How rare is a circa 1936 Rexair Rwinbow?

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man114

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Mar 14, 2012
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Location
Buffalo NY
Just curious about this. Our local office has one in the downstairs sales room where they do writeups for service and sell the scents and stuff. Theyv'e got a D4 and E2, and it is sitting there on a shelf next to them,. I'll admit it is pretty cool and in pretty good shape., I presume they took it in on trade at some point but according to the owner (or so he told us Monday) it still works and works well. He brougth it up when he was telling us they purposefully abuse the office machines to prove the pont that they're not easy to kill, even if you use them with too little water and never clean the seperator.

I'd assume it is pretty rare and it looks pretty cool but I'm not sure at what point and which models are really rare. I could always take picture if anyone wants.
 
First..

Make sure it is that old, it should be brown and say model A, if it is a 36 it will be a very low serial number as that was the first year.
 
No don't get me wrong. It's not the vintage one that they abuse, it just sits there on a shelf and looks like a museum piece. He just brought up the fact that it still works, you could take it off the shelf and it still works like new after all these years. Let me tell you, it is in pristine shape when you consider the age. It was more a
testament to how they last. Truly a museum quality unit, which I think they took on a local trade in. Any collector would be proud to own that thing, but of course it's not for sale.

There are a couple of single speed E Series that are used as the office machines to actually clean the office. These are the ones they don't take care of intentionally. While they do all in house service this is to prove a point if anyone comes into the office to buy one as opposed to having an in house demo done (which you can do if you want, but it isn't as common) or anyone not sure if it is worth fixing their older machine. They can fix the machines as necessary if required but they haven't done anything to them.

There are only one or two D4s used for demo purposes, they're usually totally refurbed and sold. They use three or four of the new ones for actual in house training, and also have an interesting array of other vacs from other brands that were traded in.

Our local Rainbow office should be an example of how they should run this business. All about the customer always, no high pressure, no door to door. Let the machine sell itself on its own merit. If you've got an older model the sales person should examine it in case it needs service, recommend what it might need. Don't just pressure for a trade in. If it needs a belt you get them a belt not a new machine. When the people want a new machine they come back and get one because of the service they've had. Often times the do so just to get the new features when a new model comes out.

My wife & I work there more for fun and she believes in the product because it helps her allergies and asthma. It is fun but if it were like these quota driven high pressure things I read about other offices, I'd never work there. Its a job I can take and go to two nights a week and have fun learning about the machine, demoing features for customers. From my other sales background I understand this. I guess some understand how to help the customer and treat them with respect, others don't. I'm happy our local office upholds a good standard. I could never work there trying to force people to buy what they didn't want.

Its much more fun to see people see what their $50 throwaway doesn't do, tell them the history, show them the old model, show them the advancements and have them buy the machine because they like and want it, as opposed to trying to force them to buy it because of a quota.
 
In 1936, the Rexair Series A did NOT use water. Water wasn't introduced until April, 1937. In the picture, the model A is on the right, the model B (launched April, 1940 - called the "Black Diamond" model) is on the left. Most Rainbow offices have no idea about Rexair's true history.

dysonman1++10-14-2013-10-02-28.jpg
 
"Rainbow offices have no idea"

Tom is correct.The Rainbow home office once sent pictures to dealers that were very pretty but but had mistakes such as Rainbows on wrong wheel dollies,etc.(Similar literature has come from Compact/TriStar with mistakes.)
 
In Rexair's "Official" history, they never picture the model A (and they made almost 180,000 of them). The model B (1940 - 1950) is sitting on a model C's dolly. The model has the wrong date (1950 - 1955). The model D (1955 - 1961) is sitting on a 1964 dolly. The model D3 is pictured with the correct date of 1980 - but it's a 1983 model D3C pictured, not a 1980 D3A. There's no pic of their "Golden Anniversary) model D4 from 1986. They do not picture the model 3 (1941 - 1946). All in all, Rexair's official history is virtually, totally incorrect.

Another thing I notice, the front serial number plate on models B and C list the Canadian Patent dates of 1937, 1938, and 1939. People always assume that's when the models B and C were made. That's just the year the Rexair design (motor with separator over water pan) was patented in Canada.

Underwriter's Labs were fooled twice by Rexair. According to UL, once an electrical design is approved, it doesn't have to be 'reapproved' unless something changes to the electrical system. The first Rexair (series A) to be submitted to UL did not use water, and was listed as 'safe'. That exact motor design was used until 1955, so even after water was introduced, the cleaner did not have to go back to UL for approval. The model D was the first motor change, but the original gold model D pans had no wording on them about how much water to put in. The model D was sent to UL minus an owners manual, and got approval again because water going into it was never mentioned. Rexair kept their motor design until 1979 - after Consumer Reports made great mention of their potential shock hazard. UL wouldn't approve the machine any longer, so a closed by-pass motor and plastic switch and shell had to be made to continue to get a UL listing on the cleaner - along with a 3 wire grounded cord as well had to be used.
 
I remember Clay

Saying the Rexair guy he worked for Mr Mench, had the job in 37 of retrofitting all of the first machines sold in his territory to use water, I bet there are not many of the original ones.
 
I have one of those,

advertising poster boards for Rainbow/Rexair with the wrong dates for machines pictured and The B on a C's dolly. Nice to have but it would be nicer if it was correct! I think a D-series model is also missing from the poster too.
 
Here's Rexairs correct models and manufacturing dates:

Series A: Oct. 1936 - April 1940
Model B: April 1950 - Oct 1950
Model C: Oct 1950 - April 1955
Model D (gold): April 1955 - Oct 1961
Chrome Dome model D: Oct 1962 - April 1974
Chrome Dome model D2: April 1974 - April 1980
Model D3 (includes both D3A and D3C versions): April 1980 - April 1986
Model D4: April 1986 - Oct. 1990
Model D4 SE: Oct 1990 - April 1994
Model D4 PE: April 1994 - Oct 1998
E series (single speed): Oct. 1998 - April 2005
E2 (2 speed motor): April 2005 - today

April is the month the new products are usually introduced, October is called "President's Month" by Rexair corporate - that's the big sales drive month and sometimes new products are introduced in October as well.
 

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