Once in a decade vintage vacuum haul !!!

[bnsd60m9200]

Several months ago, a gentleman posted here about vintage vacuums for sale up in amarillo. originally for sale as one lot, i kept in contact with him to see if there was a chance his boss would permit invidiual sale of the machines. after the bidder dropped out, a few months went by and henry emailed me and asked if i was still interested. BOY was i!

sean curry and i called around to some of our collector friends we knew, got lists ready, and arranged a date to go pilfer thru the machines. henry (the gentleman in amarillo) had posted several hundred photos of what was up there and deteremined it was worth the trip. the photos below are what led up to the trip. a trip to a true value in iowa park where the store seemed to be stuck in 1980. a wonderful vintage dept store in Memphis ,TX called Greene dry goods where new owners bought the place and it was like walking into an american pickers episode. next was our arrival in amarillo that afternoon, a dinner at the big texas steak ranch, and obligitory trip to cadillac ranch.

 

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the next morning we started an 8 hour methodic picking of many many boxes of vintage vacuum attachments in one building, then machines in the other building ( a few miles apart) . we got the back story of the vacuum shop owner who used to work in amarillo, and died, his son called henry's company to get rid of the vacuums. the vac shop repairman hadnt worked since the 80's, hence the sudden stop of machines after the late 1970's. there was SOOO much stuff to go thru. it was overwhelming, even for me and that takes quite a bit of doing to do. henry was even nice enough to bring the box of vacuum manuals... we bought the entire box including the mc allister manual i posted earlier. total between sean and i, we spent about $700 on everything.

this next photo shows as we were loading up my country squire for the drive home. my wagon was stuffed FULL TO THE BRIM with machines and boxes of parts.

 

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filling up at the loves in wichita falls after dropping off a kenmore powermate to westen peirce. you can see how full the wagon really was in this view

 

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unloaded totally the next morning (sunday) at sean's. this is everything no attachments only, including out scores at green's dry goods, and the true value as well as the amarillio haul. the is the overall

 

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closeup of machines part 1,

Scott and Fetzer Sanitation system with sani emtor, parts convertible, 1963 sears duo power magicord powermate, 1960's b&w zenith portable TV, penncrest constellation, compact c-1, kirby 505 box and kirby tradition attachments, kenmore abc power nozzle, kirby dual sanitronic 50, singer canister, singer s2 upright.

 

[kenkart]

A C1

Compact..and a small Powermate!!!plus a Kenmore Duo Power upright!!MAN what a score!!!!Congratulations!!

 

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closeup of machines part 2
kenmore whirpool uprights (left model is basis design for oreck machines), regina 3 speed electrik- broom, rca whirlpool bambi, hoover 1010 covertible hood, ge swiveltop, vintage greene dry goods "rand" men's dress shoes, greene dry goods shirt. penncrest a138 convertible with cord reel. apex sprayer kit, electrolux tan g box with various attachments and parts.

 

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closeup 3, GE swiveltop attachments, sunbeam dual deluxe air power brush roll, westinghouse turbo tools, box of vtg vacuum bags, box of vtg vacuum manuals, kenmore powermate power nozzles for 1975 and 1978 models. aladdin thermos vacuum nottle nos, hoover quadraflex power nozzle belts

 

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close up 4:

golden anniversary lewyt bigwheel, eureka gold box top with cord reel, lewyt electronic power nozzle, wands and hose!, eureka continental boxtop bag. closer up of the bambi

 

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last closeup, nos kirby 560 bag, hoover convetible 65 original bag. thermos filler bottle nos, hoover n bags

 

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kirby tradition box of parts is my stuff, as well as what was in the electrolux tan g box. two other boxes are sean's goodies, lots of kenmore, ge, hoover, westinghouse, sunbeam attachments.

 

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another box of sean's goodies

 

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ALL hoover i believe

 

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all in all vacuum wise i came away with the penncrest constellation, penncrest A138 convertible with cord reel, kirby dual 50, and the scott and fetzer sanitation system. sean and i wouldve liked there to be more complete machines, but the machines we got were more than worth it. this is just one of those things ill remember for many years.

 

[kirbymodel2c]

Hi,

<span style="font-family: book antiqua,palatino;">Hi Will, You got a great haul there. I love your Scott & Fetzer Sanitation System. It should clean up great. You better show pics of it after you've cleaned and polished it up! Love the Kirby 518-561 bag as well.</span>


 


<span style="font-family: book antiqua,palatino;">James

</span>


 


 

 

[eurekaprince]

Oh no!!! That poor Eureka "Goldie" has her Cordaway installed backwards! Never saw that before.....I guess the owner did not read the assembly instructions carefully, and installed the lower half of the handle the wrong way. Hope the cord leading to the motor is not too twisted! It's an easy repair to get the handle facing the correct direction. Hope the original handle fasteners are there.

Congrats on the successful "hunt for history"!

 

[countryguy]

Wow what a haul! Love the Lewyt power nozzle, wand and hose. I have a big wheel and am still trying to find just the regular hose, wands and attachments.

Congrats.

Gary

 

[suckolux]

Wow what a haul! LOVE the car

 

[DesertTortoise]

Oh my, look at that. That green Lewyt with the white lid and the cord wound around the body is the exact same vac my folks had when I was a little kid. The inside of the lid was lined in velvet, bright green or red, I cannot recall. Which model Lewyt is that?

And even more evocative to me is that green Kenmore canister. That is the twin of my Avocado Bomber. Holy cow! Another one survived. Looks to be in better condition than mine too. You can put a HEPA dome filter on the fan housing in place of the cheesy open cell foam filter they came with, use either Henry or Riccar/Simplicity HEPA bags with just about any modern Powermate ever made and go vacuuming with the best of them. Just cool as heck to see that. Wow, just wow.