The Hurley Thor!

[portable]

Hoover300: They do say in this brochure that the 12 has a 12" wide nozzle. But you're right, the 5 doesn't look small enough to be a 5" nozzle. It could just be a marketing ploy for the later 12, if it was made after the 5. I noticed also that it says that 300,000 American women are satisfied Thor Cleaner users, so I guess they made them for quite awhile.

 

[madman]

Well... is it pot metal or steel? Try a magnet.

 

[texbodemer]

Maybe a classic car shop can rechrome it? Although, I like it as-is!

 

[myvacsrock]

It is indeed pot metal.

 

[hoover300]

Kirby Utility branded Thor??? https://www.ebay.com/itm/224451877194?hash=item34425fd94a:g:gGkAAOSwz39gk2Pv

 

[luxz80]

I really hope myvacsrock bids and wins the Thor hand vac listed on ebay now. Would be a great companion for his upright Thor.

 

[myvacsrock]

The Hurley Thor Upright I bought was a fraction of a fraction of the cost of that hand vac... so I’m good.

However, my Hurley Thor will be for sale post restoration!

 

[luxz80]

I will look out for post restoration. Knowing how your projects turn out should be a real looker.

Still remember when Ant & Dec challenged you vac sounds knowledge.

 

[luxz80]

If selling I would like to see it end up in the Vacuum Museum. Should be happy there with all the other vintage vacs.

 

[hoover300]

Huh

That stator looks like a sized up Premier Spic Span stator. Looks like that motor housing will shine up nice!
I'd love to bid but I know the price is gonna get wicked high lol

 

[madman]

Legit looks like stamped steel. And it's rusty. Where're you getting the notion that it's pot metal? It would show evidence of casting, and it wouldn't rust.

 

[huskyvacs]

That's definitely pressed steel, the bubbling on the finish is from humidity and moisture damage where the metal has corroded under the paint or to the surface of the metal iteslf and is lifting it off from underneath. I have a few steel vacuums that have rusted in this way - not from my house - but from others. If I took a wire brush to it, it would likely knock a lot of paint off. It's basically rusting from the inside out and tearing the paint or layers of the metal off with it. It's pretty brutal.

Example of humidity damage and rusting to an old rifle:

 

[oreck_xl]

Chrome plating is not cheap, but probably worthwhile in a case like this. And, some sundial cloth covered wire so it looks period correct. I wonder how many of its sisters were melted down during the metal scrap drives of World War II?

 

[myvacsrock]

Trust me it’s definitely chrome plating

Photos if extra parts attached as well. Obviously not plated.

 

[huskyvacs]

Yeah that's really strange, reminds me of how they paint BBQ parts with fake chrome and after so many years it starts flaking apart. I'll bet they didn't have the resources to polish out the metal and make it chrome to begin with so they went for a painted topcoat, and then combined with moisture and dampness damage over the decades - it peeled off.

They likely had too much competition from Eureka, Bissell, and Hoover so they couldn't afford to go all out on manufacturing and went a cheaper route.

I'm sure someone with knowledge of turn of the century metalwork would be able to explain better what they did and why it was done that way.

 

[myvacsrock]

It springs to life

So when I received it the wires to the motor were completely gone. After some soldering I was able to save her!
Here is the first glimpse of the Thor springing to life and sounding like new after a full motor rebuild!
Cosmetics and final handle rewiring to come in the following weeks.

 

[brando_husky]

What a great sounding vacuum

 

[madman]

It's stamped steel. You can see the spot welds, and where the metal is rolled, and the rust. Not pot metal. I'm guessing it's nickel plated. Peel some of the plating off and observe if it is magnetic, nickel is. Chrome plating will also be, but only because chrome uses nickel as a base plate. 99% chance it's nickel plating. Chrome was expensive and uncommon at the time, whereas most steel parts that had to be pretty were nickeled. Nickel also oxidizes and dulls, and looks exactly like that. Chrome pretty much doesn't dull over time.

 

[dysonman1]

I had an ad for the "Maytag" version, which was made for Maytag as a private labeled Thor. In the Maytag ad for that vacuum, it claimed it was made of stamped, nickel plated steel. I gave up the ad to Tacony when they were coming out with their Maytag line, for use in their advertising, and never got it back. Thor (and Maytag) called the brush inside the nozzle "the flexible besom".

 

[madman]

Besom = broom.