Ok I am also a Kirby buff...and I am on my soap box...hehe
Please do not take what I have to say to heart, but like most of the people on youtube that show what they think they know of Kirbys, they do not find out the correct information first before they start telling and then they say incorrect information. I was a school teacher for 13 years and I taught my students to find their information first before they started talking about it and find the correct informaion and learn about it all they can first before they start telling how much they know. I really admire anyone for their dedication and eagerness to show of their finds and jewels/Kirbys, but ask questions.
Yes there are many of us older collectors who specialize in Kirbys. I have learned many things from Charles Richard and Alex Taber and many, many Kirby vacuums store head salesmen and distributors. I have known Alex and Charles Richard for nearly 20 years and they are full of knowledge as well as Stan, he was a marvel even of Kirbys. Sadly, the gentlemen that were distributors who knew their product backward and forward and the history of their product are now becoming and thing of our past, so if you have one in your area some of these older gentlemen you need to go and them and sit and talk with him. Even go to your local Kirby store and ask if there are some older salesmen who have retired, if they are in the area. Find all the information you can and listen to him or to as many people as you can and then make your own assumption.
Yes, Charles is correct the manuals or store books were not always correct in their information, no matter if it came from the factory or not, most of them were horribly incorrect. As well as many of the owners manuals, did not have the correct vacuum displayed in many of the illustrations, the pictures that was showing how the vacuum work. There is only one of the books that I know will show the metal "push-push" switch, and there is only one of the Sanitronic VII that showed the white cord.
I feel that since I have a very musical ear as well as Charles we hear different tones and sounds that most people can not. Not everyone can tell the difference when a bearing is bad or not, or if the sound of blade missing or bent or if the brush roll is bad, even though they think they do. Every brand of vacuum has its own unique sound, even when the motor is not sounding correctly. Sadly the older bearings for the older Kirbys are being absolete, and the only thing we can do now is to repack them.
Try to listen to these older gentlemen who owned and managed Kirby stores, even men who did the repair work. The sad thing is that like I said many have gone now and the new young ones do not know one thing from another about the older Kirbys at all.
I believe in my opinion is that the 515 with the bag assembley replacement it is not neccessarily the air flow, and yes it can change some and that assembly can cause lose of suction, but he does not have the belt on. You can hear that, because the sound you hear is as if he was using the attachments. Sadly it is not original although he says, it is a great looking machine but the wheels are not correct as he said the cord is not, but again it looks great and would be easily fixed to original.
Reggie, who is a good friend here in Denver (CompactC9) although it sounds awesome I should know it was mine and I gave it to him because I had duplicates. The belt lifter is not correct of course but I did not have an original at the time and Reggie wanted it either way. The motor was refirbished by the Kirby dealer here in Denver who is almost in his 70's and I have known him since I lived here in Denver for 14 years. His name is Gary George,he has sold Kirbys since the 514 and his father had the Kirby buisness before him. He has wonderful knowlege and loves to tell about it and someday I might get a video of him telling us what he knows. He has almost every book/manual of every machine that Kirby made. If he gets an old machine in he will let me know and sell it to me. Yes he knows about the fans, motors, cords, colors, everything. I have learned so much from him as well as my other vacuum collectors, he has several older machines besided Kirbys on display in his office, although he has moved recently, and I do not think he has as much room as he once has. Not only Gary but several people I have met over the years as far back as when I started collecting when I was in the 6th grade. The vacuum store i would go to for repair and buffing, he would tell me so many things it was great.
Yes the big huge poster that shows the vintage Kirbys is absolutely incorrect, it does not have the entire line up of the machines, or correct bags etc. Kirby and most companys did not care about their older machines but of how to make a profit.
Althought the gentleman who has the 560 machine said that his , macnine had the original 562 bag was not correct. That was the only tan replacement bag for the Sanitronics and even went up as far as the Classic Omegas they would put that bag on them as well as a replacement. They basically could and did put that on many of the older Kirbys as a replacement along with that plain gold bag. I also have sevral of the styles of the grey replacment bags they had for the older machines over the years and yes these came from the Kirby company. I even have a couple of bags that look funky that were replacements for Kribys from none Kirby stores. I also have many parts and hoses and boxes for the older machines. Charles Richard even knows how much I like to have the vacuums correctly that I will even repaint the logo back on the bags if it has faded off. Many of my original bags are faded but do not care they are the original. I will sew, patch any of the bags to have the vacuum original, that goes for my none Kirbys as well. I will go as far as to replace the spring in the bottom of the bags so they will be correct. Always, my Kirbys or any of my vacuums that have headlights must be working and lit. One must becareful to get the correct bulb for certain machines. My oldest Kirby I ever owned was the Scott and Fetzer early non electric push vaccuum, then the sanitation system, electric with the first Sani-empter, with the rolling brush head, like a carpet sweeper.
As far as fans go in my opinion when a plastic fan is added there some slit difference in the sound but you sometimes can only tell when you pic up a small pebble through the machine a "ting" sound if it is metal and a "whack" sound if it is plastic. The newer blades will help the preformance of the suction on the machine but then it is not original. Sadly I believe there are no more metal fans available for the odler Kirbys. A Kirby dealer and I many years ago put a plastic fan on a 509, with the help of washers and the like and it ran just fine and had more suction than it originally did and I used to clean a small apartment complex I cleaned the floors in the hallways with it.
I am so glad that you love Kirbys as much as I do. I have in my home movies of me around 3-4 pushing our brand new Dual 80. I wll try to put it on youtube someday, it is very short but it will show the original vacuum. Good luck in your hunting for vacuums and if I have something you may need or want just ask. I do have some duplicates and would be willing to trade or share. Charles knows me well enough, that I would do this.
