Well this was a surprise

[vacbear58]

and no, it was not me who bought it.

I will admit that the cleaner looks to be in exceptional condition and it is a very comprehensive "package". I am passing no judgement on the people who bid on it, it is their money to do what they will with it and I wish them much enjoyment of it.

However, I believe the cleaner and tools do not go with the paperwork, both are post war versions of the 375, which the new owner will no doubt discover when they compare the serial number on the cleaner with the guarantee. That sheet on Hoover Service, which I have never seen before will, no doubt, have added to the attraction.

Surprisingly these cleaners are by no means rare, they (and even the relativly short production predessor 370 model) come up quite often and indeed rather more often than later models. I would say, from my experience, Hoover Juniors in all their versions and Hoover Constellations appear more often on UK ebay than any other vintage cleaner

Al

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230622235567&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

 

[vacbear58]

Bag

By the way the bag on the cleaner is not origional either, but is a genuine Hoover replacement. the other bag, with red underlining, would have been teh origional

Al

 

[twocvbloke]

I could tell that wasn't a Pre-war 375 when I first spotted it earlier in the week, on pre-war models they painted a black stripe down the front in line with the belt cover, and on post war model, to save money, they didn't paint the front, just the belt cover...

The Pre-war ones are the more rare models because a lot of people offered them for scrap metal for the war effort, so a lot were destroyed to make the parts needed for planes and things, so to find a pre-war one in as good condition, well it wouldn't surprise me if the bidding went higher than that auction...

 

[vacbear58]

In my experience

pre war models are common enough as well, and 370s turn up quite often too.

To be frank I cannot see that anyone would have given up a cleaner only two or three years old for scrap - maybe older models from the 1920s which might have been replaced with a new one. Back then a cleaner was a much more substantial investment and much more a status symbol than it is today, too good to go to scrap.

The other way you can tell is the front wheels, pre-war and just immediatly post war models have narrow wheels and a height adjustment, post war have wider (supposedly self levelling) wheels - thats what I spotted rather than just the front cover being painted black. Not sure about the lack of a black stripe being a cost saving exercise (it could be), the black stripe kept an integrity with the pre war 475 & 825 models.

Al

 

[hooverbaby]

Thanks for that Al!

I also saw the auction just before I went on holiday to Scotland for a few days so couldn't have been present at the end of it.

Though this is one of the nicest complete post-war 375s I've seen I decided not to bid on or even watch the auction, despite this being one of my favourite cleaners. Why? Well I already have quite a few examples of these machines, including both these styles of black bags, tool sets, an example of the cleaner box, the service leaflet and instructions. Some of these aren't quite as nice as what was on offer here..but after just winning a job lot from a Vacuumland member (Jonathan Hastings) and spending money like no-ones business on a number of other vacs,mowers, new car tyres etc I had to draw the line. By the way, Jonathan's machines look lovely and all run spot-on!

It looks as though this 375 has gone to a collector, judging from the price made?..but who knows, perhaps someone valued it enough to buy it for regular use!
At least thanks to you I now know the final price it went for.

Incidentally I initially thought that all post-war 375s had the large castor wheels at the front. Presumably, the adjuster was done-away with because the wider wheels don't sink into the pile as much. Whilst I loved the earlier type with the adjuster, which you could set just right whilst in motion to Hoover up the pile I once had one back I sold to a lady because it was making tram lines on her carpets! However I've read that post-war machines had an F preceding the serial number..and these appear on some earlier-style models with the adjuster too. In fact, the late-style casing was still available as a spare part into the 1960's, according to Hoover's service guides!

I'm inclined to agree with Al that it's unlikely many 375s were scrapped during the war, they were such an expensive purchase back then and there was a shortage of machines from what I've gathered. In some cases parts weren't supplied or repaired unless the old ones were exchanged. Also I've seen a lot of 375s over the past twenty odd years I've been collecting Hoovers..and I'd say that most have been of the early type with adjuster. The others are not rare; what are not so common are complete machines in nice condition, eg. this auction.

Stephen

 

[rolls_rapide]

War Effort Scrap

Highly unlikely.

More likely to be returned to Hoover, to be refurbished to Hoover's standards.

I know for a fact that my grandmother and her mother each had a Hoover Junior 375. One had narrow wheels, the other had broad wheels. One was factory reconditioned, the other was new.

The newest one was given to my gran's niece; the refurbished one was inherited by my gran from her mother.