The first generation of the Powermate such as the one shown wasn't so well developed. Subsequent generations have stood the test of time and have become the industry standard. Current production Kenmore Powermates, Hayden Deluxe, Centec, Nutone and Panasonic powered floor brushes are all developments of the second generation Powermate and many parts are swappable across more than 35 model years. A second generation Powermate will work fine with this vacuum. That is what my examples came with. I use a Hayden Deluxe powered brush with them just to save the wear and tear on the originals.
Kirbyloverdan, I ran some model numbers of these same vacuums as well as the model number of an earlier steel bodied canister from the preceding generation past Sears in a letter, asking who actually made them. Sears reply was they were not built by Whirlpool but by Matsushita Electric Corporation of America. It may have been under contract to Whirlpool (I am still trying to understand how it worked), but according to Sears these vacuums were manufactured by Matsushita. They had several big plants in the US at the time. Before you protest consider that Whirlpool owns the Maytag name but contracts out the production of Maytag branded vacuums to Tacony. There is precedence for Whirlpool to contract out the production of their vacuums to third parties rather than build them in house. I believe that was the case with these. This takes nothing away from the excellence of their design and construction.
