Howdy, all! I am new here, but I am not what you would consider a collector. I've always admired Kirbys since my mom and my aunt each had a 1-CR. Once my brother was living at my aunt's house, and she was vacuuming his bedroom. In the process of doing so, she vacuumed up a .32 caliber bullet, and it discharged inside the vacuum. That old Kirby didn't miss a beat, just kept on Kirbyin'. This cemented my fondness for them, as they are LITERALLY "bullet proof".
So last Friday I was at a local thrift store, and I espied a gleaming vintage Kirby with attachments for $55. As it was Earth Day, everything was 50% off, making it $27.50. Score! Took it home, plugged it in and it works excellent! The bulb is burnt out, though-seems to be the only flaw. It is in superb shape-the cord is soft 'n' supple with no cracks (and still has the consumer warning/protection sticker near the plug), the bag seems like new, etc. I never thought I'd be so excited about a vacuum cleaner! I started to research the beast, and I came across something odd... The serial # tag states it is a 1-CR, which according to my research should be medium brown, gold bag-but this one isn't. It is dark blue. All of the accessories are the matching blue color, but the box is marked "Kirby Heritage". Again, my research shows that only the 'Tradition' line fro '79 to '81 was available in blue. One other odd thing: The serial number tag looks damaged and is not aligned straight, as though it was peeled off and then reapplied. Considering the rest of the vacuum is in such fine shape, it is strange that this one part is damaged. So what's the scoop, suction-heads? IS this a 1-CR? If so, was my research incomplete? If not, then what is it, and what the heck happened to the original serial number (note that this question is rhetorical, and I am not truly expecting you guys to know the answer
...)?
So last Friday I was at a local thrift store, and I espied a gleaming vintage Kirby with attachments for $55. As it was Earth Day, everything was 50% off, making it $27.50. Score! Took it home, plugged it in and it works excellent! The bulb is burnt out, though-seems to be the only flaw. It is in superb shape-the cord is soft 'n' supple with no cracks (and still has the consumer warning/protection sticker near the plug), the bag seems like new, etc. I never thought I'd be so excited about a vacuum cleaner! I started to research the beast, and I came across something odd... The serial # tag states it is a 1-CR, which according to my research should be medium brown, gold bag-but this one isn't. It is dark blue. All of the accessories are the matching blue color, but the box is marked "Kirby Heritage". Again, my research shows that only the 'Tradition' line fro '79 to '81 was available in blue. One other odd thing: The serial number tag looks damaged and is not aligned straight, as though it was peeled off and then reapplied. Considering the rest of the vacuum is in such fine shape, it is strange that this one part is damaged. So what's the scoop, suction-heads? IS this a 1-CR? If so, was my research incomplete? If not, then what is it, and what the heck happened to the original serial number (note that this question is rhetorical, and I am not truly expecting you guys to know the answer
...)?
