man114
Well-known member
For whatever reason I researching Fantom this morning, particularly the Wildcat. I didn't know they had any sort of real following so I figured like the old commercials I'd tell my Fantom story.
First of all I'm in Buffalo, they were importing these right through here so Fantom was everywhere around here. When they first released the 11amp models Lechmere was selling them in plain brown unprinted boxes (not like the later stuff), and was as far as I know they only retailer outside of Sears that had them back then. I was only like 10 at the time but somehow convinced my parents to buy one for me. Power switch no longer works but my grandparents use it at their house now serial number is really low on that one. It was pre hepa but through some sort of program they let you get two filters and a housing to replace the dust cap.
Like I said they were all over the place there, you could pretty much go down to the main warehouse and get them if you wanted (if I recall they sold refurbs right there).
When you had the earlier ones start to die off, or have minor problems, people were donating them to thrift stores, or curbing them. Aside from the Thunder which had loads of parts they were pretty easy to fix quickly. I was fixing them and selling them to people at work for a good while in the late 1990s.
Over the years I ended up wound up owning over dozen or so Thunders or its 11 amp derivative. I still have probably a pallet of them in the barn at my grandparents (I'll still pick one up on occasion, found a nearly mint Thunder for $25 a few months ago, and an 11 amp one with no HEPA for $10). I have two Kenmore Destinys one my sister uses downstairs at her house, the other I scored NOS when they were liqudating but my mom uses it. I have a few Furys still floating around 2 or 3 all 12 amp. I had another 10 amp one that I assembled from two broken ones but sold it off to a lady I work with who still has it.
I have thrown together a few from spare parts like the Thunder in my garage. I failed on occasion too. I found a 9 amper tossed in the trash but couldn't find a collection bin to work as the cone was slightly longer than that of the Thunder (or at least the rubber seal at the bottom of it was). Many of the parts were direct interchanges, I still have the motor as a spare, it fits fine in the Thunder housing.
Other models, I have maybe 4 or 5 lightnings only two have complete working powerheads but all the canister portions work. My dad uses one in his finished basement because it works well on the low berber carpeting. I have one Crosswind 200 but its a refurb so it has a black special edition Fury deckplate. I have 2 Cyclone XTs, one is like new but the circuit board is shot for the bottom brush roller is shot, so I have salvage it from the other which is basically a parts machine. I have 2 Wildcats, one Green one Blue, they rarely get used though. I don't think the design is that great outside of cosmetic appeal, but they don't really work too bad, they're pretty good for bare floors. Also have one of those Drytech ones which have a pretty unique roller brush.
I don't really have a special attachment to Fantom in any particular way other than that they were plentiful around here, relatively easy to work on once you figured them out, and I was able to sell them with decent resale value because they were priced quite a bit higher than most back then (I could easily garbage pick, clean and repair one and make $75-100 on an hours worth of work back in the late 90s when a Thunder was pushing $200+ still).
I still do it though, if I see that lonely Thunder for $10 at the thrift or on big garbage day I still grab it, maybe not for resale but for fun. I still actively use 3 myself one 11 and 2 12 amp ones (including the really nice $25 one I got a while back), occasionally I'll do the bare floor with the Wildcat, most of the time I use the Dysons now though but I've still got my buckets of parts, no less than 5 spare motors, a complete parts Thunder and Cyclone XT so I have to do something with all the stuff.
First of all I'm in Buffalo, they were importing these right through here so Fantom was everywhere around here. When they first released the 11amp models Lechmere was selling them in plain brown unprinted boxes (not like the later stuff), and was as far as I know they only retailer outside of Sears that had them back then. I was only like 10 at the time but somehow convinced my parents to buy one for me. Power switch no longer works but my grandparents use it at their house now serial number is really low on that one. It was pre hepa but through some sort of program they let you get two filters and a housing to replace the dust cap.
Like I said they were all over the place there, you could pretty much go down to the main warehouse and get them if you wanted (if I recall they sold refurbs right there).
When you had the earlier ones start to die off, or have minor problems, people were donating them to thrift stores, or curbing them. Aside from the Thunder which had loads of parts they were pretty easy to fix quickly. I was fixing them and selling them to people at work for a good while in the late 1990s.
Over the years I ended up wound up owning over dozen or so Thunders or its 11 amp derivative. I still have probably a pallet of them in the barn at my grandparents (I'll still pick one up on occasion, found a nearly mint Thunder for $25 a few months ago, and an 11 amp one with no HEPA for $10). I have two Kenmore Destinys one my sister uses downstairs at her house, the other I scored NOS when they were liqudating but my mom uses it. I have a few Furys still floating around 2 or 3 all 12 amp. I had another 10 amp one that I assembled from two broken ones but sold it off to a lady I work with who still has it.
I have thrown together a few from spare parts like the Thunder in my garage. I failed on occasion too. I found a 9 amper tossed in the trash but couldn't find a collection bin to work as the cone was slightly longer than that of the Thunder (or at least the rubber seal at the bottom of it was). Many of the parts were direct interchanges, I still have the motor as a spare, it fits fine in the Thunder housing.
Other models, I have maybe 4 or 5 lightnings only two have complete working powerheads but all the canister portions work. My dad uses one in his finished basement because it works well on the low berber carpeting. I have one Crosswind 200 but its a refurb so it has a black special edition Fury deckplate. I have 2 Cyclone XTs, one is like new but the circuit board is shot for the bottom brush roller is shot, so I have salvage it from the other which is basically a parts machine. I have 2 Wildcats, one Green one Blue, they rarely get used though. I don't think the design is that great outside of cosmetic appeal, but they don't really work too bad, they're pretty good for bare floors. Also have one of those Drytech ones which have a pretty unique roller brush.
I don't really have a special attachment to Fantom in any particular way other than that they were plentiful around here, relatively easy to work on once you figured them out, and I was able to sell them with decent resale value because they were priced quite a bit higher than most back then (I could easily garbage pick, clean and repair one and make $75-100 on an hours worth of work back in the late 90s when a Thunder was pushing $200+ still).
I still do it though, if I see that lonely Thunder for $10 at the thrift or on big garbage day I still grab it, maybe not for resale but for fun. I still actively use 3 myself one 11 and 2 12 amp ones (including the really nice $25 one I got a while back), occasionally I'll do the bare floor with the Wildcat, most of the time I use the Dysons now though but I've still got my buckets of parts, no less than 5 spare motors, a complete parts Thunder and Cyclone XT so I have to do something with all the stuff.
