The first Electrolux I ever saw..

[kloveland]

was a 1205. My grandmother had one when I was born in 1985. She only had the canister two wands, generic white upholstery nozzle and hose. She said she busted the power nozzle and threw it out. I assume it was the one piece with the plastic sheath. I remember watching her vacuum the house with just the small upholstery nozzle. She had multi level orange and brown carpet. It must have took a long time to vacuum a fully carpeted house with a small upholstery nozzle. Later when she installed white plush carpet she bought a used Kirby Omega which was around 1990. I have the Kirby! She gave me the Electrolux when I was a kid. I wish I still had it. So I guess that’s why I have five 1205s now. Lol!

In the picture is how I remember her 1205. It was an early 1205 because I remember the pigtails on both ends of the hose.

 

[kloveland]

It’s funny that.

four out of the five are the early models. I didn’t plan it like that it just happened that way. I just grabbed lol! I personally like the 1205 better than the G. Am I compulsive? Most definitely!

 

[rainbowd4c]

My grandma only ever owned Elextrolux. It was one of my favorite brands. It still is. In my lifetime she owned three different models.

 

[hoover300]

I have one of those

Its my vac for cleaning out other vacs. Fantastic machine. I got it from a junk shop for free, motor unit only. It is the variant on the right of the first pic, but with a textured paint job.

 

[rodknock95]

My Grandmother had this

This is what I grew up with at grandmas

 

[rodknock95]

1205

I need to add a 1205 to my lineup

 

[lesinutah]

Blaze

Holy cow. I thought you had slot of Kirby's.
I'm seeing 15 electroluxes. There a in pretty good shape too.
Les

 

[4501933ho]

I have one

I have a 1205 that I found in the trash at my campground I had to fix one of the brushes and it worked fine after that

 

[caligula]

The 1205,

was the first vacuum cleaner I ever sold. I was 18 and worked after school and on weekends. I later realized I was better with the demo than making a sale.

 

[gregvacs28]

First in person was a 1205 that a Minnesota relative had.  They kept in their linen cabinet in the bathroom.  They hung the hose neatly over two hooks on the back of the bathroom door.  I don't think they had a power nozzle for it.


In the mid 70s they really didn't need it as their house still had a very short pile 50s/60s carpet.


When they built a new house with deep pile carpet in 80 it soon necessitated the need to get an Olympia with a pn.


They still have that vacuum and the original hose but it's raggedy and they're in their 80s now and very few things have changed in their home since 1980.  It's kind of cool, kind of not.


 


First time I saw an electrolux was on the Brady Bunch when Greg was vacuuming something out from under the hood of the car with an electrolux with a white hose. 

 

[suckolux]

The first for me was also a 1205! We had moved into town in 71, temporary a mobile home park, not even paved yet it was so new! Across the street from us was a huge 3 section custom mobile home, they owned the park! Of course she had the vacuum! First I had ever seen of a powerhead vacuum! I used it a lot, she was in close contact with her Electrolux man! The very reason of course I had to find something similiar when I could, my pawn store Silverado!

 

[vac-o-matic]

XXX

It was my grandma's. She kept it in the box it came in with a comforter over it..one of her prized possessions..and a Sunbeam mixmaster..always covered. She was born in 1886..so she took very good care of her things.

 

[human]

The first Electrolux I ever saw was my grandparents' LX. Their housekeeper was still using it when my grandfather went into assisted living in 1998. I have no idea what happened to it after that. It was a beautiful machine and so quiet!

I have a long history with 1205s as well. The first one of those I ever saw was the one my next door neighbors had when I was little, maybe in the early '70s. When I was in high school, my dad recovered one from the curb when neighbors across the street moved. It had a non-electric hose that leaked like a sieve. The only tool we had for it was a flippy floor tool and two metal wands. I thought that machine had gone away when my parents moved from Raleigh to Charlotte in 1997 but I found it in their attic when they were moving to a retirement community twenty years later. Needless to say, I scooped it up and brought it home to keep the 1205 I'd had as my primary vacuum cleaner since 2004 company.

Other Electrolux canisters I own are a Super J, a Diamond J and a Silverado, which I rebuilt about a year ago but still needs some work. I also have three Electrolux uprights—a Discovery II that I rescued from the curb, a Discovery Plus with onboard tools (very awkward) and a Genesis LXe.

 

[cam2s]

1205

The 1205 was also my first experience with an Electrolux. I was very young, about middle school age when I got it. It came from a garage sale in town...was in a box marked free. Had all the attachments and everything worked, it was just clogged in the power nozzle. My family was very poor at the time and we went through a lot of junk vacuums that didn't really work. My grandma wouldn't use it because she didn't like canisters but it got us by. I hung onto that machine even as we did become better off and get a new vacuum since it was old. I rediscovered the 1205 many years later, I had discovered this website but hadn't started collected and working on vacuums. Anyways I had never been terribly impressed with the suction of the 1205. After reading about Electrolux's here I came to realize that the original braided hose on it was shot and not holding air I called up our local Aerus dealer and order a new brush roll, belt, a box of bags and a new hose. They where a little taken aback when I told them it was for a 1205, I remember the salesman telling me to give them a call when I was ready for a new one! A few days later the items came in the mail and I was really shocked and how much power that 1205 had a with a new hose. Now that I have started collected I have a lot of it's cousins, but the 12205 will ways be a favorite.
Cameron

 

[human]

Bad hose

I can relate to what Cameron said. When I was using the 1205 my dad rescued from the neighbor's trash pile, back in the early '80s, I couldn't understand it's lack of suction and when I rescued it from their attic in 2016, I initially put it in my barn because of that and the fact that it was so dirty and the top handle was broken. But on a whim, I put a good vinyl hose on it, compared its performance with my other 1205 and determined they had equally good suction. So I cleaned it up, found a replacement handle on the cheap and now use it more than any of my other Electrolux canisters. It's also kind of fun to say that since it didn't ship with a power nozzle when new, I gave it its first power nozzle experience.

Hint on the handle: NEVER pick a 1205 up by the long part of the handle; ALWAYS pick it up by the shorter part that runs crosswise. It's a very poor design that was corrected with the Super J.

 

[paul]

Among the topics that pique my Vacuumland interest are posters' personal recollections of cleaners. So this thread has been a fun read.

Our city only had an Electrolux Branch Office for a short time in the '60s till maybe the early '70s according to the lists in the Model F, Model R, Model G, & Model L user manuals (1957 to 1967), so they weren't that popular as others like Kirby and Kenmore, but I had a passing interest in cleaners as a youth and only saw my first 1205 in person several years ago.

Anyway, Electrolux had the practice of updating user manuals as changes and upgrades were made. A couple 1205 manuals were printed in 1968, and one annually each year through 1974. I have most, so using them, personal observations, and knowledge from other Vacuumland posters, here's an approximate timeline of notable changes & upgrades, although there may have been some transitional iterations:

1 - 1968: smooth tank/cylinder body, Model G motor, red printing and border on exhaust cover, serial number on bottom of back cover trim, black Automatic Control interface, turquoise bag door w/pn port under hose inlet, standard coupler hose with metal goose neck grip with/without banded pn cord, PN-1: teal blue cover w/white plastic wand
2 - 1968-1969: serial number on stabilizer, power hose & coupler with plastic pistol grip, power hose with standard coupler & pigtail plug, or standard hose & coupler with plastic pistol grip; PN-1: w/ribbed teal blue elbow, telescopic wand & teal blue ribbed sheath
3 - 1969-1971: 1205 motor, red printing on exhaust cover (no border), jade Automatic Control interface, jade bag door, PN-1 w/smooth teal blue elbow & wand sheath, & steel wand
4 - 1972-1973: black exhaust cover w/no red, power hose & coupler with metal goose neck grip and plastic pn port or standard hose with metal goose neck grip
5 - 1973-1974: textured tank/cylinder body, PN-2 w/smooth jade elbow & teal blue wand sheath & cord; & steel wand

_____

All iterations had the same colored hose: teal blue with 2 white tracers; though the last runs may have been accessorized with the white hose paired with the 50th Jubilee 1205 tank cleaner.

Optional accessories throughout the run were the Rug Washer single brush dry foam shampooer, sprayer, vaporizer, & the white-bristled dusting and wall brushes. The separate triple brush Model B-8 dry foam Carpet Beautifier-Polisher was also available.

Clarification: a 'tank' (or 'cylinder') cleaner's motor is mounted horizontally; a 'canister' cleaner's is mounted vertically.

_____

Unfortunately, Electrolux Corporation chose not to publish a timeline of each 2-letter series comprised in the serial numbers; although I suspect at least some may be listed in service manuals. Such a roster could also be composed using the customer purchase histories kept by the company. It seems to me that the 1205s made in the '60s had serial numbers with 'Y' prefix, and those manufactured in the '70s had serial numbers with the 'Z' prefix.

 

[rugsucker]

1205

Early--No drain hole under motor in case liquid in accidentally picked up,round bag lock out button,no screen between bag chamber and fans,metal handle(later plastic could often break),no above floor clip(service managers were later told to add if a 1205 came in for service without one).

 

[karl]

The 1205 was a first for me also, my Mom had the 1205 until I moved out. Not sure what happened to it, I should have gotten it from her.

 

[4501933ho]

Where do I look

Where do I look for the serial number?