Last Australian General Electric upright

[ozhoover]

Was give this GE Genie upright by a friend this weekend. The Genie was the last GE upright vac we had in OZ and ran from about 1983 to 1986. It's made in Germany and is still running strong even the headlight still works

Mark

 

[ozhoover]

and again

 

[vac-o-matic]

Genie

Great looking machine, sure does look similar to the Regina Brush "n" Beat that we had here in the states. Anyone know if they're related?

 

[ian88]

I like that don't see many GE uprights (well I haven't lol)

I wonder if the Regina Brush N Beat is similar to our Electrolux 170? (Electrolux europes first upright, i'll find a pic)

In the pic its at the bottom next to the yellowy cream Electrolux 500

 

[ian88]

Actually the Handle grip looks similar too (same colour as the yellow trim)

 

[ohio_tuec]

That's a nice looking cleaner. I'll bet anything that this machine was produced by MacDonald Electric (the same company that built the first Orecks - the CVR/XL-4000) series.

 

[ozhoover]

Ian,

We also had the Electrolux 150 down under but it was sold under the Volta brand name as where all the Electrolux upright models in Australia until about 5 years ago when the Electorlux brand name was removed from the door to door product and relunched as a retail store brand.

We also had a another machine just like the Genie made and sold down under by PYE in the 1960's called the Stratovac.

Mark

 

[ian88]

Heh, now that Pye cleaner is VERY interesting :]
I thought they just made old radios in the UK in the 60s/70s lol

All we need now is an ITT one..

Ian

 

[ian88]

Yeah that cleaning head of the Stratovac looks a lot like the Lux 170's, bit more curvy/classically styled than the GE upright..less angular

(and thats me last multipost )

Ian

 

[funvacfan]

Hi all, completly new to this site. That ge genie is exactly like my Clarke vacuum. Mine is a nice shade of red, and the bag says Clarke Industrial. It also says made in Germany. Who really made these vacuums?

On a different note, I love that early Electrolux upright on the bottom right of Ian's picture. Do you ever see these for sale?

Great site indeed!

Guy

 

[74simon]

I'm sure the GE

was badged as a Philips in the UK - a very similar looking machine in orange and brown appeared on Ebay UK a while back. I remember thinking how similar the hood looked to the Hoover Ranger. I'm sure GE and Philips weren't connected in any way though. Odd...

The Pye is fascinating - I've heard of earlier Pye uprights, but never seen one of these. Is it British built, Mark?

Si

 

[ian88]

Well, Funvacfan I got my Electrolux 170 from a carboot sale (ya know, flea market..whatever lol) but I guess you could still find them lieing about, they made them (in 152/160 forms also) from about the late 60s to the early 80s..so they had a good run I guess, the 170 was the last of the "100 series" when they were replaced by the also dirty air 400 series.

I dunno if they had them all over europe or if it was a UK only cleaner..anyone care to elaborate?

Ian

 

[converto-skip]

Guy

The Clarke's were in fact made in Germany. They made most of all the Clarke's We have here in the US

Skip...

 

[converto-skip]

Guy

Those luxes are on the UK ebay site every now and then

Skip...

 

[chestermikeuk]

Pye & Phillips

Hi Mark

Cute vacs, love the Pye one, is that the one from Aus ebay a few months ago??? looks almost like the Lux 160 range...

Simon, The Genie was sold here as a Philips, we sold them in Trident (1970`s large Independant Electrical Store In UK)

Karl, you flicked my brain with the McDonald, Trident imported a number of vacs at really discount prices, one was the McDonald vac and the others where the 1970`s Regina Housekeeper in garish shades of Pink and Blue, first we had seen with onboard hoses, the handles failed spectacularly, snapping all over the place along with the brush roll housing cracking, most where recalled and where refunded/ swapped for other models...

Mike

 

[tolivac]

"PYE" to me was a Phillips line of commercial and broadcast electronic equipment such as TV cameras,switchers and TV transmitters--the big "PYE" name across their top panels!It was very nice equipment some imported to the US after meeting FCC specs.