How rare is a rebadged Eureka Princess?

[fantomfan]

Somebody offered me a "Bradford Imperial". It looks a bit dirty, but the owner says it runs. I'm busy at the moment and told him that i'd get back to him. Are these sought after? I've never seen one. Thanks for all the help! -Mitchell

 

[suckolux]

Ah, good old W T Grants!

 

[fantomfan]

And.. Here is the poor old girl!

Well, I got it today for $20. To say the least, it was FAR worse than I thought it would be. Though it runs, It has the usual old-vacuum perks: Musty smell, leaky hose, broken switch, bearings in need of a service. The handle is also separated from the hose. After over an hour of scrubbing and disinfecting it, it now looks much better than it did before(If you can believe that.) I saran-wrapped the hose, which restored SOME suction (It literally had none before.) No tools with it. The previous owner's father thought it was a good idea to splint a telephone cord onto it- UGH! Eventually, that will GO and be replaced.... I cannot find anything on this, besides the fact that it is a rebadged Eureka Princess made for W.T Grant merchandise stores. No manufacturer's plate, though I can tell where it would have been. Despite it's faults, I'm glad to have it. Considering it's rarity, it's worth the $20 to me. Someday, It will become beautiful again as it was in it's heyday. I do love rebadged vacuum cleaners!

 

[eurekaprince]

Hi Mitchell,

What a challenging refurbishment project.....good luck!

Actually, that is not a rebadged "Princess"...it's a rebadged Eureka MobileAire. The "canned ham" canisters were never named Princess.

Look forward to seeing the reborn vac!

EurekaPrince Brian

 

[fantomfan]

Thanks for the correction!

There is certainly very little info on these. I will eventually get the cord fixed, and I'll try to fix the switch.

 

[kenkart]

WT Grant and company

Went out of business in 74...Bradford was there name for appliances and electronics.

 

[fantomfan]

Thanks for the info!

Are these considered uncommon? I have not seen another Bradford Imperial "Luna Bea" as the side inscription says.

 

[eurekaprince]

Interesting piece of MobileAire trivia: this Eureka was one of the very few Eureka Williams designs ever to be made available in the United Kingdom...it was sold as a Parnell Tenten (using the MobileAir model number 1010!)

 

[eurekaprince]

Eureka also made a version for Singer in the 1960's called the Golden Glide...see link.

http://smithcollection.altervista.org/singer.html

 

[dysonman1]

"Luna Bea". Ha Ha. It's actually "Vibra Beat". That was the name of the brand new attachment that machine had.

 

[fantomfan]

Thanks! I knew that didn't sound right!

I couldn't really tell what it said. I can tell now though that the lettering has half of it missing. The "Triple Filter" label on the other side is still there though.

 

[human]

I had a Eureka like that. Somebody had given it to my grandmother and she hardly used it. It was bright orange and ran like a champ until my step daughter decided to use it like a shop vac to clean up some spilled dry cat food, bits of which got into the motor. After that, the motor made such an awful noise that my (now ex-) wife insisted I get rid of it. Quite a shame. It was a nice machine.