Hoover TurboPower2 U2466 Permabag & Autosense

[matt8808]

This has turned into one of those machines that takes months to restore.
I bought it on eBay for £10 with £10 P&P. I don't usually buy machines to 'collect' however this reminded me of the TP3 with permabag and autosense my mum had when I was younger and I could see the potential in it so I ended up bidding and won.

Sadly it arrived damaged from transit and the seller refunded £10 of the £20 I had paid in total. It needed a new rear wheel and a new handle release catch.

So it sat for a month or two and did nothing.

Then I found another machine on eBay to use as a donor. I bid and won the machine for something silly like £7.... however collecting it was a 3 hour round trip! Good job I like driving huh?

Anyway I arrived home with the donor machine and set about ripping the original machine to bits. Everything got a quick wash over as it was very dusty.

Once dry and back together I was left with a small 'to do' list.
New belt, new filters and polish the scratches from the sides of the chassis hood + remove paint scuffs from sides of chassis.

That was a few months ago!

This is how it stands at the moment....

 

[matt8808]

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[matt8808]

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[matt8808]

There is a dusting brush on the donor machine... I just need to dig it out from the back of the garden shed!

 

[matt8808]

Can anybody date it please?

 

[matt8808]

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[matt8808]

Base plate has obviously seen some abuse! More than likely screws on a door bar not being flush. Brush is in very good condition though

 

[matt8808]

The scuffs I need to remove....
All in all I think it will restore to an almost 'like new' condition with a bit of time and TLC.

It's one of my rainy day projects I'm in no hurry with as I've no idea what I'll do with it when it is done! I certainly have no interest in actually using it - it will more than likely be packed up and stuck in the loft as a momento of a time when Hoover made reliable solid machines!

 

[turbo500]

Can anybody date it please?

September 1994.

Looking good there, Matt. Nice job! Always nice to get hold of your childhood machine. I was lucky in that we never got rid of mine lol.

It might be worth using this on your new carpets to get rid of the shedding carpet fluff. The Permabag will hold a lot more than the Dyson.

Chris

 

[matt8808]

Thanks Chris! I might use it if it had a belt in it haha
Still a bit of time needed to be spent to get it to it's full potential.

My real Childhood machine was a Panasonic MCE43N - god that machine took some abuse. We had a German shepherd at the time and I think my mum only bothered to empty it once the bag had exploded from being so full.

Then I came home from school one day and she had replaced it with the top of the line TP3. The Panasonic hadn't broke though and was kept as a spare for a number of years - I think her idea for the new TP3 was that the Panasonic was at fault for the exploding bags LOL

 

[turbo500]

My real Childhood machine was a Panasonic MCE43N

I have the brochure for that series of Panasonic's on my laptop. I also have a video of the same cleaner on my YouTube channel (link to follow).

My childhood vacuum was the later style white 700w MC-E44. I'm lucky enough to still have it.

I'll post the brochure for you when I get home. In the meantime, here's a few threads regarding the Panasonics.

http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?18491

 

[turbo500]

Another link...this one gives a breakdown of models and dates etc

http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?15705

 

[turbo500]

I certainly have no interest in actually using it

and for god's sake, don't let Alex here you say that!

Think excrement and fan...

 

[matt8808]

Those links have made for interesting reading! It says the 43N was launched in 88 (The year I was born!)... from what I can gather we got ours in late 88 early 89.

This machine is probably the root cause of my interest! My mum said that when I was a baby the only way she could get me to go to sleep was to have the vacuum stood running by the side of my cot!

Imagine the extra wear the motor must of had from it being stood running for no reason other than to send a baby to sleep!

Apparently the only way they could get me to eat was to sit me in front of the TV with a 'Kylie Minogue - The Locomotion' music video playing from VHS tape. I'd sit there open mouthed and they'd shovel the food in as quick as they could while the tape was playing. One day the tape got tangled up in the player and they had to dismantle it all and manually rewind the tape back into the cassette haha I must of been such a delightful baby!!

 

[turbo500]

Ha!! Classic.

According to my Mum, as soon as I could walk, I was pushing the vacuum around. Mum used to HATE the interest and at one point, banned the Argos catalogue so I couldn't look at the vacuum pages. She was convinced I would grow out of it, but never did and now she doesn't get a day in it anymore.

I was such a nosey kid and knew what vacuum and washing machine was in every house on my street.

Keep an eye on your e-mails, Matt, I'll send you over some old 90's catalogues and brochures in a .zip file.

 

[matt8808]

Another two machines from my childhood would be a Kirby Tradition and a Turbomaster Freedom.

The Kirby Tradition was my uncles. I remember it because my mum used to borrow it to deep clean the house with us having the dog and the Panasonic probably never picking up well due to neglect. She used to borrow it for extended periods as he lived a few hours away and his wife didn't like the Kirby (they also had a Panasonic 43N!)

I used to HATE it! I was terrified of the thing.

I have two memories of this particular machine. Firstly I remember running in fear as soon as she plugged it in. I'd hide in my bedroom and stuff whatever I could under the door to try and keep the noise out. It seemed like a huge monster when I was so little! I'd literally run screaming.

The second memory of this machine is watching from an upstairs window while my mum and uncle tried to fix the Kirby on the patio. She had once again not emptied the bag and the dog hair was backed up right the way down the fill tube. I can remember them taking the paper bag out and pointing the fill tube away from the house while they turned it on and it spewing clumps of hair and dust all over the place.

The Turbomaster Freedom was my grans.
This for me was the most advanced and amazing machine I'd ever seen when I was little. So many lights and controls! I'd kill to be able to find one of these that was still new in the box.... forgotten stock at the back of an old shop or something.

When it became too heavy for her she put it in the loft. She refused to part with it as it was the last thing my granddad bought her before he died so it had a lot of sentimental value. When I was about 14 I managed to talk her into parting with it. I loved it.

Then the owners of the local Hoover service centre made me an offer I couldn't refuse. I used to plague them on a daily basis and they taught me so so much. If I gave them 5 machines from my collection they would give me a brand new silver and yellow DC04 for £80!! They'd then sell the 5 machines I gave them as reconditioned. Sadly the Freedom was one of these machines, along with a very rare Hoover Concept One - the USA style machine with the powerdrive.

Sadly in my younger days I didn't realise how rare certain machines were, they were all just cool and interesting machines back then and I used to buy and sell them like there was no tomorrow.

The Hoover service centre is long gone too. They sold up and retired. It was bought out by an authorised Electrolux dealer who only lasted a year or two.

If only we could go back in time eh...

 

[matt8808]

That would be great Chris thanks

You had me confused at first there I was thinking 'how does he know my Email?!'. Only just realised you can view the profile of people on here! I'll have to update mine!

 

[turbo500]

Blimey, you've had some classics over the years!

I knew of a few Kirby's when I was younger. My Mum had a Legend 2 (bought at my Dad's insistance after a Kirby demo), but she hardly used it - she found it too heavy and awkward to use, especially as my Dad didn't help out around the house AT ALL and with 2 adults, 4 kids and 4 cats, she needed something that did the job and did it quickly, so she stuck with the Panasonic.

My Aunty Lynne had a Tradition that I remember well.

My Dad's parent's had an Electrolux 610 and a Goblin Aquavac Multisystem.

My Mum's parents had the yellow Hoover Junior Deluxe hardbag.

Oh, I should probably shut up or I'll be here all day lol.

Yes, your e-mail address is on your profile. I'll send over the brochures once I'm home and on my laptop.

 

[kirbyvacuum]

Nice vacuum

Hi Matt Very nice job looks better then new. I also love the rug the vacuum is on.Do you have any Kirbys in your collection? I love the Kirbys @ Hoover Convertiables. Take care Doug