This weeks finds

[constellation86]

I bought these on Wednesday. That night my wife and I went out to dinner for our annivesary. I thought while we were in town we might as well look at the thrift stores. The first place I found the Concept One. I was pretty excited to find anything as I usually find something worth getting one out of five trips.
After dinner we went to the next place. I saw the other three sitting in the corner. I almost ran to the front to get a cart to put them in! I've never got more than one in the same store before.
I'm not sure what one to fix up first. The Slimline is the first of it's kind in my collection. They seem to be popping up lately. The hose is even in nice shape.
I'm also think the RS is neat because of it's historical significance. I can remember seeing these new at the store when I was a kid. I didn't know much about them other than they were the only Hoovers that I can remember that were even close the the Guardsman that we had. I just noticed that the handle is on backwards! I'll have to fix that. Is it safe to wash the bag on these? I've only heard about washing Kirby bags. My cat was sniffing it like crazy and I don't want anything nasty growing in there.
Anyway enjoy the before picture. I'll have some fun with them today!
Let me know what you guys think.
Nicholas

 

[aeoliandave]

Great finds, Nicholas, in the right place at the right time on a special day. All four look well looked after and will clean up right nice.

Dave

 

[hoovercelebrity]

Fabulous finds!

Those are all great finds! Yay! Love those "multiple find" thrift stores...

I have that same Concept 1; it looks like yours has a Vinyl bag... that would place it about 1986. I think it's a U4129 (without going and looking at mine)... During the production of that cleaner, they switched from using vinyl bags to fabric bags. The earlier models had Vinyl, the later ones had fabric.
I changed the switch on mine to a 2-speed switch, instead of that Power Surge... I also won a blue ribbon with it in the cleaning contest one year at a convention. It picked up more dirt out of the carpet than they put down! LoL
They're great machines... kind of difficult to work on if you've never done it before... but once you get the hang of it, they're just like any other.

That RS is interesting. I believe it's one of the LAST Convertibles to be manufactured. That one would have the date of production as the first 4 digits of the serial number. I'd guess 1991, maybe 1992. You won't be able to flip the handle around unless you drill a small hole for the handle retaining plate... but be careful that you don't drill through the wire. I've seen a handful of cleaners over the years that were manufactured incorrectly--either that smaller hole was punched on the wrong side, or the cord hook was welded on the wrong side. While it doesn't look very aesthetically pleasing, I think it makes your machine even that much more unique.

The Slimline i think is from the early-mid 70s. Same motor as a Dial A Matic, Portable, Swingette, only the Portable, Slimline, Swingette had a 3rd fan on the end of the motor where the belt pulley was on the DAM. (If you didn't know that). Again, sort of a beast to work on until you do a few... and learn the in's and outs of the motors. But a cool find no less. Those Slimlines were always marketed as Hoover's BOL "full sized" cleaner--usually selling for a ridiculously low price of $29 or $39. I think when they were phasing them out in the late 70s, you could even nab them for like $17.99 or something crazy like that. Good cleaners, lots of power. Only drawback is having to drag that awkward LARGE square box around on the floor behind you when using it.

Not really a Lux person... so someone else is gonna have to give you the 411 on that.

Congrats again-

~Fred

 

[constellation86]

Update

Thanks for the info Fred.
I cleaned up the canisters. I gave the Lux a quick scrub down and it runs good. Check out the slimline thread for the full story on that one.
The uprights are still waiting. I did get the numbers though.
The Concept One is a U4219 ser. 028800084894.
The RS is a U4597 ser. 129100041979.
Nicholas