Tell us your favourite vacuum memory- like that vac you grew up with etc...

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The Funniest Kirby Memory

When I was about Three, the latest Kirby I think was either the G7 or the G6. I lived in Milan, Ohio and in the evening a Kirby Saleslady came to our house.
My mom told her that she couldn't come in because I would go nuts. The saleslady persisted that she come in and my mom kept refusing. But I got to the door and saw it and my mom told the lady that she wouldn't get it back. Since my Aunt had a G5 and my Grandma had a G4 I already knew how to use the vacuum. I took it a part and put it together, used the hoses and attachments and finally I passed out while using it. It was 2 o'clock in the morning when I was done, and the saleslady was gone. My mom set the Kirby out on our porch for the lady to pick up in the morning. I do remember though that a little girl across the street tried to run up to our house to take it since she thought it was a play vacuum that we were throwing away. It was pretty funny.
 
My earliest memories of vacuum cleaners were of my parents' pink and gray Lewyt canister. It looked like a fat fire hydrant. It was the main vacuum in the house until the early '70s when they got a tan and green "Brady Bunch" Hoover Convertible. My maternal grandmother had a yellow Hoover Constellation. I remember liking the spherical shape but don't remember much more about it and I have no idea what became of it.

My dad's parents had a 1950s vintage Electrolux--an LXI, I think--that they used right up until the end. My grandmother died in 1993 and it was still in service when my grandfather went into assisted living in 1998. This is no doubt where my affinity for Electrolux began. There was also an ancient, 1930s vintage Hoover upright in the basement but I never remember seeing it being used. I have no idea what happened to either of these machines, either.

Sometime when I was a teenager, Dad brought home a 1205 that a neighbor had put out on the curb. It was just the canister, the hose, and the two-sided rug and floor nozzle. The woven hose apparently leaked badly because it had very little suction at the nozzle end. I wish I knew then what I know now, but alas, that one also got away. Nonetheless, Dad still insists the 1205 I have now is that one. He doesn't remember getting my 1205 at a thrift store in 2004.

Nobody in my family ever owned a Kirby but my affinity for them goes back to when I was about nine or ten years old and Mom let a Kirby salesman demonstrate a Classic Omega in our living room. I think it was cheap entertainment for her to listen to sales pitches, collect free samples and show them the door without buying anything. I was fascinated by how it could be reconfigured so many different ways and I hoped they'd buy one but being ever frugal, they got the aforementioned Hoover Convertible instead. Interestingly, my elementary school had the same model Kirby. It lived in the library, which was the only carpeted space in the school. I always wanted to go take it apart but never had the opportunity. Knowing what I know now about Kirby's business model, I have to wonder how they ended up with that machine. I seriously doubt it was purchased on a low-bid government contract. It would be almost 40 years before I got my own Kirby--a G6 that somebody left beside a dumpster in the apartment complex where I lived.

And the rest, as they say, is history.
 
Mine was watching my Grans House keeper vacuum the long red carpet that ran from the backdoor to the front door over the wooden floor.

She would use my Grans Electrolux 404 to vacuum. I loved how the bag blew up and the Electrolux logo printed all over it.

It took me 20 years of searching to find a Electrolux 404

Then she would roll uo the long carpet into a huge roll and bring out the Columbus B11 polisher to polish the wooden floors.

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My Vac story begins in around 1969 when i was about 4. My Grandma had an Electrolux Model E, that had been converted to use a PN 1, when they came out. The salesman came to the house and put a blue cord on the Model E hose, with the blue straps and put a little PN outlet near the right front wheel, and sold Grandma the PN1. One day my Dad took me to Grandma's for her to babysit me. She was using the Lux, and said i was scared to death of it. She had to show me what it was, and after that, she said i have been in love with Vacuums ever since. Other grandma had a Kiry, with basic attcments and kit.

My mother (who HATES vacuum cleaners with a passion and considers then nothing more than a glorified trash can) first had a blue Eureka Stick Vac from early to mid 60s.She also later got a Hoover Connie, Yellow and Taupe color. In 1972 my parents built a new home. I dreamed of having Central Vac or a new Electrolux 1205 with PN.
Unfortunatly for me, my mother specifically went to buy the new vacuum for the new house WITHOUT ME. And, came home with a Hoover Dial a Matic Powerdrive. No attachments. It turned out to be a dust belching mess that i HATED.
A favorite neighbor lady had a Wards/Eureka Princess with the Vibra Beat, and eventially got an Oreck 4000 and finally Kenmore Central Vac, with early 70s PN,,i was absolutely in LOVE with it, and she was nice enough to let me use it often. ( i was just a pesky neighborhood kid)


A move across the country a year later left me very unhappy, having to leave all friends and family and fun vacuums behind. No more Grandmas Aunties,or neighbors with their Kirby, Lux or PNs,or Central Vacs. (We moved to a run down former army base with barracks type housing. Every house was exactly the same, and NO carpet. So, no vacuums, only dust mops and waxers)

Then one day a post card came from Grandma with the Kirby. On the front of the card was a BRAND NEW Electrolux 50th Anniversary model Golden J Deluxe! ( Deluxe means WITH Power Nozzle, i was told by an old Lux salesman once)

I nearly cried i was so excited that MY Grandma had a NEW ELECTROLUX!!! And I would be using it soon,,as we were going back for vacation in a few months.

Long story short - The new Golden J was more wonderful than i could have ever imagined. I used it whenever i visited for the next 20 years that Grandma lived. I bought her a new hose for it in 1987.
Grandma with the Lux Model E let me have it, and i got her a newer Lux Silverado 1997. She used it until 2012 when she went to the rest home. I have all of Grandmas vacs in my personal collection now.

As for Mom and her Connie and DAM. The Connie went to the trash man in early 80s. Was shooting fire out of the exhaust.
Im 1984,after belching dust for over 12 yrs, the Dam finally started to whine, and the handle was so loose you were affraid to use it for fear of it taking off for the moon! I took the old Dam and traded it for a use Rainbow D2, with PN. We still had the 70s thick gold shag carpet at the time. You wouldnt believe the 100s and 100s of Rainbow water pans of THICK MUD i emptied. It took 100s and 100s of times of going over with the Rainbow until the water stopped being so dirty, but it finally did. Our carpet never looked so good! (Sorry Hoover. Not meaning to bash, but that DAM just didnt work right)

Mom eventually got an Electolux Discovery 3, and used it for many many years. I still have the Rainbow. She reciently bought a Sears orange cannister with PN, but pays someone to clean her house. STILL HATES VACUUMS!!
 
Seeing how the thread has been rehashed I might as well have my input on it!

This ones going to be a long one!

This ones a little fuzzy but here it goes ~

I remember my mum having a DirtDevil upright,it was blue,I must of been about 2 or 3 at the time I always remember pushing it about (when it was off) and seeing my mum pushing it into the living room and as she unwound the cord I would quickly scurry off.

I also rememberer once I was sat in a dining chair and my brother "terrorized" me with it :P I would start screaming and I remember my mum and grandma being in the kitchen then grandma came storming in telling him off.

Next one ~

I remember when my mums DirtDevil burnt out that she replaced it with a Lux Cyclonic Lite and I remember being ill in bed and hearing her vacuuming with it in the living room,oh how its groaning brushroll fulfilled the whole house :)

T'other ~ (2nd favorite)

I was probably about 5 - 6 at the time, and I remember that at my grandmas,while my mum would natter away with her, I would go and "snoop" around and I was absolutely fascinated by this beautiful Lux standing proudly there in the cupboard, I would just stand and stare at it for a good 5 mins. Why I don't know! And to this day,it still sits in the exact same place.

Another ~

I'll mix these two together ~ (I was 11)

It was a cold day heading up the road to school,there was what must of been a Sebo or at least a very commercial looking vacuum, dumped outside someones home and unfortunately I wasn't into collecting then thus leaving it,and when I came back, it was destroyed :(

I vaidly remember all these Sebos under the stair,loads of them! All over the place,all standing there proudly.

Last one ~ (My No~1 favorite!)

This one was back in 2011 sometime in late November to be exact,my grandma just came home from the hospital, and she was too ill and knackered to vacuum up, so I used her Lux (Don't know its model number,but picture will follow) The very first time I ever used it. Its belt was stretched but it still groaned :)

Sorry for wittering on but those are about all of what I can remember. There is another one but I won't witter on anymore.

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that's a very unusual Lux. It has the same colour of the z1055 and z1070, but the earlier Twin Turbo logo from the z1010 and z1020, but in the wrong place. It also doesn't have a bag full indicator, which I've never seen before.

Emma, if you could next time you get the chance, could you take a snap of the ratings sticker? I'd be interested to see where this fits in the line up.
 
That takes me back

By the time I was 6 we had alot of vacuums. A 2003-05 bissell cleanview bagless powertrak,a 2006 oreck electrik broom,a 2007 Hoover floormate, 2 sanitares from the early 2000's,a 2003 Riccar 8850,a 2007 bissell healthy home,and a 2009 eureka quick-up. Those were some fun memories. We also had a euro-pro bagless stick shark from 2004 that was a huge POS. It was $40 from HSN so what did my mom expect? I was a baby when it was new and at first I was sad when the cord broke and it got thrown away in fall 2008 but looking back on how horrid it was I am glad I don't have it anymore. The bissell healthy home and the 2 sanitares broke because my dad manhandles everything. He doesn't know you are not supposed to stomp on a vacuum when it does not work. The Riccar 8850 got scrapped because it was in terrible condition and since stupid little kid me never cleaned the filters on the cleanview it had W.M.S and I cleaned it earlier this year and the vacuum died a month later.
 
I remember my parents having an Electrolux with sliders on it in the 50s. I thought it was cool looking, and it lasted forever.

I was married in 1966, and we bought a Hoover constellation. I loved the round shape of it, and it lasted for a long time too.

A few years later, we bought a house that had shag carpeting. A Kirby rep came to the door, and my husband thought it sounded like a wonderful idea. It worked very well on the shag but it was very heavy. We gave the Hoover to my parents, who had it for another 20 years.

After the divorce, I used a Bissell sweeper for a long time. The Kirby stayed in the house with my ex and the shag.
 
One of mine is my grandmothers Kirby 519 hence my screen name. I loved to play with it. Before I could even read the instructions in the book. I could set the vacuum up like any picture in the book. Didn't hurt that my grandmother was very well adept with it. I remember the weekend she did it in. Grandma insisted that she use it long enough that day to vacuum under the beds in their room. She ended up catching the bag on the corner of the bed frame and tore a hole in the bag. I nearly had a heart attack. I was 5 at the time and that was how I got love and attention. At least in my mind. Grandma came to the rescue with a roll of tape to patch the hole in the bag to get us though the weekend. Needless to say I couldn't vacuum to the extent that I other wise would have. Grandma promised to have the vacuum working good as new by the next weekend.

She was true to her word. I didn't ask about the vacuum until we got back to their house after Friday night fish fry and grocery shopping. When I did ask about it she replied "go look in the closet". I went to the closet in the sewing room where the vacuum was kept Grandma following close behind. When I opened the closet door I found a new Kirby Classic staring out at me. I looked at Grandma with disappointment and said" I thought you were going to get ours fixed!" I'm confident that my Grandmother was standing there thinking. I just spent $350.00 on a new vacuum for you to entertain us and yourself with and your not happy. She then went on to say. "If you think you like the old one you are really going to like this one even better. The only changes from the old one to this new one is the head is wider, It has a more powerful two speed motor and the on off switch is now on the back of the vacuum instead of on the side. Other than that you set this new one up like the old one. I have the book for this one if you want see it. This one can do things the other one couldn't if you have the attachments for it.

She was right. It took me all of 10 minutes to make friends with the new one. Grandma and Grandpa are now gone. But I still have the Kirby she bought for us.
 
@gottahaveahoover That's not a bad idea to submit the story to Kirby.

Grandma did in the bag on my new Kirby about 12 years later. The Grandparents retired to their property about 2 hours away in 1977. They bought a mobile home and added an addition to the side of the trailer. The addition was the new living room and her sewing room. To keep the cost of heating the dwelling down a wood stove was used to for heating. Got to say that wood stove felt good after a shower or coming in from a cold Wisconsin winter day.

I was there for a weekend and did my usual honey do list for my aging grandmother. Our rolls changed over the years. Early on I cleaned the middles and she did the edges. By this time I was doing the edges along with the middle when I was there. All went well that weekend and I parked my vacuum after completing my "honey do list". About 3 weeks later I went up for the weekend again. As usual I had a list waiting for me of areas to clean with my Kirby. I went to the sewing room closet to find that once again there was tape wrapped around the bag of the vacuum.

We met up in the living room as I was getting ready to get started on the current honey do list and looked at Grandma and looked down at the vacuum and asked "what happened this time?" with a grin on my face.

She replied "Take it from the voice of experience what ever you do be careful around that wood stove" Now at this point we had been vacuuming around the wood stove for 7 to 8 years with no major malfunctions. The ash pan on the wood stove had been emptied and therefore a few ashes and small chunks of unburned wood fell on the stove board. Knowing this Grandma went on to do some other things and let things around the stove "cool off". Upon return and thinking things had cooled off went on to clean up around the stove. Lo and behold those chunks of unburned wood still held enough heat that when blown in the bag. Burnt a couple of holes in the bag.

I put on a big grin after hearing this and reminded her that all I ever use the vacuum for is to clean the concrete garage floor. (This done with the first Kirby) and clean the ash trays in the car. (This done with the new one.) My grandfather took the heat for both of those incidents. Grandma knew who really did it. I then went on to say "You keep putting holes in the bag on my vacuum rendering it useless until it can be fixed. Grandma then put on a smile and laughed. Her reply was "Look at it this way. Both times it appended I did it" And besides I'm the one that will have to pay to have it repaired or buy a new one." She then asked if we needed to think about a new vacuum or if I still like this one. I answered "I still like this one but would like it better with a new bag." She agreed she would like much better with a new bag too. Once again true to her word Grandma had my vacuum working good as new by the next trip there.

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I don't really have a childhood story of vacs...other than observing them in use; Rexair and a big Hoover. When I really started using them was in college. I bought a pink Hoover on sale that didn't have a light and the snap button bag. John told me what model that was.....I never understood why it didn't have the light...lol. I used to have a reloading room and my mother-in-law decided that it needed vacuuming. She went in there with my Hoover and started vacuuming up live primers that had fallen off the table. That was interesting when they started going off...lol! I ran in there just in time to see the fireworks/light show. I rebuilt that vac a couple of times.


 


Then we bought a farm in western WA...the rainy side. Still had the Hoover but my mother-in-law being a diehard Elux customer, gave us her old G to use.  That was my first Elux and I was hooked. Still, I liked the roar of the old Hoover from college. Rebuilt it the second time. Came in to lunch one day and a strange lady was in the living room and everyone looked a bit sheepish. She was the Electrolux salesperson and it was an ambush. I made her do her whole demo again. She did the four steel ball trick and the G almost pulled up the forth ball. Then she vacuumed up the wood stove ashes, which was CRAZY. Out gunned, I bought the new Diamond J and accessories for like $1,300 back around '84.....and she took my Hoover....I never got over that, as I had just rebuilt it the second time. I told her to keep the demo model with the fireplace ash, as she could burn down someone else's place.


 


Soooo...that started me on the road to rack & ruin with Elux.... 


 


Kevin


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I have a reloading area,too-haven't used it in a while.Ammo has gotten less expensive for some calibers-so the reloading doesn't get used like it used to-and ammo makers are offering bullets that you had to reload to use-now they are standard-IE Barnes bullets are now factory loaded by Remington and Federal.But-yes vacuuming my reload area with my M1 and a Kirby-the live primers make a nice loud BANG!!!when picked up in a direct air vacuum!Esp shotgun primers!
 
Yeah, I haven't reloaded for yrs. I have stored all my powders well though, in case I start again. But the majority of my gun collection was sold long ago. I've got dies I'll never use again. I don't even have a reloading table anymore. 


 


Makes sense that the ammo manufacturers started putting custom bullets in retail ammo......and bringing their prices down. That's the whole reason reloading was started; to defray the cost of factory ammo and to make shooting more accurate with variable bullets specific to what you were shooting. I have an older 50AE Desert Eagle and I waited forever for the bullets and dies to come out for that round. I can remember having the brass, the primers, the dies and the shell case holder finally all bought and no bullets available!


 


Kevin


 


 


 


 
 
Around the late 90's, when I started walking around, I remember we used to a green dirt devil can vac canister vacuum and I remember playing with the hose before and I have know idea what happened to it but I wish we still have it, also the same time we also had a Hoover wet dry vac and I think it was 6 gallons but I used to be afraid of it before because it was loud. Then in 2000 when I was 4, I remember going to a Walmart supercenter and my mom brought a green dirt devil swivel glide vision bagless and it featured a indicator on the front which I enjoyed, and somehow I got a little afraid of it, and sadly I never got my self a chance to use it to vacuum but I remember playing with it before, and somehow in 2003 I think it got thrown out, I think, I was 7 back then, but later that same year my mom went to the same Walmart store and was going to buy a eureka the boss wide track victory model vacuum that I loved because it's same vacuum as the whirlwind (my favorite vacuums), but she changed her mind and got a bissell cleanview bagless and it was actually a good vacuum till the following year the handle release pedal got broken and somehow the motor was acting unhealthy probably because we never cleaned the filters!😱 So the bissell sat in the garage for 3 years till it got thrown out. And that's when I started collecting vacuums starting with a 2007 bissell powerforce turbo which I still have and 10 years later I still collect vacuums.👍

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Kevin:Just that lower ammo prices and bulk packed ammo like 9mm,.45,.40,.223/5.56MM,.308,and so on has made reloading less viable.You can still buy case lots of ammo cheap these days-so reloading equipment gathers dust.To folks I know are machine gun collectors---imagine trying to reload for a machine gun!!!???Yes,my reload equipment gathers dust,too.Haven't used it in years.Even have some new dies I haven't used-IE .300 Weatherby and .454 Casull.
 
Rex: yeah, I get it. I had a Thompson in the 70's. Single station reloading press...no progressive reloaders back then.  Would spend the entire night loading .45ACP so that I could shoot it all in a few minutes. Not my idea of a good time....lol! Traded the gun for a M-37.


 


Kevin
 

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