Oh Mercy, those DAMn Power Drives.

[aeoliandave]

Had Saturday free, it was warm (61F) and sunny, so it was vacuum and detail the Subaru. First I went over to Williams Coffee Pub for lunch to find it closed with a 'Non Payment of Rent' notice on the door!
Williams Coffee Pubs began in Stratford as an upscale same price alternative to Tim Hortons. They have Franchise Pubs across SW Ontario but this one is the original. They have free Wi-Fi so it's a great place to go read the Saturday/Sunday papers, do a little surfing and get a good meal.

Well, I went over to their second location and that one is still open.

The scoop is, the manager Lady at Store #1 skipped the country with the bank account & payroll packet on Friday.

The secomd location is right next to the Mazda Dealership and the Salvatioon Army Store so I perused the new Mazdas and of course went into the Sally Ann.

Yup, I espied a plain but decent vacuum. Half Price Day so I got it for $12. Whoo-hoo!

Dial-A-Matic Power Drive Model 1172 in superior condition and the handle isn't wobbly. No hose or tools but a pack of bags and 4 extra belts for the brushroll and transmission.

 

[aeoliandave]

The colors ain't much to get excited about but I like the early styling as opposed to the later redesign with headlight.

Both DAMs side by side. #1178 on the left.

I want/need/must have the Poppy Red one...

 

[aeoliandave]

Also picked up the plain white with plastic jug General Electric Blender #D5BLI.

The former owner's Magic Marker reminder marks came right off with Magic Eraser. Nontheless, I have a spare glass jug with measurement scale to put on it.

Stay tuned - more later - I'm off for lunch and a power drive to blow the cobwebs out of the turbo...

 

[gottahaveahoove]

I have the poppy red one too

Funny, I like the other style with the light better. That's why there's chocolate and vanilla, I guess.

 

[aeoliandave]

Oh, I like the light just fine, John. It's the exhaust grill styling - but we all understand how the original long grill bars are susceptible to breaking. Until I found this example I assumed all Power Drives had the trapezoidal grill. But I was wrong...terribly terribly wrong...

Also the cord jacket is of a stiffer vinyl plastic composition so it is not as snaky flexible.

But that's 'bean counter' progress in action.

I don't know why, when so many dismiss the DAM Manual and Power Drive alike, but I love the sleek shape and utility of these machines which represent the tail-end of the Industrial Streamline movement that sought to minimally hide the 'ugly' essential mechanical bits under a smooth shell of sculptural and practical beauty with no sharp corners to catch on things and no crevices & indents to gather dust poop. And of course there are so many colour combinations matching Hoover's product line of Polishers, Portable Cleaning Centers, Constellations and so on...
The added complexity of Power Assist on any upright thrills me unspeakably.

The move to more awkward and angular styling of the 1970s was a disappointment to me, as exemplified in the boring look-alike squared-off boxes Automobiles were cloaked in. Chrysler, Ford, GM, these sharp cornered shoebox shapes went out of their way to emphasize the negligibility of the mechanicals underneath with huge wasteful volumes trapped air and bore no relationship to the function of those hidden engines, gears, levers and human passengers.

By Vacuum Cleaner example, I submit the Sunbeam Challenger canister vacuum cleaner. Has an uglier vacuum ever been foisted upon the public on purpose under the guise of Progress? Yes yes, I know the Challenger was designed by an engineer's wife so she could simply pluck up the tools she needed without stooping but dear gawd, a stylist would have tucked the wands horizontally along the sides and laid the tools flat in a detachable carryall basket. There is no way to neatly store away this vacuum other than give over the entire closet floor to it's sprawling and astonishing monstrosity. At least it has a cordwinder.

Whereas, imho, Streamlining celebrated the mechanical workings through organic contours that hugged the inner workings for a smaller more efficient package that soothed the eyes rather than jarred them. Another example, Raymond Loewy's superb S-1 1949 re-packaging of the Singer R upright. Hoover clearly saw the light, took notice and followed his lead to the Future with the Dial-A-Matic.

I'm convinced the final DAM auto-drive would have had an internal cordwinder but instead Hoover's next crack of the bat gave us the ungainly - and that much more lovable for it - Concept 1. Obviously, all in my own opinion.

The rest of my DAMn thread is about non-vacuum related things so I'll start another thread over in Off Topic.

Dave

 

[henry200]

ugly Challenger

I remember thinking the Challenger was groovy when it came out and I still love it for its shameless kitchiness.