Hello all, first time poster here! Before I jump into questions let me first tell you my vacuum tale. When I moved out to college, my mom sent me off with a Dirt Devil EZ-Lite. It was... less than impressive at actually cleaning, but I liked it well enough. When I graduated in May, my sister was moving into her first apartment out at school as well, so she took the Dirt Devil with her and was, again, underwhelmed by it.
Now, I just recently got a job right by school and my roommate still hadn't lined up a replacement for me, so I moved back in but without a vacuum cleaner. I decided to go out last week to a local thrift store just to see what they had. Now, I'm a big fan of old, metal, retro appliances so I was aware of Kirby vacuums, but always assumed that they were ultra expensive and didn't really know much else about them. The concept of the shake-out vacuum bag, for example, was completely new to me. I thought all bag vacuums made you buy disposable paper bags (I'm from the 90's, give me a break). Imagine my excitement, then, when I found that the store was carrying not one, but two Kirby vacuum cleaners for $10 and $15 dollars each: a Classic III with a red plaid bag and a chrome handle, and the $15 unit was unlabeled, but looked a bit more modern and had blue trim (it turns out that it's a Tradition, but the label had work off) respectively. I decided to go with the Classic III because I liked the chrome handle and the red trim better.
So, I took it home and was immediately impressed. The construction was super solid (not injection molded plastic crap here!), the controls were very ergonomic, and the power was great not to mention the looks! Fast forward to this week, and I decided that I should go pick up the other one as a Christmas present for my poor sister who is still using that Dirt Devil. Unfortunately, the Tradition turns out to have had a rougher life than the Classic III (which had a vacuum cleaner store service sticker on it with a 10 digit phone number). The headlight doesn't work, it looks like the clip on brush part didn't fit right and carved into the aluminum nozzle, the handle is too loose for its support clip, the impeller shaft has surface rust, the hood latch (which the Classic III does not have) is broken, the case is oxidized, the safety/speed switch is jammed all the way down, and the electrical cord is partially wrapped in electrical tape. It was also had some cob webs in various places, suggesting that it sat in a basement somewhere for some time.
So, that brings me to my question asking:
1. All of the Classic IIIs I see online have the Tradition style handle with a red textured pattern, but mine has the chrome pole handle that seems to appear on older models. Is it an original part, or was it replaced at some point?
2. I read that on newer G-series models, you can learn when the vacuum was manufactured by reading its serial number. Mine both have different, shorter serial numbers. Does anyone know what they stand for?
3. Like I said above and as you see from the pictures, my Tradition is in a pretty poor state. Does anyone know of a good source for replacement parts for these old models? I'd like to refresh them both with some well earned new parts and a good polish.
4. Having been in production for so long, I assume that there is a good amount of part interchangeability with these vacuums. Are there any common "mods" that I can do here with newer parts? For example, I keep reading about Mini Emp-tors. What are those?
Well thanks for reading my essay. I appreciate any input!
Now, I just recently got a job right by school and my roommate still hadn't lined up a replacement for me, so I moved back in but without a vacuum cleaner. I decided to go out last week to a local thrift store just to see what they had. Now, I'm a big fan of old, metal, retro appliances so I was aware of Kirby vacuums, but always assumed that they were ultra expensive and didn't really know much else about them. The concept of the shake-out vacuum bag, for example, was completely new to me. I thought all bag vacuums made you buy disposable paper bags (I'm from the 90's, give me a break). Imagine my excitement, then, when I found that the store was carrying not one, but two Kirby vacuum cleaners for $10 and $15 dollars each: a Classic III with a red plaid bag and a chrome handle, and the $15 unit was unlabeled, but looked a bit more modern and had blue trim (it turns out that it's a Tradition, but the label had work off) respectively. I decided to go with the Classic III because I liked the chrome handle and the red trim better.
So, I took it home and was immediately impressed. The construction was super solid (not injection molded plastic crap here!), the controls were very ergonomic, and the power was great not to mention the looks! Fast forward to this week, and I decided that I should go pick up the other one as a Christmas present for my poor sister who is still using that Dirt Devil. Unfortunately, the Tradition turns out to have had a rougher life than the Classic III (which had a vacuum cleaner store service sticker on it with a 10 digit phone number). The headlight doesn't work, it looks like the clip on brush part didn't fit right and carved into the aluminum nozzle, the handle is too loose for its support clip, the impeller shaft has surface rust, the hood latch (which the Classic III does not have) is broken, the case is oxidized, the safety/speed switch is jammed all the way down, and the electrical cord is partially wrapped in electrical tape. It was also had some cob webs in various places, suggesting that it sat in a basement somewhere for some time.
So, that brings me to my question asking:
1. All of the Classic IIIs I see online have the Tradition style handle with a red textured pattern, but mine has the chrome pole handle that seems to appear on older models. Is it an original part, or was it replaced at some point?
2. I read that on newer G-series models, you can learn when the vacuum was manufactured by reading its serial number. Mine both have different, shorter serial numbers. Does anyone know what they stand for?
3. Like I said above and as you see from the pictures, my Tradition is in a pretty poor state. Does anyone know of a good source for replacement parts for these old models? I'd like to refresh them both with some well earned new parts and a good polish.
4. Having been in production for so long, I assume that there is a good amount of part interchangeability with these vacuums. Are there any common "mods" that I can do here with newer parts? For example, I keep reading about Mini Emp-tors. What are those?
Well thanks for reading my essay. I appreciate any input!
