Underappreciated Vacuum Cleaners

[tylerawells]

[COLOR=#000080; font-family: book antiqua,palatino; font-size: small]So, out of curiosity and for discussions sake, what do you guys feel are the most underappreciated model vacuum cleaners both of the vintage era and the modern era. Specifically, when I say underappreciated, I mean a machine which had unique or innovative features (even perhaps ahead of it's time - much like the Edsel), not nesseciarily built with quality, yet failed to do well in the marketplace.  To kick this off - I don't really know in the vintage arena, but for the modern arena, I would say that the Kirby G4 often to me comes across as underappreciated. It seems collectors have the G3 and G5-on, and love them, yet the poor G4 just sits like the forgotten sibling. I'm not sure of the sales numbers.  I look forward to hearing your thoughts, if you have pictures of the machines, I'd love to see them. [/COLOR]

 

[compactelectra]

I Would Have to Say

The Westinghouse Converto-Vac. Did not do well. Quite a White Elephant, but oh, what I would give for one!

http://books.google.com/books?id=7F...EwAA#v=onepage&q=Westinghouse Converto vacuum

 

[tylerawells]

[COLOR=#000080; font-family: book antiqua,palatino; font-size: medium]That is certainly a strange looking machine in the upright mode. [/COLOR]

 

[chan55]

Underappreciated

I feel GE made excellent uprights in the 1960's and 70s. Loved the hose set up.I never see them around, and I want one!

 

[vinvac]

Fred,

Thanks for sharing that ad. At the 2012 Convention in Portland we had the opportunity to play with that vacuum. It was not working properly when we first plugged it in, but Sean was able to get up and running.

A very interesting machine and for it's time way ahead in design.

Starks had many vacuums I had never seen before. It was an awesome day.

Morgan

 

[kirbyds80]

G4

I don't think the G4 really took off, however I have one that I do use. They really aren't that bad actually.
-jay

 

[s31463221]

Kirby G4

I have had two G4's and I really liked both of them! I liked that it wasn't that pale/sickly white the G3 was and even though it seemed a little "jerky" when using it, I liked how well it performed. I ended up putting one on eBay and selling it simply because I didn't need two at once, and the other one I took to my workplace and used it for a long time there until the power switch began messing up on it. I had it repaired once and when it conked out again, I ended up donating it to the store I worked at when I left it! I did move up to a G5, but if I could get my hands on another G4 for the right price, I certainly would use it!

 

[ned_flanders]

See, I think the G4 is ugly...and most Kirbys are basically the same, and I don't have the space to collect each model. I think the G4 and then Ultimate G are the ugliest Kirbys.

 

[tylerawells]

I actually think the G4 is a beautiful machine in appearance.

 

[rugsucker]

"what I would give for (ConvertoVac)"

Fred,What would you give for a blue one(no atts)!?Need the matching style can(blue or green)??Or the pretty round shampoo/polishers(brown,pink,yellow)???,Jimmy