Thrift store Dial A Matic!!!!!

[electrolux~137]

I clearly remember the first time I saw a Dial-A-Matic in someone's home -- it was at my high-school friend Mark's house in Annapolis, Maryland. I went over to his house one Saturday to hang out and of course went snooping for the vacuum cleaner.

The only one I could find was an old maroon tank cleaner of some type down in the basement, maybe a Bee-Vac or a Cadillac, I don't remember now. I knew it couldn't possibly be their main vacuum!

But I couldn't find a newer vacuum cleaner anywhere.

Then I finally looked in a closet in the dining room, and there it was! A brand-new Hoover Dial-A-Matic! Until then I had only seen them in stores and on TV. It was dark beige with a lime-green front cover.

I was dyyyyying to pull it out and use it, but by that time in my life, as a teenager I had "gone into the sweeper closet" and didn't let on that I loved vacuum cleaners. (Some people figured it out anyway ... maybe because that's just about all I talked about!)

I never did see his mom use the Hoover so I never got to hear what I sounded like.

Mark's dad was very eccentric btw -- a stuffy but congenial Methodist minister who spoke in a phony British accent! That was insufferably embarrassing to Mark because people made fun of his dad behind his back. Somehow, his dad never caught on that he was the subject of much snickering; and as far as I know, he's still peppering his speech with "tut-tut" and "all that sort of rot" and "I believe I'll have a spot of tea."

Seriously, I think his dad is an old queen, but that's another story.......!!

 

[ohio_tuec]

That's a wonderful story, Charles. I think the DAM is my all-time favorite Hoover upright. My first encounter with a DAM was a model 1149 (which I still have!) that my mother got as a housewarming gift in 1972. The handle frame cracked and eventually broke apart years ago, so I used one from a donor 1157. It and a Kirby model 560 were the two vacuums we had in my home when I was a child. I recall my father bringing home a model 1100 he found in the garbage at some point which we used for a little while and later sold in a garage sale.

- Karl

 

[gottahaveahoove]

you all know that the "orange" one,

the first D A M was the first . It was introduced to America on Bewitched. There is a long, interesting story about Agnes Moorehead and the Hoover family.

 

[electrolux~137]

There is a long, interesting story about Agnes Moorehead and the Hoover family.


[pulling up a chair] - so let's hear it!

 

[kenmore81]

Wow

Nice pair Hans. I do like that Hoover color scheme, its one of my favorites too. I had the Constellation in the chocolate/orange, I do miss it. I wish I could find another and a non powerdrive DAM.