Information on the Turbopower 1000/2/3 please!

[jmurray01]

Yep - Ask minimal questions, do the job, get paid!

In my work (car valeting) I've had plenty cars in that have had strange things done to them (one that sticks in my mind is where a rip in the drivers seat was held together with pins - God knows how he managed to sit in it), but I didn't mention it, and just got on with cleaning the car.

Don't get me wrong, I was dying to ask him about it, but I didn't want to intrude.

 

[jmurray01]

Michael - What are all these links you keep sending ?

 

[turbo500]

My god, that red Turbopower 1 just went on and on and on. They were everywhere when I was a kid, but I never realised just how long they survived!

 

[sebo_fan]

The red Turbopower was a great Argos seller. I can remember thinking between that and the LG upright I eventually bought instead : (

Quite a few owners I know still have Turbopower machines today and Gumtree is a fantastic place to look for TP1 to TP3 models!

 

[sebo_fan]

See thread on http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?14438__0#start_14438.167164

Have just seen 2 listings on Ebay.co.uk for TP uprights...

 

[turbo500]

That TP2 upright you've linked to wasn't a co-op exclusive - it was the very last of the T2 upright series. I believe there were 3 models - the yellow 900w, blue 1000w and red 1200w models. I remember seeing them in Woolworths Big W stores years ago.

 

[turbopowerpaul]

Hi guys.

Just a quickie, delving into Turbopower 1 Junior history. Mention made above a mystery Co-Op exclusive Junior.

One doesnt immediately jump out at me either. Below is a table listing many cleaners, but encompassing all the officially listed UK sold Turbopower 1 Juniors (note U1050 and U1060 were hardbag TP1's, despite being numbered in the U1XXX Junior series).

Core range cleaners were:
U1100, U1220, U1294, U1296 (as per U1294, but with a box of tools), U1426 & U1650 (the final Turbopower Junior)

Electricity Board Exclusives were:
U1102, U1222 (both versions)

Afterthought model - maybe exclusive/maybe not:
U1290 - as per U1220, but with a box of tools

Never seen versions - who can say what they were:
U1400, U1436

Can see another Pandora's box opening

 

[turbopowerpaul]

Back to the Turbopower 2's...

Benny...

was this the unusual and basic Turbopower 2 that you remember having to procure a new door for?

The cleaner below is a basic urbopower 2, model number U2460 and I picked it up about 2 months ago.
Coming with all its documentation, it was purchased on the 10th October 1996, so well into Turbopower 3 production stream and kind of confirming that the Turbopower 2's became the cheaper end range.

This cleaner though maintained the smarter styling of the earlier Turbo2, 1000 and 3's cleaners, before the (in my opinion) very cheap looking style came in cirac 1998.

I havent any official collection photos of it though unfortunately, as it was acquired when Rob was moving and we were dispensing with a storage unit. As such, it was collected and has been in storage ever since.

Model U2460 Turbopower 2...

 

[turbopowerpaul]

Cant quite make out its details, as picture just a bit too small....

 

[turbopowerpaul]

Back to Turbopower 1's again - briefly...

Hi Chris and Sebo Fan.

Is this the long lived Junior? the fianl version U1650...

 

[turbopowerpaul]

The Turbopower 2, 1000 and 3 list...

Again kind of collated from official documentation, but there may have been others....

 

[turbopowerpaul]

U2090 Turbopower 2 - official core range, Alpina Yellow, circa 1997 - 1st version...

 

[turbopowerpaul]

U2090 again, but with the later styling - 900watts...

 

[turbo500]

Paul...

...that be the one! When that came out, I was at the age where I started going into town with my friends. I always figured it was a co-op exclusive as it was never in Currys or Comet when I looked but was in our Sunwin House department store. I believe that was the very last original Turbopower, junior or otherwise, yes?

 

[turbopowerpaul]

U2106 Turbopower 2 - core range, Tropical Green - circa 1997, running with the 1st version U2090...

 

[turbopowerpaul]

Hi Chris.
Yep - i too think it was the very final Turbopower on sale, as the hardbags (i think) had been totally discontinued.

Now I wasn't a cleaner fan when the U1650 was on sale, (I was surreptitiously nipping into Comet and Currys to look at Hotpoint WM's and Hoover New Waves) , so you guys will deffo have a much better idea as to when and where this potentially final Turbopower was on sale.

U1650 probably ran with the U1050 Turbopower1 (the dark blue one) and U1060 Turbopower1 Total Systems (the bright red one) as the final 'range' of Turbopower1 machines.

Paul

 

[turbopowerpaul]

U2107 in Neon Blue - TurboPower 2 1000W - core range again from the last series of TP2's, but I cant remember what year this brochure was from....

 

[turbopowerpaul]

This is U2111 TurboPower 2, but I cant make out the wattage - either 1000 or 1200...

 

[turbopowerpaul]

Mystery machines!!!!

U2119 - have never seen a photograph of this machine - no idea what it is.

U2125 - as above, never seen it.

 

[turbopowerpaul]

U2129 TurbopPower 2 1200W, again with final series TP2 styling...