Not your Grandma's 28....anymore...

[hoover1060]

I've had this old 28 sitting around for a while, it was given to me by its original owner shortly after I appeared on the "Collector's Corner" segment of the WLS-TV news here in Chicago.
The little old lady who'd owned it had bought an Oreck, after 60 years of using this Hoover.
This thing had had the crap used out of it.
The idea came a week or so ago when I gave Michael a metal model 28 hood to strip so we could repaint it.
Once Michael saw the rest of the 28, he had an idea: a 28 polished and shiny.
Here are the initial pics of the now "naked" 28.
Its a work in progress...

 

[hoover1060]

close up front view

Michael was up til 4am stripping the paint off this thing!

 

[hoover1060]

from the top...

So what color trim should we put on this? brown? Black? Red? blue? white? Grey? PANK??

 

[hoover1060]

glam shot

On top of it all, it runs pretty good!

 

[ttuee2006]

Oh Beautiful!!!!! I was thinking of doing something like this with my 28 since the base is pretty scratched up. The hood looks decent, but the body is all scratched. I think I may just do this! Looks really futuristic! Thanks for sharing!

 

[truckerx]

I think that...

....a nice shade of puce might look good ;-D

 

[hoover_elite_20]

I vote you just make it all shiny

Just like you have it now except for a little more shiny.

 

[truckerx]

Shiney ?

...Chrome Plate it !!

 

[gottahaveahoove]

seal griege, anyone??

That certainly was THE HOOVER color !!

 

[xraytech]

Jeff,

You and Michael sure did a great job on that 28 it looks stunning and very modern. As for a trim color I think like a Chestnut brown or a black trim would look the best with the polished silver.

 

[hoover28]

interesting

good job. black/white or red trim would look good.


Chris

 

[hoover1060]

The plan is...

to make it as shiny as a Kirby. This is mainly Michael's endeavor, I know he will make it happen.

Given the handle is brown, I was thinking Kirby Omega Rosewood brown would be nice...

 

[truckerx]

Best of luck

...with your endeavor !

 

[ttuee2006]

Hmm.....

Interesting that your 28 has a metal hood....mine's plastic! Feels kind of like bakelite or phenolic since it's heavy and seems to chip easily. The area right above the light has a couple of chips in it sadly (although I do have the light lens).

Mine has also been repainted at some point! Up until I discovered that, I was feeling kind of bad since I would be changing it from original.....but the covenant has been broken! Now I don't feel bad.

The motor seems to be in good shape as does the fan, so I'm happy about that. The brushroll has good bearings, but the bristles are totally gone......They're brittle as can get and break if you run your fingers down them! The belt was obviously trash, but a Sanitaire belt seems to be a perfect fit.

Since mine's already been repainted and worked on (and repainted poorly I might add) I'm considering stripping it, and repainting it something fun! It isnt original anyway, so who cares!

The one thing I'm upset about is that the moron who repainted it originally got brown paint on the Hoover logo! UGH!!!!

By the way.....what type light bulb do these machines take? Mine of course, is burned out...

 

[xraytech]

Jeff,

Cant wait to see the finished product and I think that the Kirby Rosewood brown would be the perfect color tho compliment all that polished metal

 

[charles~richard]

The metal helmet, according to Stan Kann when I found one at a vac shop once upon a time, was for commercial applications.

I agree, polishing it is gonna look really nice. That gives me an idea for a poor suffering model 150 I have, that someone painted dark charcoal gray. I might just give it the polished treatment as well! Another of many rainy day projects ... alas, rainy days in Southern California are few and far between...

 

[hoover1060]

28 hoods

came in three variations: Bakelite, aluminum, and stamped steel.
This 28 came from its original owner, an 80-something lady who lived just over in Elk Grove. She'd bought an Oreck to replace the 28 she'd been using for almost 60 years.

In its day, the 28 was Hoover's biggest selling model to date, having sold 897,000+ in its 4 year run. I have heard rumors but found no evidence to back it up that 28's were quietly made and sold as Commercial cleaners up through 1957.
I think they were cranking out 28's so fast they made the hoods out of whatever was available.

 

[ttuee2006]

So here's a question:

Is Bakelite even paintable? If it is, I'll do a fun color scheme, if it isn't I'll leave it alone and repaint the base the kind of tannish-brown it was originally, even though mine doesn't have the original paintjob!

 

[hoover1060]

sure it is...

choose colors wisely!