Sad trip to becoming Vintage

[northwesty]

Just saw Brandon's thread about the Eureka find -- I was just in a Vacuum shop to buy a light bulb for a Kirby 516 and asked if they had any parts for older Kirbys. The store owner informed me that he had just thrown away about $3000 worth of older Kirby stuff and that no one ever brought them in anymore. Anyway, I guess the road to becoming rare and valuable goes through this stage where alot of stuff is just thrown away as worthless. Don't know if anyone out there has a similar story...

 

[twocvbloke]

There's plenty of occurrences where something becomes obsolete, then people throw it out because they see no point in keeping it, and several year later, the same stuff becomes rare, and people regret throwing it out because they could have made money on it...

Happens with all things we consider to be vintage or antique, sad but true unfortunately...

 

[bagintheback]

I have a similar story

There is a vacuum shop around 10 miles from here who refused to sell me a Hoover Concept for parts. He had a pile of old vacuums, literally laying on each other 4 feet high. He had 3 Hoover Concepts.

He said that he would not sell them to me because the parts are no longer made and he did not want to sell out-of-date cleaners. He took all the parts off the Concpets and wouldn't even let me have them. I was on the look out for a brush-roll. He lied to me several other times.

I ended up finding a very nice Concept at a thrift store owned by a church, so at least my money wasn't going to that guy.

 

[arh1953]

Well, sort of. Mr. McNees in Fort Pierce is 90 something and runs a repair and vacuum sales, been in business since the Ice Age, and has no interest in old stock, just what's going to sell to the mooks that buy today's PlastiVacs. Just sayin'.

 

[akabent]

Plasti-Vacs

Hey Alan!

I like that! I usually use the less specific term P.O.S. but in many cases, your term is perfect!! (Still, there are times when P.O.S. still does it more justice, I'd say!) Perhaps there is a way to expand one term or t'other!! (hybrid)
(I am also a December dude)
RB

 

[kirbyotronic]

Was it that Viking place or A-1 Vacuum in downtown Renton? Both of those shops suck, the owners were rude to me, and I got a similar story at Viking when I asked if they had any parts for a Kirby model 509.

Go to Super Sew & Vac in Kent, much friendlier service and he has a much wider selection of vacuums for sale, I bought my Mieles from him. Another good place is the Kirby Service Center in Burien but the guy who worked there and who I knew moved out of state, I haven't gone back since he left so I don't know what the other guy is like. I was always allowed in the back room and take my pick, there were a LOT of Kirby's back there, and a few off brands. And there was tons of Kirby parts too, for all ages.

 

[arh1953]

Thanks Rick!

I had written a different word, but then two of my favorite vacuums are actually black plastic, made twenty or more years ago. Mighty Mite, and The Boss. Newer plastics, I am sure are less durable, but then neither of these cleaners have been abused. And yes, five days later, you have your December Birthday, so you are Sagitarius too!

 

[ohio_tuec]

Fortunately, as more and more people are becoming aware of the internet, these horror stories are becoming less and less. Late last night, I found an ad on Craigslist where a house was being cleaned out, and one of the items was a vintage Kirby. So of course, I had to look. Turns out the machine was a 519 which looked as if it had not been used in quite some time. After removing about 50 pounds of cat hair from the bag, I plugged it in and sure enough it works. Had I not come along, that cleaner would have been destined for the dumpster.
When I worked for Remington electric shavers in the early 2000's, we had a shop that had been in its original location since 1962. The shaver repairman, John, who was about 78 years old by then, held onto parts for shavers (not just Remington) going back to the '60's. When Remington closed its retail division, and cleaned out the store, all those parts found their way into the trunk of my car. I'm hoping someday I can still open a shaver repair shop, but like the vacuum cleaner repair business, it's a dying industry.

- Karl

 

[intv1980]

There was a hoover store in my town and it recently went out of business. It was the only one in my town. I need parts for hoovers and I cant get them now

 

[eurekastar]

There's a vacuum shop in my hometown that has a stockpile of vintage Kirby parts. When I go visit my Mom a couple of times a year, I stop by. The owner is incredibly nice and gives me anything I want since he never uses them anymore. I've gotten things like a NOS 516 floor polisher, an NOS Omega shampooer, brand new toggle switches for the early 500s, a variety of trim pieces, safety switches, bearing plates, belt lifters, attachments, two brand new nozzle castings, Emtor castings,several vacuums, and lots of other stuff. Most of it is brand new. He's never charged me for anything, so I'm going to rebuild a Model 512 that I have and give it to him. He told me he'd like to have an old Kirby for display, so I thought I'd do it for him to thank him for his generosity.

 

[kenkart]

VINTAGE SHAVERS!!!!

Oh my...I shave with a 58 Ronson, love the old ones, !!

 

[ohio_tuec]

I thought I was the only one lol. My favorite is the Remington Microscreen XLR-3000 from 1977. Victor Kiam loved that shaver so much he bought the company! It remained in continuous production until 1998.

 

[arh1953]

Plastivac

I didn't invent a new word after all, I read it on the Contemporary Forum, it absorbed into my little bean brain and came out here! I can't copyright the word now! I will throw in some praise for the forebearers made of something more durable than the current shatterprone products.