The Flea Market: My Tale of Hits-and-Misses for this Month....

[super-sweeper]

Good evening vacuum collectors, vacuum enthusiasts, and those who simply like to keep a clean house! 

 


I've been going to the Flea-Market weekly now, one week i scored, the other week i went into heart-ache and also semi-scored!


 


Let's start with last week......


 


<span style="text-decoration: underline; font-family: impact, chicago; font-size: 18pt;">IT WAS A DAY LIKE ANY-OTHER DAY,</span>


 


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde';"><span style="font-size: 19px;">There I was, A citizen, a vacuum enthusiast, and a preserver of technology long-forgotten. A citizen on his way to the Flea-Market, the site of many of his greatest finds. only this Flea-Market had been bare for many a month. Plasti-Vacs and miscellaneous goods filled the long-standing (Except one of the rows that burned down a year or two ago and had to be rebuilt!) Flea-Market. I made my way into the Flea-Market, taking caution to observe the dumpster in case of vintage goodies that weren't even fit to be sold at the Flea-Market. finding nothing of interest, i made my way toward the inviting opening. I stop to by an ice-cream (Florida heat, isn't it great?), $1 later it was in my hand. I walk away from the service window.....and freeze. I stood in shock, utter shock, the kind that makes you stop and check if you're really seeing what you think you see. sure enough, my vision was as clear as Crystal Pepsi (But not the unbelievably expired kind, or especially the regurgitated kind). Standing before me was an antique, a relic, a first, and a infamous icon. Standing before me was a carpet-sweeper, made of wood and metal, in vintage brown, and perfect-ish paint. Standing before me, Was a Bissell's Grand-Rapids Sweeper. I said to myself, "Wooooooooooooooah, that wasn't expected"....</span></span>


 


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde';"><span style="font-size: 19px;">I walk over to it, and examine it. beautiful shape for being over 110 years old or so. I ask the cologne salesman, "Is this with your booth?".</span></span>


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde';"><span style="font-size: 19px;">Wrong guy!

</span></span>


 


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde';"><span style="font-size: 19px;">The guy selling the sweeper was young, he must have bought it somewhere, but not for much. Maybe he buys storage-units, like on T.V? anyhow, i waited for him to finish with a customer. while i waited i keep looking over the sweeper with a watchful eye.....it will be mine! muhahahahaha! 

 </span></span>


 


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde';"><span style="font-size: 19px;">Finally, the man finishes. </span></span>


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde';"><span style="font-size: 19px;">Our conversation went something like this:</span></span>


 


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde';"><span style="font-size: 19px;">"Is this with your booth?"</span></span>


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde';"><span style="font-size: 19px;">"Yes."</span></span>


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde';"><span style="font-size: 19px;">"How much are you looking to get for this sweeper?"</span></span>


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde';"><span style="font-size: 19px;">"$15."</span></span>


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde';"><span style="font-size: 19px;">"hmmm, could you do $8?"</span></span>


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde';"><span style="font-size: 19px;">"I don't know, that's kinda low (Something like that)."</span></span>


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde';"><span style="font-size: 19px;">"(Before he says a price) O.K, $8.75."</span></span>


 


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde';"><span style="font-size: 19px;">I walked off with a 110+ year-old sweeper for $8.75! he softly laughed at the price and agreed. I carried it with me throughout the Flea-Market, stopping once to show it to a friend who sales there, stopping another time to buy a refreshing (And not 21-years-old) Coke, then stopping once more to browse the 45s section of the Record Shop. On my way out, i gave a Dyson DC24 (Whatever that short thingy is) a dirty look.....Didn't see a price and didn't want to drag it home (Or roll it home....or off a cliff 

...only kidding! VacuumLand would go into War-World MMCMVIV§◘•◘○○VI if i did that!).</span></span>


 


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde';"><span style="font-size: 19px;">So without further adieu (I think i used that right, Never learned French), here it is!</span></span>


 


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde';"><span style="font-size: 19px;">P.S-For them city-folk reading this, that background be what we southerners call a LAKE. I don't be done did sure if you got 'em up there, with your connn-creete and sky-scrrappers...lol I'm not that southern! 

)</span></span>


 


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde';"><span style="font-size: 19px;">For best results, View Full-Sized. Ask your Apple or Windows support if your computer can handle the vintage-ness and Floridian-ness of this picture.</span></span>


 


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde';"><span style="font-size: 19px;">Oh, and stick around for the part about the Heart-Ache, that's next! 

</span></span>

 

[super-sweeper]

<span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde';">This view is closer. you can tell. The second photo is of the underside, wish I knew what that sticker once said! 

</span>


 


<span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde';">Oh, and don't forget the ROPE bumper, and you think it's bad when a Convertible's bumper doesn't wrap-around the base....I'm sure they're more available than this one! no damage in it's 110 year-life so far! 

</span>

 

[super-sweeper]

Now......for tonight's Heat-Aches by the Number.......

<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde'; font-size: 18pt;">Today I went to the Flea-Market. My vacuum-sense started tingling, "Alex, why not go left this time instead of forward?". Nah, Silly vacuum-sense! I went forward. after walking one row, i moved onto the other. i got half-way down when i froze. i froze in terror. i froze in delight. There was a 1970s EUREKA upright, perfect paint and bag, teardrop, 2-setting height adjuster. it had that wonderful EUREKA lens. It was groovy burnt-orange and white. What could possibly turn this to heartache? The vacuum was being throw around, by a toddler. I froze and watched in agony, only stepping closer, with my hand on my hip, 007 style, only with less stealth, once they were moving. the kid was throwing the vacuum by the handle to the point it was doing doughnuts on those flawless wheels. they skipped over to the 1st row of the Flea-Market....The kid was DRAGGING the perfect vacuum on the LOWEST SETTING POSSIBLE...on CONCRETE! I could hear it scream, "Get this kid away from me, Take me home, Alex!!!!!". I ran over to the start of the row, and waited.....then came the suspects. </span>


 


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde'; font-size: 18pt;">"Hey, is this your vacuum?"</span>


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde'; font-size: 18pt;">"Yes."</span>


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde'; font-size: 18pt;">"Would you be willing to sell it?"</span>


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde'; font-size: 18pt;">"We just bought it."</span>


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde'; font-size: 18pt;">"O.K, sure you wouldn't sell it?"</span>


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde'; font-size: 18pt;">"We just bought it."</span>


 


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde'; font-size: 18pt;">so then went the Eureka, screaming in agony as it's flawless bottom-plate became one with the floor. I wish I would've thought to bend-down and adjust the thing to SHAG, and save the Eureka some pain. If i caught the guy off-guard, I might have even tried to slip it an Aspirin. poor thing, The last I saw of it, it was being pulled backwards by the toddler, How could they think that grinding sound from the vacuum and the concrete be normal? I wish I would've ran into them again, Maybe then they'd realize i was some crazy teenager who desperately wanted their vacuum to live a happier life, with plenty of other vacuums to keep it company. Maybe if i had gone left, there would have time to save it. But maybe it wasn't meant to be, maybe it wasn't Eureka-Sense, but rather HOOVER-Sense, for directly left from where the tingle started, on the other side of the Flea-Market, stood a lonely Hoover Elite 400 behind a Bissell PowerForce Bagless. i approached with my Coke in hand, and began conversing. the bag-tension spring has either broken or come loose, because the plastic strap had PLENTY of slack in it. Perhaps it was the giant bulge in the bag, but was I really about to feel-down a vacuum-bag in front of a saleslady? </span>


 


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde'; font-size: 18pt;">"What happened to the bag?"</span>


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde'; font-size: 18pt;">"It's supposed to be that way."</span>


 


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde'; font-size: 18pt;">It is? I guess all my Elites are broken she was a nice lady, but still didn't know HOOVER like I do! 

</span>


 


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde'; font-size: x-large;">We started chatting about it. it ran smoothly and quiet, a plus. missing the height knob as usual.</span>


 


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde'; font-size: x-large;">"Out of curiosity, how much is the Hoover selling for?"</span>


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde'; font-size: x-large;">"$25."</span>


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde'; font-size: x-large;">"I wouldn't be interested at that price, but thank you!"</span>


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde'; font-size: x-large;">"Well what do you think is a good price?"</span>


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde'; font-size: x-large;"> (She stopped me as i was turning to leave)</span>


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde'; font-size: x-large;">"In the shape it's in, that bad-spot on the cord, missing knob, broken spring, I'd say $10-$15. Is it loud when running?"</span>


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde'; font-size: x-large;">Surely wasn't, it was the most quiet Elite I've ever seen. </span>


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde'; font-size: x-large;">"Runs smooth, It must have a 12-Blade fan. Will you be here next week?"</span>


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde'; font-size: x-large;">"Yes, I will."</span>


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde'; font-size: x-large;">"Well, I'll stop by next week then!"</span>


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde'; font-size: x-large;">"It'll likely still be here, we've been slow with the heat lately."</span>


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde'; font-size: x-large;">"O.K, Thank you!"
</span>


 


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde'; font-size: x-large;">So next week I might have something to do a rebuild thread on! We'll have to wait and see! 

</span>


 


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde'; font-size: x-large;">This is the best match i could find of the Eureka, only the base and headlamp were burnt orange, and the headlamp has no lens in it, only slots. the hood and bag was white, with the bag having the classic Eureka-Willams tags, especially the "Use only Genuine EUREKA F&G bags!" sticker! It's the same bag as in the picture! any ideas for a model number, any pictures? 

</span>


 


<span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde'; font-size: x-large;">The headlight was also different.</span>

 

[cb123]

Super-Sweeper, you really swept up on that sweeper...

could you got it any cheaper? Alex, that was one sweet deal! I like the ice cream thing you brought up...which reminds me of some of my misadventures I've enjoyed at the local FleeeeaMarket. The one we have here in Mobile looks like some sort of scene from the Dawn of The Dead, with the food court all a bustle with staggering zombies all licking their vanilla ice-creams, slowly turning them into a sickly brown nicotine swirls, all snarling with their receding, bleeding, red gums...Ahhh, the cherished memories, it's almost like I'm there again...I can still small the sweet smell of backup sewage and watching the wee ones playing their water sports! Thank you Alex, the repressed memories are all fresh again and my pain is revisited!

    

 

[electrolux137]

~
~

Was it like this one, other than the blue bag? If so, it's a Model 1421. The original bag is off-white which I do have. I just did this Eureka as an "Independence Day Vacuum Cleaner Commemoration." The red-colored part of the base is orange; I altered it in Photoshop to make it redder.

It's actually Arlee's vacuum. A cousin of his gave it to him before I met him (in 1984). These are the only photos of it that I could find. I know I have more of them somewhere but can't find them on my hard drive.

 

[super-sweeper]

lol Calem, Maybe I should save that Aspirin for you! 

 

[cb123]

Make it a whole bottle, Alex,  I'll just crush them up and snort'em...I need'em! 

 

 

[super-sweeper]

Just don't use the Handi-Butler while, um, 'experiencing' your entire bottle of Aspirin, I'm not even sure I should leave you in the same room as a Kirby! 

 

[cb123]

Say what! not in the same room with a Kirby. That's like saying never breath again. That's cold, that's cold man. You got ice water in your veins.

 

[super-sweeper]

Calem, I'm surprised I still have veins at this point. Don't worry, I'm doing this for the good of the Kirby! It can come visit my Kirbys while that Aspirin gets out of your system. The last thing we want is all that Aspirin making you think that Kirby next to you.....is a DYSON! 

 

[super-sweeper]

Calem, I'm surprised I still have veins at this point. Don't worry, I'm doing this for the good of the Kirby! It can come visit my Kirbys while that Aspirin gets out of your system. The last thing we want is all that Aspirin making you think that Kirby next to you.....is a DYSON! 

 

[super-sweeper]

Calem, I'm surprised I still have veins at this point. Don't worry, I'm doing this for the good of the Kirby! It can come visit my Kirbys while that Aspirin gets out of your system. The last thing we want is all that Aspirin making you think that Kirby next to you.....is a DYSON! 

 

[super-sweeper]

Calem, I'm surprised I still have veins at this point. Don't worry, I'm doing this for the good of the Kirby! It can come visit my Kirbys while that Aspirin gets out of your system. The last thing we want is all that Aspirin making you think that Kirby next to you.....is a DYSON! 

 

[super-sweeper]

Calem, I'm surprised I still have veins at this point. Don't worry, I'm doing this for the good of the Kirby! It can come visit my Kirbys while that Aspirin gets out of your system. The last thing we want is all that Aspirin making you think that Kirby next to you.....is a DYSON! 

 

[super-sweeper]

Calem, I'm surprised I still have veins at this point. Don't worry, I'm doing this for the good of the Kirby! It can come visit my Kirbys while that Aspirin gets out of your system. The last thing we want is all that Aspirin making you think that Kirby next to you.....is a DYSON! 

 

[gottahaveahoove]

Alex, May I call you Alex?

You must be in hoot in English literature/composition class. They must LOVE you. Some other students might LOVE to HATE you, but... been there, and LOOK HOW I TURNED OUT. lol

 

[super-sweeper]

John, sure you can call me Alex! I am a hoot in English class, the students (and the teacher!) FLIPPED when I brought in homework, fresh from my Smith-Corona Electra 110 typewriter! 

 

[super-sweeper]

Charles,I never saw your post! That's similar to the one I saw. The Eureka-that-could've-been had a teardrop-shaped, 2-Setting height adjuster, Low and Shag. It was a burnt Orange on base and headlight trim. The headlight had no lens in it, rather a vertical plastic grill every inch or so, it was COOL! I'm pretty sure the hood was a brighter shade of white. I don't believe the handle had a grip on it. Thanks, Charles!

 

[cb123]

Well Alex, if you have to play babysitter to them, you must remember to give each one a glass of Ovaltine and read them a bedtime story...Nothing scary, and please, leave a night light on for them and keep the door cracked and make no loud sounds and check underneath their beds before you leave the room. This is just the short list, I'll be sending you the full five hundred page list soon...I believe it's time to Hot Seat your printer!

 


Alex, if you take care of The Kirby's...They will take care of you..."Oh, what a wonderful world!"