is this a XXX pre-war model?

[kenkart]

Early club members...

Mike Hays had a very serious heart attack some years ago, and does not like to travel much , I saw him several years ago, he gave me a Easy Spindrier washer, Jerry Gay and I drove up to get it, same Mike, a housefull of wonderful stuff, and a great cook, I need to get back in touch with him,Roger Proehl still lives in the Baltimore area, his partner of over 50 years Charles is having some serious health issues and Roger suffered a stroke several years back,but he is doing fine the last I heard, another person I need to go see, John Young is somewhere in Tennessee, I heard from him a while back, I dont know if he is still collecting or not,No one seems to know what happened to Craig Long, Clay Floyd also has had some serious health issues, but is doing fine, he moved to South Carolina to be closer to his sister and is doing service work for the local Rainbow office, I have not heard anything from Bob Kautzman or Michael Pletcher,or from Don Emmite ,I hate I lost contact with them, it seems all I do is work work work, i used to try to go to every convention in the early days, but they were much more affordable then, Alex do you remember Allentown in 95, my first convention! was that not a fun time, then St Louis in 96, we really had fun.

 

[caligula]

Hi Hans.

I have little memory of that meeting as my mind was preocupied with my new house in San Diego, which I would move into two days after leaving Allentown.

The years prior to that, both John Lucia and I had worked our fingers to the bone getting this club off the ground and keeping it going. What a lot of peole don't know, is that I went to The Hoover Historical Center in September of 1980 as a private collector. I left as an historian, armed with a lot of pictures, and historical data on not only Hoover, and the Electric Suction Sweeper company, but the history of several non electric machines. It was Stacy Krammes who started the club when she forwarded a letter from John Lucia (asking about the history of Hoover models 150 and 700). With my responce to John's letter, a friendship was formed, and about a year later, John embarked on a cross country drive. A trip to Indiana to see me and a tour of Hoover was on his list. He and I toured Hoover together, and were like two kids in a candy store. As we were leaving the Hoover Historical Center, Stacy gave us a list of names. Fellow vacuum cleaner collectors to contact. While John and I were on the road, I looked at this list, about five names, and asked "think we should form a club?" "I doubt if anybody will be interested, but write to them and see." On that list was Craig Long, and Mike Pupek. Both are Missing in action. As for Bob Kautzman, he joined the club years later, and is now known as The Vac-Hunter. As for Craig, he deserves a separate post.

Alex Taber.

 

[kenkart]

Craig Long..

Was a absolute walking encylopedia on vacuum cleaners, he could not do even the simplest repairs, but could tell you, dates of production, what it cost new etc of just about any machine ever, what is more he was absolutely hiliarious,a natural born comedian.

 

[caligula]

Hi Kenkart.

I have strong memories of Craig, he was a lot of fun. He was supposed to attend our first meeting, but just couldn't make it. Because he never contacted us, the great question of the weekend was "what happened to Craig?" He did make it the following year, and as a form of apology brought me an Air-Way, which I think was a model 55, (pictured here). As Craig didn't have the money for a motel room, I let him stay at my house. I put him in the vacuum cleaner room, and he loved it.

No matter what brand it was, Craig could recite the instruction book. He also liked to match cars with the vacuum cleaner.Something like "the Hoover model -- came out the same year as the Ford---."Craig was also a great cook, he made a wonderful lasagna for all of us.

Unfortunately, Craig was not good with money, and fell behind in his house payments. He recieved several notices from the bank, but ignored them. One day he came home to find his house locked. Everything he owned was sold. Immediately after that he left the club, and none of us have heard anything from or about him since them.

Even though Craig had created his own mess, none of us ever said "I told you so!" He was child-like, and didn't think it would happen.

I miss him very much.

Alex Taber

 

[kenkart]

I hate..

We all didnt know, im sure we would have been willing to help him get back on track, im sure losing his machines devastated him as that was his life, I really would love to know where he was..

 

[caligula]

Hi Kenkart.

Once word got out that Craig was in danger of loosing his house and everything in it, we all tried to help, but Craig didn't want that. Craig was child-like in many ways, and dependant on family. I think he was overwhelmed with legal matters, and simply chose to ignore. Even his sister told him to contact the bank, to stop the forclosure before it was too late. He ignored her too!

None of us will ever know the reasons, though I do know that he fell in love with a fellow member, and when that ended, with Craig getting hurt, he simply gave up. Perhaps he just wanted to walk away. Again this is guesswork on my part. I haven't heard anything about Craig since the the early 90's.

Alex Taber.

 

[caligula]

From meetings to conventions.

When John Lucia and I first started this club it was merely a way to turn the useless information in our heads into vital information for the few people out there still strugling for answers.

Since John's interest was Hoover, he opted to deal with that exclusively. As for me, it was all encompasing, I liked them all Air-Way, Electrolux, Kirby and so on. My real interest however, was the non electric. In addition, I loved to write short stories, and research a myriad of topics not just the vacuum cleaner. I've already told how Stacy Krammes gave me a wealth of material to work with back in 1980, and then gave John and I our first membership. The backbone to our club was a woman who would serve the club very well in the first few years. This was my mom, Anne R. Taber. Since she'd been an executive sectetary for Yale medical school, she was well aware of writing, editing and what have you.

The early newsletters were trial and error. I designed the lay-out, wrote the articles and so on, then my mom edited, typed and photo copied them. Both John and I ran a letter to the membership, and every other issue, John did a feature on Hoover. At that time, the newsletters came out every other month, and there was no cost for membership.

We coasted along for a year and half, then one of our original members, Mike Pupek met me in person. During the conversation he suggested a meeting of the 5 or 6 members, and I downplayed it. "Nobody's going to travel cross country to see a few vacuum cleaners!" Mike responded with "put the question in the newsletter," I did, and the responce was "when do we all meet, and where?" The result was the first meeting at club headquarters, May 4, 5, 6, in Chesterton, Indiana. It was at this meeting where we, (minus Craig Long) set the by-laws of the club, talked about writing a book on the history of the vacuum cleaner, and so on.

Immediatly after the meeting, I bought a house in Naperville, Illinois and turned a spare bedroom into the club museum. Officially however, the club headquarters was still Chesterton, Ind. My mom handled all club mail. This got a bit hairy when a few colorful people added off color comments to their letters! Like the guy who asked if he could descend my staircase in a a pink ball gown! Thank God my mon was gay friendly!! Our second meeting was held at my house, and this time Craig was there!

Like all clubs, we asked for help from our membership (begged is more like it!) and ended up doing it ourselves. So much for our scouts who were to provide information from around the country!!

The V.C.C.C. never shut down, but we did go on hold for a few months. Basically to recharge our batteries. Then I got a letter, and finally a phone call from Charles Richard Lester. He urged us to reactivate the club. Around the same time I got phone calls from Tom Gasko, Clay Floyd and others, they also wanted to pump new blood into the club. Result was that fantastic meeting on the first weekend of May, 1993.

Because I'd just transformed my garage into the club museum and meeting room, and with the Ma and Pa motel at my corner, everything fell into place There were 12 of us! John Lucia flew in from California, Charles Richard flew from another part of California, Billy Lipman, Roger Phrol, and his partner drove from Baltimor, Tom Gasko, and Clay Floyd drove from St. Louis, Gary Wahl came from Florida, and Dom Emmet from someplace. I think Mike Pupek and Craig Long were there too. (Have I left anybody out Tom?) As Tom drove his van which was packed with give-aways, we all converged in my driveway. Machine after machine was placed on the ground, and glaring at us was my nextdoor neighbor, who didn't like any of this. That meeting was wonderful, now there were serious people ready to see that the V.C.C.C. was here to stay. At that meeting I appointed Charles Richard as editor/publisher, and I stepped back, taking my first breath since the days before the club.

One afternoon I got a call from Jackie Love, P. R. person for The Hoover Company, asking if the club was interested in touring the factory? I jumped at it, and booked the first weekend of May 1994. Basically, the V.C.C.C. was returning to it's birthplace. Hoover outdid themselves! The entire club got the full VIP treatment! Factory tour, tour of the Historical Center, lunch and thanks to Mike Hays, a look at the models vault. I was the first person to see inside that vault in 1980, and only because Skip Marquadt, head of engineering let me inside. That vault was not even opened for the top Hoover brass, but it was for me! A few years later both John Lucia and I got into the vault, and in 94, the entire club. That meeting was fantastic. John Lucia presented Stacy Krammes with an outstanding achievement award, and made her an honarary member. The only down side was the bad press we got from some reporter who saw this as 'a stupid club!' He even insulted The Hoover Company!

The following year, we were invited to Allentown, PA. to see the barn, and home of Bob Kautzman. As I've already mentioned that I'll move on.

Up to this point we were all a total of 20 members, but we were growing. I knew it was time to bow out, get on with my new life in San Diego, and let the club fly on it's own. Tom Gasko was interested in becoming the first club president, and in so doing, took the club to hights I never dreamed of. When Mike Pupek suggested we get together I planned meeting, today the club is holding conventions. Even now I can't believe it all happened.

Alex Taber.

[this post was last edited: 7/11/2013-15:11]

 

[dysonman1]

That first meeting...

Was the most exciting thing in my life up that point. It was more of a mini meet than a convention - there was no agenda, no banquets, no awards, no liquor, and just us twelve adults. Each person who was there brought something different to the table. Charles of course knew Electrolux and Kirby inside and out. Alex know all about the very early machines. David Watters knew all about the vintage pre-war uprights. Clay knew everything about Rexair. All we did all weekend long was learn. The array of instruction manuals and literature was awe inspiring. You have to remember this was before the internet. You couldn't just go on-line and find a picture of an old vacuum you were interested in. In fact, with no eBay, the vacuums I brought were gleaned from the trade in room at the Rainbow office.

Alex had one rug in the garage, One rug. I repeat that because it was a small oriental type carpet - perfect for the straight suction uprights. That rug was vacuumed probably a thousand times over the weekend. Alex had a stunning collection of the early uprights. I knew so little about them, and every one was so kind in explaining where they fell in the history of the vacuum. I came away from that meeting a thousand times more knowledgeable about vacuums than I ever was before - and I owned my own very successful vacuum shop at the time.

I still have pictures of us inside the vaults at Hoover. Most people can never understand what that was like. Inside the vaults were literally one of every model of every vacuum ever made. I paid little attention to first ten aisles which contained the brand new Hoover models stored there - I went right to the back ones because that where the 'competitor' products were. To see a Model B Rexair that had been used once - to test it - then put on a shelf - was priceless. They had brand new Air-Way uprights, used just once in a cleaning test. It was awesome to see.

Since there's no use in vacuuming an already clean carpet, I had the bright idea to empty the cloth bags of the two vacuums that the hotel maids found for Stan Kann. We threw dirt ALL OVER that room. I specifically remember someone using a Singer R-1 on the bedspread. No one got sick, no one died from exposure to dust. I do remember stripping back the cord on an Air-Way 88 with my teeth and plugging it into the bathroom outlet with the bare wires going into the receptacle. I knew it would run.

Those were such great conventions. Once I was at the helm, my late partner David had the idea to send out applications to existing members, who were meeting other collectors through this new thing called the internet. The club grew from about 20 people to about 50 in just three years. One of the things I tried to do was continue with the tradition of giving each member in attendance a chance to ask as many questions as they needed to. Our banquet consisted of me and Hans going to the grocery store and buying all the meats, cheeses, bread, chips, and soda to feed everyone. It was still a rather intimate convention in that each person got to talk. We were all still learning from each other. Plus, we had the blessing of Stan Kann. He's the real reason we had three conventions in St. Louis. The world lost a VERY special person when he passed away. He opened his home to us every time, opened the Fox Theater to us each time, and went out of his way to TEACH us all something new about the very vintage models.

 

[caligula]

Thank you Tom.

Yes, the first meetings were what we would call a mini-meet today. Tom's right there was no agenda, no awards and no banquet, but we did gather at a great restaurant called Rasckles for a formal dinner on Saturday night, and if I recall correctly, the club members picked up the tab for John Lucia and I. In fact, the club did that several times over the years.

Tom, there was a reason for no liquor. At the second meeting in 86, my mom made cocktails for everybody, we also had a full bar (on my kitchen counter,) and munchies in my dining room. One of our early members got stinking drunk, and very nasty. The fur was flying and our member left in a huff! Once the dust settled, Mike Pupek says "Bob, I suggest that we not have booze at the meetings. That was the only meeting with a hissy fit.

The reason for no formal agenda was that up to then, we were just vacuum cleaner buddies talking shop. We, the club, were cutting our teeth, trying out ideas and learning the ropes. However, we did have a repair demo. At the first meeting in 85, Mike Pupek did a repair on an Electrolux 1205, (see photo) and in 86, a Rexair model B, I forget the others, but Mike was the 'repair guy.'

Because there was the Stardust motel on my corner, I could provide a block of rooms for everybody, and Mike and a few others were on hand to pick up people from the airport. A local rental store provided me with folding chairs, 30 cup coffee maker, projector and what have you. There was also a Dunkin Donuts at the corner (across from the Stardust, and Rasckles two blocks away. As for a presentation, John Lucia outdid himself with the talk on the Sears catalog. Imagine my suprise when I saw the first non electric they carried was The Dust-Killer, and the first electric was the Eckhardt. John knew that I had both in my collection, and wouldn't let me near his print-out till the presentation started.

I agree with you, Tom, that was our best meeting! It was also the start of the clubs growth, because we finally had serious collectors who were dedicated enough to spread the word. Both you and Clay were a big part of that. If you recall we were a bit gun shy of shop owners at that time. The guy who'd had the meltdown in 86 was a shop owner, and had no interest in the collection of vacuum cleaners. The old machines in his shop window were a hook to draw people into the store to sell them a new machine. John and I wanted people who's first interest was the history of the vacuum cleaner.

You, Clay, and others made suggestions of what to do, and in so doing, gave John and I the tools to improve the meetings. You are also right that because the club was word of mouth, we were still very much a grass roots group. Also, as you said, there was no internet, and until the V.C.C.C. went into cyberspace we were in the embreo stage. As I wasn't there after 95, I can't say exactly when Charles Richard Lester took us into cyberspace, but that was the first major breakthrough.

For me, the greatest moment came years later. In 04, I was in contact with the club after several years away. It was a few weeks before the convention in Itasca, Illinois, and as I spoke to Ken Wagman, he said "we've been searching for you for years, the convention is in three weeks. Be here!" Once there I saw old friends like Tom, Clay and made new friends like Air-Way Charlie, and Tania. However, my fondest memory was the next morning. I asked the manager of the Holiday Inn to unlock the meeting room for me. There before me were at least a dozen tables all holding vacuum cleaners! There were tears in my eyes, as I thought of John Lucia and I leaving Hoover and my asking, "think we should form a club?" It was not ego, or swelled pride, but more a feeling that our hard work was indeed worth it, that not only had our little club gotten off the ground, but was helping people from as young as 4, to men as old as 80 live their dream.

Alex Taber.

 

[caligula]

Hi Tom.

I'm going to be away at a gay campground in our area for the weekend, I'll share more memories of the early years of the club when i get home on Sunday evening.

Bob, Alex Taber.