Some Hoover Vault Finds...

[myhooverco]

This is a Hoover Dimension canister built on 1-15-86 serial number 1002! This seems to be a very basic version of this series with no electronic controls and only one speed. I really liked the blue color.

 

[myhooverco]

Here it the agitator to the Dimension...

 

[myhooverco]

I picked up a new in the box U4007...it is marked as being "Late" built in 1975!

 

[myhooverco]

Here is a peek inside! It has been taken out and photographed but never put together. The bag is still sealed in a plastic bag. Talk about unused!

 

[myhooverco]

A look at the tag for the U4007 which is attached to the box itself rather than the cleaner...I am really glad that everything remained tagged!

 

[myhooverco]

I also picked up an 87 Connie. It is also marked "Late" so it must be one of the last ones too. I did not get a hose, but it does work on the "blower" setting. The guts to the machine are still intact. Now if I could only find the unique hose that went with this cleaner!!!

 

[myvacsrock]

NICE TOM!!!

I LOVE EVERYTHING!! My favorite is the penncrest cord reel and the plastic bade plain jane penncrest.

Are you gonna post pics of the hoover hard bag thing with the cord reel? I'd like to see it!

 

[hoover1060]

Penncrest cord reel

When are we going to get to see your Penncrest cord reel Kyle? I heard you were very fortunate to have one given to you brand new never used! Thats awesome! I would really like to see it! There are so few of those around, and to get one never used is indeed a treat!

 

[electroluxxxx]

Very very nice tom. makes me Jealous. lol. anyway I was wondering how you were able to get your hands on all of these machines. they are just so Fabulous.

 

[myvacsrock]

Yes Jeff i did get the chance to get one, my set back is i have to take like 20 vacuums with it. I don't need/want them. But yes i do ahve pics of it, he sent me! I was also lucky enough to get a NIB Hoover Junior with it! Never opened!! The Penncrest is unopened...he said the glue/staples are still intact!!

I cannot wait to get it! Any ideas about the extra machines i am getting with it??

 

[rugmaster37]

Rallye Gold and Oyster White

This was the colors that Wards used to describe their PD-DAM in the "Fall and Winter 1978" Catalog.

This machine sold for $149.95 and was catalog # 82 C 870 MS.

It was one of only six Hoover built models that Wards offered that year. This one Dialamatic, for full size cleaners, and then four models of QuickBrooms, one with Powernozzle, and then the slimline portable, and pixie style cleaners.

Tom you got some beautiful stuff there....


Chad

 

[portable]

Wow Tom -

I'm flabbergasted, saddened, happy and thrilled for you all at once. Too bad Hoover (or what was Hoover) is chucking out its history. We'll have to watch and see where the earlier machines end up. Congrats on helping to preserve a piece of Hoover history.

 

[azman293]

My mom has gone hoover crazy!

It was funny, I was showing these pictures to my mom and telling her the story. She all of a sudden blurted out "I want one!". She has fallen in love with the U4021 and now looks like she likes all the vintage hoovers! Looks like I will be getting more hoovers in the future. Also, Tom those are very nice machines you are very lucky to live where you live!

 

[charles~richard]

What I don't understand is,

what was the point in rebadging Hoovers for Penneys, Wards, etc? Couldn't people tell -- didn't they KNOW just by looking at the machines -- that they were HOOVERS?

Now, if some off-brand company was manufacturing them that would be different. But these so clearly are Hoovers. And Hoovers have always been so recognizable. Well, until the death of the Convertible anyway. After that, to me, the Hoovers just looked like all the other plastic vacuums out there.

I remember as a kid seeing the "HOOVER" vacuums in Penneys and thinking to myself, "Who are they trying to fool?!" And that was my opinion -- that the retail stores were trying to fool people into thinking that THEY made these beautiful machines!!

 

[vintagehoover]

Presumably...

...with store-branded machines, all the internal parts - motor componants, wheels, etc - are stamped 'Hoover', anyway?

 

[petek]

There's a few reasons why products were/are rebadged or re-branded the term retailers/manufactures. One big one was the strong customer loyalty base to a particular department store brandname. The ultimate being Kenmore and even to this day I would suppose there are still people who think that Sears actually builds their own washers/dryers etc.
Some other reasons are that when the store has a major manufacture rebrand for them exclusivly they no doubt got a lower price and could sell the same product for a lower price or on easy credit terms without creating as much ill will with retailers or independent distributors selling the real brand name models.
It worked both ways,,the salesman at the department store selling the Wards Hoover could whisper in the customers ear that they were actually buying a good rebranded Hoover at a lower price and the independent could say to his customer he was buying the real Hoover and not one of Hoovers lower cost department store machines if the customer asked. That sort of thing.
In the end Hoover was the winner every which way because all they want to do in the first place is make the vacuums and sell as many as they can.

 

[petek]

re "wouldn't people know they were Hoovers?"

Well if it was my mother and sister looking at them in the store they wouldn't have the foggiest idea unless someone told them and I don't think they would be part of a minority. It's something many people just don't see because it doesn't really interest them fully like it does us.

Last time I took mom out to buy a new toaster I pointed out to her that the Proctor-Silex for $19 was the identical machine to the Betty Crocker at $12 sitting on the same shelf. Only the end cap plastic part was slightly altered but the toaster guts etc were exactly the same. She would have never noticed but thought the Proctor Silex was probably a better toaster because she's familiar with that brand and not Betty Crocker for making toasters only cake mixes and so bought the PS toaster for $7 more. She got the Betty Crocker version and saved $7.

 

[g3]

Rebranding for Sears (mostly) also occured with Toys.

From 1950 to 1955 Sears sold Marx Trains & Playsets under the name of "Happi-Time" and from 1956 to 1969 under the name "Allstate". After 1969 they were just branded as "Sears".

The "Happi-Time" brand sold by Sears had the exact Marx train or playset sold by other retailers, whereas some of the "Allstate" brand of trains had unique markings & colors.

The outer packaging whether it was "Happi-Time", "Allstate" or "Sears" never mentioned Marx, although the parts were stamped Marx.

Some of these "Allstate" trains are very valuable today!

 

[myhooverco]

Just my two cents...

I know that with the Penncrest machines that Penney's dictated to Hoover the features that they wanted. Hoover built it for them at the price Penneys wanted. Penneys had a say in the product. They could then sell bags and accessories for the machines in their catalogs and make more profit. Today, rather than rebadge the machines, Hoover and others make specific models for stores. You won't find a Hoover cleaner at that price anywhere else because it is made exclusively for that store. There is no price matching then. Penneys got exclusive colors and features all their own. For instance the first Penncrest cleaner from 1963 was much like the low end Hoover except that it had chromed foot pedals, a zipper bag jacket, a handle grip, and a full wrap around bumper. The low end Hoover had none of those features. Penneys wanted a better machine. Beyond that, the cleaners were identical in function. I think that the stores wanted some continuity within their product lines so that their customers could identify the product with the store. Also, if you bought it at Penneys, then you had a major store that would stand behind it much like Sears today. Years ago many people ordered from catalogs as no stores were close by. The product continuity had to help in the catalog arena too. Just my two cents...

--Tom

 

[myhooverco]

This find surprised me somewhat. I have always heard about these but never saw one in person...