My Childhood GE Vacuum Cleaner....

[massagemiracle]

Its on Chicago's Craigslist. Found it by total luck, I have to have it. I loved that vacuum, I would follow it around while mom pulled it around the house. I loved the exhaust, the smell of the motor. Thats why we have such connections to our past and love of vacuums.

 

[massagemiracle]

A second Picture of the vacuum.

 

[massagemiracle]

I would love to get my hands on it to completely refurbish it. Just to take my time to bring it back to life.



http://chicago.craigslist.org/wcl/app/2553131777.html

 

[henry200]

I hope you get it!  If the seller isn't willing to take it to a pack-and-send place maybe a Chicago area member here could help you.  Finding something with such a strong memory/attachment from our childhood means the world to people like us!

 

[massagemiracle]

I have already emailed her and ask her  if Iwere to send her extra cash to ship, would she. And she refuses, I could be a bogus buyer,or it could be fake money orders,  it just scares her to death to do it. And she would rather have it picked up only.  So I guess that I will be taking a trip next week, I have to have that vacuum!

 

[aeoliandave]

Certainly looks like a General Electric Air-Flo AVT-somethingorother. I have a few GE cylinder models and the one you're after has the later smooth chrome end caps.

Ah, the thrill of the chase. I see the posting has been deleted so...

Good Luck and have a pleasant weekend drive, Ben.

Dave

GE AVT-70 set

 

[aeoliandave]

1948 AVT 172 advert with shiny chrome caps.

 

[aeoliandave]

1947 AVT 70 advert with brown wrinkletone caps.

 

[henry200]

A mystery solved!

I have had this tool for the longest time and never knew what kind of vacuum it came with until seeing these pics!

 

[massagemiracle]

Yes the one in the posting is like the one we had, the pictures that are posted are a more expensive model of the ge we had. I had one of these at my other home in Bainbridge but don't have it now.

 

[goadie12]

Oh very nice I have the same GE but I dont have any of the attachments or hose very nice. Zach

 

[eurekaprince]

My beloved childhood canister was also a GE Airflo AVT! I used to play with the hose and the tools all the time!!!!

Ours was identical to the milk-chocolate one that Stratford Dave is showing, except our hose and tools were very different. Ours must have been a later edition. Our attachments were all in a matching chocolate brown colour, and the hose was a darker brown with a different stripe. Our upholstery nozzle and carpet nozzle were brown plastic and not metal.

Interesting story from the early 1960's: Dad used to take me and my brother to his advertising office on Sundays if he needed to go into work for a few hours. One Sunday when I was about 4 or 5 years old, he asked us to help him bring the GE vac to the office so he could do some cleaning. I was proudly holding a box of the tools as we made our way up the elevator, but when a stranger got onto the elevator, I remember feeling so embarassed about loving my tools that I immediately dropped them to the floor!!! An hour or two later, while Dad was vacuuming his office, I noticed he was using the bare floor brush on the carpet under his desk.....I was mortified!

 

[massagemiracle]

I just got another email from the owner of the GE I want in Chicago. She is a teacher and just doesn't have time to pack a sweeper and ship it to who knows where. So much for that vac!