My Singer E-2

[kirbyvertibles]

Hello,
well I got out both of my Singer E-2s to show since we have been talking about Singers. Now these belonged to my favorite aunt Phyllis who loved these vacuums. She told me that they were her favorite out of all the ones she owned. She always said she bought the first one in 1959 and loved it so much that she went right up to the store and bought the second one.
Tonight I took it apart and looked at the date and it was made in 1958 so she was right on with the era that she got it.
Now as far as her family and I know these were her only vacuums from 1959 till she got her first upright in 1974 ( except for a Regina Elektric broom from the late 60's and another from the mid 70's)(and I have both of those now) any how she cleaned her house so much that she used these three of four time a day 7 days a week. Thank God it was a little house at that time. In 1974 her family which consisted of her, the husbend and 4 kids over doubled the size of the house and with that added the new upright. A brand new Kirby Classic Omega. (I also now have). The Singers still got there normal use along with the Kirby however her kids say that after the house got bigger she kind of gave up on cleaning everyday. All through the 70's she had trouble with the top of the handle breaking on the Kirby so, the last time it broke she ordered the new one and also went to K-Mart and bought a blue Hoover Convertible plastic base with the UK ranger hood. By this time the Singers didn't get used as much, maybe once a month and she kept them on the inclosed front porch and the Kirby went to the back of the house for the bedrooms and the Hoover stayed in the living room area. Yes I also have the Convertible. I bought her a nice Concept one right before she passed on and she gave me all the other vacuums except the Singers, I could NOT have them as long as she was alive. Anyhow when she passed on her husband called me over to get the Concept and Singers. As I was loading them up in my car he them told me never to tell the kids ( now all adults in their 40's) that I have the Singers. I asked him why with a laugh and he said that they were already arguing over who was going to take Mamma's Singers because that's what they remember being her favorite vacuums. After he passed on one of them did ask me if I had them and of coarse I told him I did. He said well that's good, just make sure you get them tuned up and keep for your collection and everyone agrees it's best for the vacuums to be retired after ( at that time) 45 years of HARD useage.

 

[kirbyvertibles]

The pics

Sorry for the long story but I love that story and wanted to share. Plus it was kind of nice stopping to think about my old aunt Phyllis. We were very close, so close she was our neighbor.
Now I know they look BAD BAD BAD but they still sound as smooth as can be. NO rough bearing noise, NO loud dirty fans, No arcing. They smell and sound great with great suction. I don't know if she ever had them serviced or not. The only thing that I did to them was replace a cord on one of them because it had mostly wires showing the full length of the cord. The hose is another story. NO suction through it. Sadly I only have one hose. When we were first looking through her stuff both hoses were there and allthe attachments including one white Singer turbo tool. After I went back to get those vacuums most of the attachments were gone except for one hose two wands and the floor brush. Even the paper bags that were with them were gone. How do you think they got so rusty?
Before I took the picture I cleaned and scrubbed them. That is just what they look like. I guess it might be from so many years of being stored on the unheated porch? I plan to ask Marty, or Glen, or anyone who would be willing to attempt repainting and buffing them for me. What do you painters think, can the twins be saved?

 

[kirbyvertibles]

Even if I can't get them painted I will keept them forever no matter how ugly they are.

 

[kirbyvertibles]

This is a little off subject but...

I wasalso working on another vacuum getting it cleaned up and such and wanted to know a little about it. I don't know a whole lot about GE swivel tops. About what year is this from and was it a top of the line or a cheaper model and about how much did it go for?
It just purrrrrrs like a kitty and has that wonderful GE smell to it. This machine is very clean and has strong suctiuon but the hose does not have suction. It still looks great but is worthless except for display. It has all of it's attachments. I got this not to long ago from one of my customers who found it at one of his reletives houses and thought I might want it.

 

[kirbyvertibles]

LOL you can see in the lower left hand corner a dog bone. My Black Lab Rascal has to help every chance he gets and ALWAYS have a bone with him. Let me tell you that bone hurts when he decides he's done with it for a while because he shakes his head and lets go of it so it will go flying as hard and fast as it can. Thank God it has never hit anything breakable just a shin or a knee cap or maybe the TV screen,lol
He doesn't mind the uprights but when it comes to canisters he's okay until that blasted hose turns on. YIKES!!! Then he freakes. I guess me chasing him doesn't really help now does it.

 

[arh1953]

That's a neat story about the Singers, and the GE is the twin of the one my mother got maybe in the beginning of 1961, with a floor washer attatchment. She gave it to my sister in the early '70s, and who knows where it went. I am the only sentimental vacuum person in my family. GE was my favorite of all of ours.

 

[williamr1248]

My Singer e-2

Phillip,
Thanks so much for sharing your story. It makes the pictures that much more interesting. It is so different to me to hear how many vacuum people will buy in their lifetime. My parents only owned 3 and they are still using 2 of them today. They had a 66 Air-Way,88 Air-Way and a Hoover dial-a-matic (which I used yesterday while I was visiting)
I remember the Singer Sewing Center having displays of that very machine. I always thought the Singer colors were neat and they looked very high quality. Thanks for sharing the story and pictures.
Rob

 

[aeoliandave]

Philip, I think the two of them look simply wonderful, complete with biography. Sure, it's a shame they are suffering from that hideous skin disease that develops when stored in wildly fluctuating temp & humidity conditions over 45 years. You say they run strong and smooth and I expect they are relatively, if not completely, rust-free inside the bag compartment (?).
That factor alone would compel me to expend every effort to restore one as much as possible. Disassembly, surface preparation and paint matching the outer shell would be fairly simple. Li'l Ricky Crevicetool knows all about that...

I've not yet been up close and personal with the Singer C series so I'm asking if the Singer Medallion is a separate disc or is it a decal? If separate it should clean up nicely and can be touched up by hand with some model paints.

If it's a decal of course it will be lost in the re-painting (unless it is good enough that you can mask it out with low adhesion removable painter's tape). Someone could take a splendid head-on picture of a good one for you to print on photo paper, laminate and affix in position.

To restore or leave as is...I'm in the same quandary about my Mom's red & green mongrel Electrolux 89. It has a certain nostalgic charm as is with the mix & match parts and yet it would be so easy to replace the red parts with the green ones. But then it wouldn't be Mom's vac. :-( Think I answered my own question since I already have a nice all green 89. I will do all I can to keep Mom's 89 in the cheerful Christmas colors by pairing it with a red 86/88 woven hose and accessories. After all I did get it this Christmas after decades of assuming it to be long lost so it'll add to the Family Heritage story as remaining all Mom's vac with Dad's mighty clever economical handyman transplants to keep it alive.

Just thinking out loud.

Dave

 

[petek]

Nice story. If it t'was me and it held very sentimental purpose then I would definitely have it refinished as and when time permits. It's no different really than say a car or something you love, you'd want it repainted and roadworthy not sitting there all rusted out.