toastermike
Well-known member
My preference has always been Royal's and I have several now, but I have to admit I have been warming up to early Kirby's as well. I find most of my vacuums at the local Goodwill outlet store. Recently I found a 509 with a tan bag, red trim, and lots of scuffing. I lke the honest and purposful design of the early 500 models and decided to restore it to as original appearence as possible with available parts. I ordered the current black Kirby bag and tan handle grip and hood trim. Inspired by EUREKASTAR's restoration posted 11/06/2010 I used the same SEM automotive interior paint to return to the orignal gray. It works great and seems very durable. I did not have much luck painting the gray wheels black and found some new black wheels on e-bay. Thanks goes to KIRBYKID for facilitating a professional polishing that restored the aluminum to a mirror finish! While the 509 was out for polishing a found the 560. It appeared to be original including the bag and I decided to restore it too. So far I have just hand polished it and have ordered a new power cord. The 560 has grown on me and I think it is one of the most elegant vacuum designs right up there with my Eureka Model M!
