Hoover Special
The Hoover Special rebuilds usually had the month and year they were rebuilt stamped on the bottom. For example, I have a Hoover Special model 700. It has 2-52 stamped on the bottom, indicating that it was rebuilt in Feb. 1952.
I don't know if you've heard the story on the Hoover Special rebuilds, but after Hoover had been in business for a while they began to accumulate trade-ins from people who bought the latest model, and they came up with an excellent idea of what to do with them. They set up a rebuild department where these vacs were completely refurbished with all worn parts replaced, painted them in the color scheme of the current models, and replaced the bag and nameplate giving them the "Special" designation. Then they sold them at a price below their lowest priced model at the time so that folks who couldn't otherwise afford a vacuum would be able to buy one. The Special program was especially popular during WWII, because even though regular production was switched over to war materials, they were still able to rebuild and sell the Specials, thus making vacuums available to those who needed them. The program was discontinued in the early 50's.
Jeff
