Rare find lands in the wrong hands

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keither

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This couple ( appears to live in NJ ) has found a NIB Electrolux Olympia I. Perhaps it’s none of my business on how an owner handles their machines , but this is almost too painful to watch.

 
Part 2 was not any better. It managed to make it almost 40 years NIB,then Patty came along. It’s almost as bad as watching the vacuum smasher channel on YouTube.
 
I agree

Geez, they need to be more careful with it. I wonder where they got it. I would jump at the chance to have this machine. The Olympia is I think my most favorite as I love the color scheme and the motor was one of the all time best.

It hurt just watching her carry it by the hose, but I don’t doubt the hose is likely dried out. I have a practically new Silverado era hose hat was stored for 25 years and it is all crusty just the same unfortunately and disintegrating.

Still I just cringe at how rough they are with that beautiful Olympia.

They say it smells old and I wonder if it was kept in a basement or something but the box looks good.

I share your feelings Keith.

Jon
 
Yeah.......

it's like winning the lottery. It happens to people who may not 'deserve' it but who are we to judge?

At least they shared the vid and perhaps will read the YouTube comments. I bought a Diamond Jubilee new from a salesman....actually salesperson because she was a woman. We didn't get to unseal it or even keep the box.....she did all that.

Unbelievable find! I'd like to know more about the hose condition stored like that. The hose was always expensive and a BIG deal on how you were supposed to store it etc.

Kevin
 
Hose condition

Well I have a model xxx and when it was my Aunt’s and I was at her house staying over in spring of 1983 because my parents were on a trip (I was 14 at the time) we decided I was going to shampoo her carpets with my turbo tool rug washer by using it on the xxx and the original hose was in such bad shape it wouldn’t spin the turbo tool on the carpet so I sent her off to the Bayonne, NJ Electrolux store to get a new hose and she came back with a new one which came in the Silverado series coloring. She unexpectedly passed away about a year later and my Dad and his Brother has to dismantle the house and sell it so I told Dad I wanted the Electrolux. I had it stored in my parent’s basement for 21 years (the time seemed to zip by and I did run it occasionally in the 80s until I finally packed it in a Diamond Jubilee box I got from the Electrolux store’s trash when I had gone there for something else) when I finally decided to bring it with me back to my home in Texas via plane around 2005 or 2006.

When I opened up the box and examined the hose it was and still is now very stiff and crumbly and bits of the rubber inner layer come out so clearly the rubber suffered dry rot even in a moderate temperature controlled environment.

So it appears their hose has suffered the same issue as mine from what I was watching of her unfold it and the crumbly sounds it was making that are nearly identical to the condition of mine. Mine has not lost a lot of suction but I don’t use it much at all. It definitely isn’t as flexible as it originally once was and likes to be folded back to the curve it was stored in for so long.

When I do use mine to vacuum with the flexing makes the dried rubber break off and get sucked into the bag in little 1/4 to half inch strip bits. It’s unfortunate a new condition hose has suffered this issue because it really otherwise looks beautiful.

Yes, it is a vacuum and meant to be used. But for the collectors, there is something prized about obtaining something so old and not made anymore in an unused condition. It really makes for a beautiful showpiece in ones collection.

This got me to thinking last night. I have a very lightly used Marquise that I obtained locally off eBay. Oddly the motor was bad but the body was near perfect! I bought it for $40 and it had an Olympia era hose with it and that’s it. The guy told me it came out of a storage unit. I put a motor from my friends renaissance in it which was identical when her renaissance hose electronics went out and she didn’t wasn’t to pay for a new hose. So it works beautifully and has not a scratch on it and I’ve only just started using it for a regular machine because my Silverado’s motor died. But now this makes me wonder if I should just continue to not use the Marquise and preserve it...though I am very gentle on my machines.

I also found a Light blue Lux Legacy lightly used at a habitat for humanity store and only the floor tool seems to have been primarily used. The power nozzle and sidekick, combo dusting brush, crevice tool, and flip over rug and floor tool are all virtually unused. Should I not use it and preserve it too? Currently I’m not using it but may wish to. I also got a Lux Classic last year from a goodwill...that one is more used but not bad by any means and I gave it to my Brother for a second story Electrolux...perhaps I should have kept that to be my daily driver so the others could stay preserved? I don’t know and if I don’t enjoy the nicety of these machines I have then what food is having them just stored in a closet?

Perhaps they will read the comments and decide they should be extra careful with their Olympia find if they really need to use it regularly.

Jon
 
watch the vid again .

But my mind was change on this issue when igot my NIB TRISTAR CXL 50 edition ,yes some people wil l trash a vacuum beyond repairs i understand i do havea leather covered ototman to store my tristar my lux and my compact i look at the vid again was screaming at them behind my screen its 1980 Lux be carefulll !!!

Yall are right nib is only nib once .
 
You can......

say that about anything that was human made.....'they're only new once'.

It's also a tired trope. They get to do anything they want with the Olympia....just turn away if you must.

Kevin
 
Having been in the vacuum cleaner business for 40 years, I have unboxed thousands and thousands of new vacuum cleaners, and placed them in the hands of people who did and do abuse them. No big deal. I also fix vacuums. It's a great business.

Watching the video didn't bother me - it was theirs to do with what they wished. My good friend Charlie Watrous (former VCCC President) gave me a spectacular Kirby Diamond Edition. Flawless. Absolutely perfect. I don't think they'll be able to fit it into the coffin with me - so I use it (gently) but often to (gulp) actually clean with. That's what it was meant to do.

I'm old enough that I was able to live through the last glory years of companies like Electrolux, Rainbow, Filter Queen, Compact - before the cost cutting measures and plastic bodies and one-fan Chinese motors. I bought the ones I liked at the time - and still have them to this day. They might still be like new - but I do use them often enough to keep the hoses nice and supple and the bearing grease flowing in the bearings.
 

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