Kenmore Magicord Duo Power

[vacman117]

My dad owns a plumbing business, so he sees a lot of people, and a lot of houses. Whenever he spots some kind of old vacuum, he always asks if the owner would part with it, and mentions that I collect them and this and that. It's actually gotten me quite a few neat vacuums. But the other day he was at an older lady's house, and she had this gem sitting in her basement. Of course, my dad asked about it and she let it go. It is in pretty rough shape, and missing the power nozzle and crevice tool, but it was well taken care of at the same time. The cord reel seems to be broken, but I'm thinking that maybe some of these did not come with one? Because there is the hole to where the cord would feed through if it had a cord reel, and under it, there is a small hole just the size of the cord that the cord runs though. And when I stick my finger inside where the cord reel slot is, I can feel no cord reel. I'm not sure if that will make sense to anyone though. But it runs great, and with some TLC it will look pretty good. I have been after one of these for a long time, so I was really excited to have gotten this.

Chase

 

[henry200]

Most likely the cordwinder probably quit at some point and the cord was retrofitted the way you find it now as a cheap fix.  Keep your eyes peeled, a powermate for it might turn up and you'll have a nice fully functional Kenmore!

 

[briankirbyclass]

Excellent find! Yes, this model most definatly DID have a cord reel. The "Sears Best" sticker on the front indicates it was the TOP of the line model at the time. Even some of the bottom of the line models had a cord reel. Back in those days, if there was a selection of the same type of items, Sears put the "Sears Best" sticker on the absolute best,top of the line, had the most features and also the most expensive if the item.
Too bad it dosent have the PN,,but if you keep an eye on E-Bay, or local auctions, Craigs List, ect., you may just find one.

Back in the day,when this model was new (mid 1970s, i was about 10-12 yrs old),
Our local mall had a large Sears store that had a showroom in the main area of the store of all the vacs, where they would demo the different models, leaving them sit out on bright red plush carpet,,and plugged in ready for use to show to any passerby that stopped to watch.
The salesmen would scatter kitty litter, shredded fabric, wool,small gravel, dust and dirt, ect, all over the carpet, in rows, infront of the vacs that were on the floor, ready to show exactly how much power the vac had. I was in LOVE with these models with the PN, especially the ones with the 10 foot hose. I remember the green ones, and then when they chaged to blue in the late 1970s.
Have never owned one, but hope to someday!

 

[kenmore81]

Very nice. To bad it didn't have the pn, I think you will find one. Hang on to this one as they are becoming more rare.

 

[thevacuumguy96]

Nice find! The vacuum shop here that I work at has one of those in for repair. Kind of a neat looking vacuum. Except the one in the shop here has brown attachments and has the original P/N. Great find though!