Some Hoover Vault Finds...

[vacuumkid3]

WOW TOM!! Now you have your own "vault!" I am so happy for you because you are so deserving of all of these. I love the Constellation and the Convertibles!! Anyways, I hope you will continue to enjoy them, and Merry Christmas!

~~K~~

 

[red_october]

!!!!!!x10^23

That's Effing amazing! Congradulations on the find of the century, you lucky bastard you! But remember, a truck's not full until you've pilled goods in the cab 'til you can just sit in it and change gears!!!

I love those branded units; the Wards one especially, and the oddball commercial models. Again, congrats!

 

[sleepdoc]

It's a good thing you were able to take those machines. Otherwise, they'd be lost forever, and I've never seen or even known of most of the uprights you posted above.

 

[luxg]

Tom, somehow it just makes one feel better about this whole sad story to know that you were able to at least save some of these older wonderful machines. They are now in a very loving home where they belong. Thanks for sharing these pictures with us.

 

[kirbymodel2c]

Question??

A quick question for tom.

What happened to the older Hoovers and Hoovers competitors vacs?
Did u get any of those.
If they was auctioned off what did they go for?

James

 

[rugmaster37]

I just poured me a nice drink here at my x-mas party and saw

STARS!!!!

Holy crap Tom, what a freakin sweet haul. I had heard about your "vault resscue mission" from Kyle. The very first picture put me literally in shock. So much so that a dribble of my drink went down the chin and onto my sweater.

Im of course hoping that I may visit you again sometime to see all those Cord Reel Covertibles that you were able to save. I also LOVE those Wards Dial-A-Matics as well. I remember many of those Wards ones either model 870 or 880, and I believe were colors of "frosting white", and possibly "aztec gold". I have none of my catalogs with me as of now, so I can't pull the proper names out.

Where is Jeff P. He would rattle them off immediatly and not need a catalog.

I have never seen ANY of the Penncrest, or JcPenney badged DAM cleaners . Not one even in 14 years of being in the vacuum industry in one form or another.

I can imagine that your trip while wonderful for your collection was as described "bittersweet". To bad that TTI was hell bent and determined to empty it out. They probably need the room to store their collection of Dirt Devils from 1985 forward. Yeesh....

So wonderful that you got them, and I too am very curious as to what happened to the machines that were pre-1970, and where did they all end up.

I can only imagine that your wife was a bit stunned to see the machines as they came into the house....

Well Merry Christmas to you Tom, It's good to see that those you ahve obtained have been rescued and saved from TTI's plan, which was probably to dumpthem in the middle of the Atlantic...


Yours

Chad

 

[ohio_tuec]

Vault Contents

Tom, I'm glad to see someone has preserved a nice assortment of Hoover oddities from the vault. I thought TTI was saving all of the vault contents. Good to see they will be preserved by someone who appreciates Hoovers. I would give my right eye for that Montgomery Ward's DAM, or even the JC Penney model (with the original bag no less!) I recall a long time ago Tom Gasko mentioned that there were also some non-Hoovers in the vault, like an early Air-Way Sanitary System and even an Ohio I think. There was also a Constellation with a motorized powerhead and either a Connie or a Celebrity constructed entirely of Lucite, so you could see the inner workings. Merry Christmas to all!

- Karl

 

[charles~richard]

Such treasures, Tom! I join everyone else in congratulating you and am glad you were able to rescue these things. I also wonder about the storehouse of competitors' machines that were there -- any of them still around? Were you able to retrieve any of them?

A much sadder fate befell Electrolux historical memorabilia when the Greenwich Connecticut plant closed (in 1985). A man found my website whose father was a former CEO with Electrolux. He emailed me with commendations on my Electrolux History site, and said it was "too bad" I was not around when the Conn. plant closed, because dumpster after dumpster load went to the dump -- archives, prototypes, design renderings and models, paper materials, photos, decades of advertising collateral, you-name-it.

Other than a few things that some of the Electrolux oldtimers took with them as mementos, it all went to the dump. Now, even the factory is no more. It was leveled in 1988 to make way for a huge luxury condominium development.



http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpa...0A1575AC0A96E948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

 

[ge1969]

Hey Tom! Merry Christmas to you! Just wondering what you could tell me about the green Constellation on the back of the truck, such as what model it is and if you were lucky enough to get the hose or tools with it. As the others have said, congrats on a great find. Later, Trg

 

[arh1953]

It makes me truly sick to think of all the companies that jet their archives into the infernos or dumpsters the split second there is a buyout or bankruptcy. The Packard Motor Car Company threw out tons of invaluable documents and pictures the moment of their merger with Studebaker in 1955. Into the furnace. But thanks again for all those terrific pictures, we want more when you can!

 

[hoover1060]

What was not mentioned...

Is that some of those cleaners never quite made it to the stores(such as the powerdrive JCPenney DAM and the red JCP Decade 80.
They are one of a kind prototypes. Very cool.
I am glad to now see that there is a cord reel Convertible in a collection, as well as that Ward's DAM. Very rare machines indeed!
I am looking forward to seeing them all in person!

 

[normvac]

Congratualtions Tom

Wow! I am so happy to see the machines that you SAVED from the vault. Like some of the others, I too am wondering where did the pre 1970's machines go? Were they all Hoover or other
brands too??
Inquiring minds need to know???
Norm

 

[myhooverco]

This is a JCPenney commercial cleaner circa early 1980's...

 

[myhooverco]

This is a pair of commercial cleaners...the green InnKare was made for Holiday Inn and is circa 1975 and is number 1001. The all red machine is also 1001 and is from 1979...the red one is the only one in the bunch that does not run...

 

[myhooverco]

Plastic Ward's upright from 1979 number 1001 and it is two speed!

 

[myhooverco]

This is a pair of Ward's uprights...the one on the left is from '81 and the one on the right is from '83. Both are 1001 and two speed...

 

[myhooverco]

A Ward's Concept One from 1982...I think that there was a common color theme on these Ward's machines!

 

[myhooverco]

This machine dates from 1966 and is number 1001. It is for the Blue Lustre company and you could rent this for $1. I wonder how many of these survived? Notice that the Hoover logo is missing...instead there is a brushed piece of aluminum over the spot!

 

[myhooverco]

These are Floor a Matics...they are each serial number 1001 from 1969 and 1971...

 

[myhooverco]

Just for Kyle... here are my plain Jane JCPenney cleaners all in white...the plastic based one only has one cord hook...the one on the right is a metal one and it has two hooks for the cord at least! These are very basic machines for sure...

 

[myhooverco]

Thanks for all of the great comments guys...I just wanted to share some of these with all of you who might appreciate them. Around here, the folks in charge of getting rid of them just look at them and think what a bother...I have to get rid of this "stuff" now. I was more than happy to take as much as I could off of their hands. I would watch ebay as I think that some more of it may end up there like most recently the giant Hoover cleaners.

As for the rest of the stuff in the vault, the older stuff (pre-1957) went to Cleveland at the TTI headquarters. They kept all of the experimental stuff and most of the competitor cleaners. There was a bunch of old stuff (bojack) machines. They were in a room together. I would say there was at least 50 or so electric and a few non electric. The McKinley museum was offered the machines, but I am not sure that they took them. They were offered to me and the Historical Center, but we both declined deciding to keep Hoover history instead due to lack of space. I can tell you that I saw Airways, Premiers, Cadillac, etc. Those machines did not get scrapped that I do know. The only items for sure that were scrapped as told to me were the cleaning tool sets! At least the machines themselves were saved.

Again thanks for the great comments. I do have more to share. Of course, anyone coming to the convention in August of 2008 will get to see all of these items and the items that the Historical Center picked up as well. Look for more photos soon....

--Tom

 

[hygiene903]

Great Finds, Tom!!

It's great that you were able to rescue them. And I can't think of anyone more deserving to have them. Congratulations!
Jeff

 

[seamusuk]

WOW!!

Hey Tom

Im absolutly gobsmacked!

Its so cool all these will be staying in North Canton

So have they started spilling out of the Hoover rooms now??

Seamus

P.s Will shoot ya a mail later as well

 

[arh1953]

The pictures get juicier with each new item. You have a collection that makes a diamond mine look poor. I love those Ward and Penney's uprights, I wish I could get my hands on one. I have the Ward/Hoover Portapower, which is better than nothing!

 

[myhooverco]

Here is a U4001 in "brown"...

 

[myhooverco]

Here is the underside...never used!

 

[myhooverco]

Here it the tag to the U4001...

 

[myhooverco]

I picked up two model 2011 Slimline cleaners. The one on the left is marked "Early" and the serial number is 1001. The one on the right is marked late and has a very high serial number. I take this to mean that it is the last one off of the line. So this makes first and last off of the line!

 

[myhooverco]

Here is the tag...

 

[myhooverco]

Here it the later tag...same model