What are your favorite Private Label Machines?

[myhooverco]

Here is my Penncrest polisher from the mid 1960s. It is very complete with the instructions and extra pads. It has a unique front cover with the Penneys name proudly marked.

--Tom

 

[myhooverco]

Here is a close up...

 

[myhooverco]

Here is a close up of the tank...they even embossed the old Penneys logo into the plastic! Do you spot the Penneys check of quality?

 

[myhooverco]

How about an Advance? My good friend Jeff Parker gave this to me a few years back. The unbelievable thing about this machine is how quiet it is. It has a four brush agitator with no beater bars. It has a C bag and a cloth outer bag and a very long heavy duty cord. It is a great machine that runs very well. I am happy to have it as part of my collection. Thanks again Jeff!

--Tom

 

[myhooverco]

Close up of the bag details...

 

[myhooverco]

Close up of the hood details...

 

[scott55405]

Wow, very cool. I'm just amazed by all this.

I have to agree with you Tom on the color scheme on the Decade units...I liked the Hoover version's mint green colors. I've never actually used one of those, but liked the looks of them.

 

[swingette]

OMG, that commercial Advance is AWESOME. Do the Advance or Penneys cleaners have cords stamped "Hoover"? and was the C-bag setup original to the old commercial Convertibles? FABULOUS commercial vacuum you have, Tom.

 

[eluxomarty]

Some of mine

Montgomery Ward Canister ala Eureka Princess. This one has the Vibra Groomer nozzle.

 

[eluxomarty]

Monty Ward Hand Vac

next to it's Eureka counterpart.

 

[dial-a-matic]

Vibra groomer...

... I know the air goes past the beads and vibrates them but how does it work?

-a-

 

[eluxomarty]

Penncrest Upright

Here's the one i bought from Glenn Dienst in St. Louis. He was kind enough to send me the owners manual! I also have both of the Penncrest attachment sets that Tom pictured but they are in storage at the moment.

 

[eluxomarty]

Last one , promise

Hoover Cassette Handi Vac but with the Montgomery Wards label on it. Sorry for the glare but its a MW.

 

[eluxomarty]

Vibra Groomer

Andy, the air was to pass through the plastic bands ( or beads) and that was to cause them to vibrate. The vibrating beads were supposed to beat the rug to loosen and raise embedded dirt and the suction would wisk the dirt away. Problem was that the vibrating bands would stop vibrating if large debris got caught in between the bands. It was also very LOUD! I think the regular rug nozzle worked better.

 

[convertible68]

All of those are very cool machines, especially that blue Penneys Concept! What a neat color! I also have some Wards catalogs that show the Hoover-made machines...I'll scan them in if anyone's interested. It's too bad these aren't as common as their namebrand counterparts.

Here's my only private-label machine (aside from my 3 KMart-exclusive Eurekas), a Eureka-made W.T. Grant/Bradford compact canister. I believe someone else (Skip?) has the higher-end Bradford canister in the "hatbox" version. This was before the modification, but I've since made it a "Super Bradford" by adding a 7.1-amp motor, that barely fits. I used it to vacuum up pine needles after we took down the Christmas tree last month and despite the fact that the center of the bag was full, it was still picking up!

That Eureka "H" bag design was a poor bag to use for such a compact machine, IMHO. The center of the bag fills up before dirt even touches the "wings" as there is not enough space in the machine for the wings to open fully.

--Austin

 

[74simon]

Over here, Hoover vacuums were always badged as Hoover, although some of their washing machines were badged as a different brand. One of the nicest exclusive Hoovers was the Challenge Junior, which was made for a mail order company called Great Universal. Gotta love that lilac bag and rich purple front cover!

 

[appliguy]

Our Hoover Convertible Special Model 33 was that same lilac

both the hood and the bag were that same lavender color, I think that is a real cool color for a vacuum. Pat Coffey

 

[myhooverco]

Pat...

I just KNEW you would love that bag. I too thought immediately of the US model 33 Special. Thanks for the photo Simon! I was not sure if the bag was replaced of if it was the lighting. I like the color combination.

--Tom

 

[myhooverco]

David...

On the old Hoover commercial Convertible models you could get a shake out bag or a C bag. As long as you wanted one or the other the dealers would do their best to make you happy. Some little old ladies still preferred the shake out cloth bags and bought the commercial versions.

Marty...

I meant to thank you for posting such great pics of the Wards machines. Hoover did not make as many for Wards as Eureka did. I really like your Hoover (Wards) stick cleaner. It's great that you even have the tools for it! Thanks again for the pics!

--Tom