a minimal ammount to carry out the repairs/servicing, but when the customer had their machine replaced under the contract terms every 2-3 years ownership of the replaced machine passed to the dealer who had looked after it and they could then refurbish it and keep the sale proceeds.
They are VERY rare - indeed im only aware of one other collector who has one of this model. There were Contract Juniors as well, again equipped with a shake out bag.
Seamus
