In the UK, how rare is?

[baglessball]

The wheeled Hoover celebrity?

I may of just bagged myself one.

 

[vintagerepairer]

I once had one in for repair. They were brought over here from the USA in the 1970's to supplement the Hoover range of cleaners at that time, though exactly why this was I don't know as they didn't do much more than the UK built models already on sale. I am not sure how long they were on sale for but I have seen very few of them.

 

[baglessball]

Thank you vintagerepairer!

I always appreciate your knowledge!!

My aunt and uncle own the air rider, I think the received it as a wedding present. I used to love it as a kid as it was so different. It lived underneath their bed and I would get it out at Xmas to clean out the fire and vac up the pine needles.

I haven't ever seen this UK version with wheels though, apparently it is working so I will upload pics when it arrives.

With the rare few that you encountered, what sort of problems did they suffer?

Many thanks.

 

[vacbear58]

Celebrity

Not much to add to what Benny has said, the air ride celebrity was on sale here for quite a while, but this version was relatively short lived, probably a couple of years at most (probably 74-76) and was not popular and we did not see any of the other models that were developed from this range. I have seen a couple in my time collecting and in fact bought two of them (the second was only 99p!). They are much larger than the air ride and both heavy and noisy.

So US readers know what we are talking about, this model was second up from BOL in the first Celebrity series

Al

 

[baglessball]

Thank you Al!

Really appreciate the additional info.

Well, seen as though I have no real use for it, I may do it up and resell it.

Do you have any idea how much it would bring? Or might I be as well asking how long a piece of string?

Shaun.

 

[vintagerepairer]

I only had one for repair. I didn't come into the repair game until the mid 70's so maybe there were more to be attended to before then. I cannot recall exactly when it came in as I had the shop from 1979 to 2003 but it was brought in whilst the shop was under my ownership. Certainly a good deal of years ago.

The problem with it was the most absurd repair I've ever come across. The owner said the plug had never been attached to the mains lead all that well (it was such a common occurrence in the days when appliances did not have factory fitted plugs) and on the last occasion the cleaner had been used prior to coming in for repair, the plug had come right off. I am not all sure whether this was as the lead was being pulled out by the user, or pulled back in by the cleaner, but as you will know, the design of the retractable lead on the Hoover Celebrity was such that the user had little control over it; there was no button or lever to press, one just tugged on the lead and in it went. So some how the plug came off and the lead shot back into the cleaner. What I do remember is the woman who brought it in saying that it made the most horrific noise as the end of the lead disappeared into the cleaner before her very eyes.

The cleaner came in with it's hose too. I distinctly recall the woman saying "we didn't know if you needed this" as she gave me the hose, because there was what I later discovered to be an air-powered on/off switch on the hose. I saw the button and at first glance had no idea either as to whether the hose needed to be connected to start the cleaner, which again as I later found out, it doesn't.

I don't recall a UK cleaning having such a feature until the arrival of the Sensortronic range, and even then it was powered by electricity, not air. The positioning of the on/off switch on the hose was such that I thought it to be jolly awkward to operate, and indeed by the time the user had moved the hose to such a position to get to the switch it would have been a good deal easier to just hit a switch on the cleaner with one's foot. But that was Hoover for you, ever on for a gimmick. Note that the hose on these cleaners from the USA did not stretch, which at the time would have been a disadvantage over UK models as Hoover always made such a fuss about their extending hoses. Having said that, Hoover were just about the only manufacturer to have such a feature on their cylinder cleaners (and indeed uprights for that matter) and when you consider the millions of none-Hoover cylinders with rigid hoses sold at the same time, it begs the question "did the consumer really care that much about a stretch hose"? I am inclined to think not.

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

This is a video of a 1979 Kirby Tradition (240V) with the headlight safety switch. Video by James. This is also a rare sighting in your country.



~Ben

 

[vintagerepairer]

Most Kirby cleaners are a rare sighting in the UK when compared to the amount of other brands and models sold here.

 

[alexhoovers94]

Most Kirby cleaners are a rare sighting in the UK

Have you not seen the amount of them on eBay?

 

[vintagerepairer]

ebay

Yes but contrast that to the millions and millons of other makes and models which have sold in the UK. You couldn't say Kirby was a best-seller. I also think they only sell one model here at a time. Is this so?

 

[kirbymodel2c]

Yep...

Yep your correct...one at a time. Unless the new ones come out and the last few models of the previous machine are being sold off lol.


 


James

 

[vintagerepairer]

Rather strangely...

I found this today, a Which? report on vacuum cleaners. You will see for yourself what is said about the Hoover Celebrity. Two things strike me, the first is that it is over 100% more expensive than the Goblin 555. I realise of course that the Goblin sat at the bottom end of the market, whilst the Hoover was nearer the top, but it shows clearly the price variations from model to model and how easy it must have been to question what one got for the extra money when paying double for the same type of appliance.

The second thing I noticed was that the Hoover Celebrity did not have BEAB approval. The Goblin has the BEAB logo nest to it, the Hoover does not. I wonder why the Hoover was not approved. I would like to suggest that it did not fail the approval, rather it was possibly not put forward for approval at all (it was not compulsory). I can't imagine Hoover would have sold an unsafe appliance.

In reality, whilst a good deal off appliances were batch sampled for BEAB approval down at the Appliance Testing Laboratories in Leatherhead, I am not at all sure how much weight having the approval carried when it came to your average consumer and the choices they made. One thing is for sure, without BEAB approval an appliance would never be sold through the Electricity Board showrooms. So it is fair to say that the Hoover Celebrity could not have been purchased from such a store. When one considers the cost of the cleaner in 1976 was £73.68 (over £500 in today's money), the unavailable of it via the Electricity Board may well have harboured sales, as one of the biggest advantages of shopping at an Electricity Board store was of course that the cost of new purchases could be added to one's electricity bill and spread over many months or, indeed, years.


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-W...041?pt=UK_Vacuum_Cleaners&hash=item3a81154d29