VAX 101/121/2000

[suctionselector]

Hello,

Just wondering, as I would like one, are the VAX Combination cleaners - ie. 101/121/2000- worth the £40/£50 they can sometimes go up to on eBay. Most of them still have their original boxes and manuals etc.

Also were the 101/121 earlier then the 2000 followed?

Weren't they also Britain's bestselling vacuum for a while?

Thanks

Jacob

 

[dysondestijl]

yeah im pretty sure they were britains most popular vacuum at one point! until everyone wanted one of these new bagless'dysons' and the vax's were confined to under the stairs, or in the garage. i have to say my parents did the same thing, until my mum sold the vax when i was born!!!
btw i wouldnt pay £40/£50 for one!!!! maybe for a 6131 or one of the new ones!

 

[suctionselector]

VAX

Guessed so too, read about it in James Dyson's book. My uncle has a boxed 2000 in his garage but the box has a bowl on top for catching water and my uncle says I can have it when he sorts his garage out.

 

[vintagerepairer]

101 was the original cleaner, with transparent brown recovery bin. It had s few other subtle changes to, like a very deeply reccesed on/off switch and a set of white tools, the hose of which was different in style from the 111.

The 111 looked exactly like the later 121 which was the model that sold for the longest. 111 had white tool kit, the 121 had black. Despite many design changes after 121 went on sale, the model number did not change until the 2000 around 1989/1990.

I am sure Vax claimed their cleaner was the best seller, but I do not know on what figures this was set against.

 

[dysondestijl]

lol theres a 121 in my friends garage, and a 121 in my neighbors shed! i might inherit one one day....

 

[vintagerepairer]

There are a good deal of Vax cleaners still boxed it seems. People bought them partly due to fashion and partly to replace worn out or broken cleaners. The adverts sold up to the fact the cleaner could dry vacuum and wash carpets, making it look so very easy. What the upright loving consumer did not bargain on was how difficult the Vax would actually prove to be as a vacuum cleaner. Because of this, many reverted to an upright cleaner and boxed the Vax up with the intention of using it to wash carpets as and when the occasion arose. Whether they did wash or not is another matter of course. Out of sight, out of mind.

 

[suctionselector]

VAX

Thank you for the information dysondestijl and vintagerepairer. My uncle borrowed this machine 10 years ago from my aunties friend for a bit of carpet cleaning and the last time it was used was 10 years ago! The friend has never asked for it back & my uncle says that my auntie doesn't see her any more!

 

[james]

I would say the recovery bucket on the 101 is transulcent black, and a 111 actual is slightly different cosmeticlly to 121's, in that the top motor vent is very narrow, but on 121's is much larger, but vintagerepairer is spot on otherwise.
Other differences in the washing heads, solution clips, wheel layouts etcc.

Email me if you want to know more as I have all of the 100 series, and spent alot of time noting differences etc
I think the 121 may have sold up to about 1992?
Is it worth about £40/ £50, well maybe. They are very popular still after all these years. You can pick up a bargain, keep searching on ebay for one locally with no postage offered and collect it.
I got a mint boxed 121, for £23 because it was local with no postage option.

Most I have paid is £36 I think it was for my 101, but did have to drive 100miles or so to collect it.
You can see videos of some of my vax's on youtube
Pictured here is the 101, 111, 900W 121 and 1000W 121. There is also a later 1000W 121 which used castors similar to office chair's that I did not picture at the time.

 

[hooverhoover98]

OMG! we have had two of these, the one is working fine, and the other was sold.
Absoloutly fantastic vax machines

 

[vintagerepairer]

James the 121 with the different castors was the best of them all as these castors did not allow the cleaner to fall over. As you rightly say, the 111 had a different castor placement, whereas on the 121 all five castors were equally spaced out. Why Vax never used the double-castors which they eventually settled on I just don't know. Other brands of cleaner had them, but not Vax.

Vax also changed the wand on the end of the hose on this model. The plastic grip was circular and not square. This design was so good that Vax resurrected it around 1993 to use with their 3-in-1 upright and then used it across the upright & cylinder ranges of wet cleaners for a good deal of years.

I must say I though the 121 had finished by the later part of 1990 though. But I am not 100% sure.

 

[james]

To make it worse, the 101 and 111 only have 4 castors, and are very unstable with 3 of them at the back, and one at the front! Certainly a little wobbly.
The earlier 900W 121 had 5, but not equally spaced. I think the equally spacing was introduced on the very late 900W 121, or on the 1000W models.
Also wonder why they never used the double wheeled castor, but I do like the original style castor they have, very odd.

Yep my 8100SX and New Wave 1300 both use that style of hose
I do really like the original 121 style. And the 101 and 111 styles of wand end was very similar to an Electrolux hose.

Not sure why I think 1992, as I can't seem to find any evidence to back it up, even my double wheeled castor model has the date "april 1990" inside it.

 

[vintagerepairer]

The tools used by Vax will be forever a mystery. I think originally they were made by a company who made pattern parts for lots of cleaners. As to why the Electrolux 3-peg fitting was used, I don't know, and I was surprised that the design had not been copyrighted. Of course the Vax fitting was longer so as to reach the bag collar adaptor, but the overall fitting was the same as Electrolux. I have seen a few Vax cleaners in a terrible state due to an Electrolux hose being used. I recall also that in the 1970's ETA also used the Electrolux 3-peg fitting.

The small dry tool with the original Vax was identical to the one used by Electrolux up until the model 64 ended. That was about 20 years before Vax picked it up. Very strange.

 

[rolls_rapide]

I always thought the Vax 121 machines were top-heavy.

I greatly preferred the Hoover Aquamasters. Better stability, better suction power, better tools, lighter extension tubes. They reminded me of Daleks, and they weren't orange...

 

[jmurray01]

I just had this picture in my mind of a Hoover Aquamaster pointing it's extension tube at a Vax and saying "EXTERMINATE!".

Oh boy my life is dull.

 

[vintagerepairer]

Of the two cleaners, I prefered the Hoover clean over the Vax for the reasons mentioend by Rolls. What I did not like at all were the wobbly tubes and the fact that the shampoo tube ran through the suction hose. Hoover designed the suction hose so that it would not turn through 360 degrees (you had to manually turn the hose bag when it became locked, this was to avoid damage to the shampoo hose inside) and this made dry vacuuming even more of a deal.

 

[vintagerepairer]

Excuse my appalling message just now but I could not lay hands on my reading glasses.

 

[jmurray01]

I did think that was rather off for you Benny.

What exactly did you mean by the "hose bag"? I don't understand.

 

[vintagerepairer]

Hello Jamie

I didn't mean anything, my computer edited 'back' with 'bag'. I maybe spelt it wrongly to start with. So you see, it should read "you had to manually turn the hose BACK when it became locked"

 

[jmurray01]

Ah, if it becomes kinked you mean?