The Kirby Tradition was the first model to introduce the Lexan fan. No Traditions had the metal fan. Tom Gasko confirmed this for me, as he is the Curator of the Vacuum Cleaner Museum in St. James, Missoui. He also sold Kirbys in the late 70s and he witnessed the first shipment of Traditions come into St. Louis in 1979 and none of them had metal fans. It was in Late 1979 that Kirby fired the man resposible for that ill fated headlight hood switch and they went back to the Classic Omega style switch. This time, it had a blue rubber coat over the switch to protect it from mositure from the Rug Renovator. That, too, was short lived. There are so many brand new Traditions still being found because when the Heritage came out in the Fall of 1981, Kirby salesmen did not sell the rest of their stock of Traditions because it was such a terrible model. Kirby would not get it right until thrre years later when the Heritage II was introduced. That model was the most improved Kirby of it's time and it sold very well. By the time Kirby released the Generation 3 in the Spring of 1990, Kirby's were being sold for $900 door to door. The new Kirby Avalir is still being door exclusively door to door and costs twice that much of a Kirby Legend II.