What do YOU consider Vintage..

[dysonman1]

Most of the people that I knew growing up were using vacuums made within a ten year period. Had a neighbor directly next door that was using a Kenkart when I was born, and bought a new Sears upright when I was about 3. I remember a lady with a Sunbeam Dual Deluxe who had it until I was like 5 or so, then bought a new Electrolux. So even in 'the good old days' it seems like people kept their vacuums about ten years. The first (and only) vacuum I ever dragged home from the trash was in 1968 and it was a GE Roll Easy. Replaced by our neighbor with a brand new Chrome Dome Rainbow. Don't know why they didn't trade in the GE - but I remember the stink when I turned it on. The disposable bags in those days were horrible, except for an Air-Way or Electrolux, all the other bags were so thin and leaked dust. And almost no one bought genuine bags. They bought their bags at the grocery store. Except the Air-Way and Electrolux cleaners I remember growing up with, none of the mothers used genuine bags. My best friend's mom had a Dial-A-Matic and she always bought the bags at the grocery store, Blue Luster brand I think, and I'll never forget the dust 'puff' right into her face every time she turned it on.

 

[kenkart]

RE Vintage car

YUP, I drove a 1962 Plymouth ALL NIGHT in the rain to St Louis, 734 Miles from my house to Toms store in Festus, Tom and David drove up in Toms then new Mustang and since I had arrived about 6;30 am, I had dozed a little in the parking lot, I heard David say..Hey Tom, look at the old car!, I spoke up and said..yeah, look who is driving the old car!!LOL, we sure did have a good time that weekend, for our cleaning competetion, Tom and I went to his basement and tore open a bunch of old vacuum bags, then we dumped it on his living room rug!! and vacuumed it up,,I can see that being done now!!LOL, We stayed at some inexpensive motel and ate at some great family type restaurants, we did not spend a fortune, but had a great time, Ruth cooked a meat loaf dinner that was absolutely great!!

 

[sebo_fan]

I class every vacuum up to 1990 as generally vintage. This includes sound systems and televisions.

 

[kenkart]

I think stereos and tvs

Have to be tube type to my mind..LOL I think my age is showing, i remember the tV we had when I was a kid, a 21 inch console Sears Silvertone , black and white of course!!

 

[bnsd60m9200]

for me, 1985 is where i stop calling things "vintage". by definition, anything over 25 is vintage and 50 antique per antique collectors general rule of thumb for anything with a plug. 100 + for furniture. so thats where i judge too. however, i personally enjoy vacs and appliances from 1955-1980 best.

Will hemb

 

[cb123]

I think you should at lest consider anything that's of unusually rare quality and craftsmanship...not the kind of everyday practicality which the old markets of the world were over abundantly inundated with to the point of drowning. Something being over a hundred years old is just fine, but being made of the most expensive materials and rendered with a superior skill is a horse all together of another color. The rarer it is the more costly it was to first produce, and therefore by this reason more scarce in finding any complete examples in today's world. I guess it's got to be at lest a 1000 to 1 ratio between the mass produced poppers trinkets and the gilded possessions of the wealthy. The poor had the copper and the rich had the silver, so my advice is to collect all the silver - as much as you can hold. Nowadays, it seems like silver can be just about anything and everything one can possible imagine, and I guess that's rightly so.

 

[nycwriter]

LOL

I can't imagine being "nostalgic" for anything post-1990!

Born in 1969, I grew up with quality (long-lasting stuff from back in the '40s, '50s, and '60s -- even as far back as the '20s - as well as contemporary stuff in the '70s), and I saw a definite decline in quality starting in about the mid-'80s.

And when I say "quality", I'm talking about across-the-board consumer products, not just for high-end consumers. Pre-1985, what set apart the "high end" from the "low end" was mostly style, trim, and features; if you got an entry-level product, it may have been stripped down, but it was the same basic quality as the high-end models (like how a Mercedes C250 is $32K, an S65 AMG is $212K, but they're still both Mercedes).

 

[cb123]

I agree, but I'll go one step further and say that I'm not even enamored with the decade pre-1990, if I might be so bold. I think the analogy I was attempting was more in line with a $350.000 Lamborghini as compared with a $27.000 Ford Taurus. Personally, I'm more inclined in collecting curiosities from the 1700 century thru the 1900 century. I tend to gravitate more to the rarer objects, and I'm less inclined of course towards the more common everyday type of items you might find, but that's just me.

 

[davetranter]

Vintage/antique

How's this for a 'rule of thumb'....

'Vintage'.... Anything with more metal than plastic in it's construction.

'veteran/antique'... Anything with NO plastic in it's construction.. Just good ol' metal, cloth, rubber, and bakelite.

Just a thought.. ;-)

Dave T

P.S. Thanks for being a 'fount of knowledge' as always, Alex Taber, and a big 'Hear, Hear' to the conclusion of reply #11

 

[tolivac]

Bakelite is plastic--Rubber technically is a plastic-just a naturally derived one.So is wood for that matter-All contain long natural polymer fibers.Bakelite is an early cellulose base plastic.

 

[midcenturyfan]

I know that this is not really an answer to the original question, but rather an explanation as to how I decided where to draw the line with my collection.

My main interest is in Hoover upright machines. Even this one range consists of a vast number of different models and obviously new designs are being introduced all of the time. I therefore decided that I had to set some perameters or the subject would be infinite.

I decided that I will collect the pre-turbo models. I have nothing against the later machines, but I would rather that they went to other collectors who would probably get more pleasure from them than I would.

Robin.

 

[sebo_fan]

Apart from my love for vacuums, I also love a lot of car brands and if there is one other brand I adore, its the swedish cars from Saab and Volvo. We also had a Volvo 240 back in the 1980s. Great car, built like a tank, no style whatsoever but it had a charm of reliability and just functioned the way a saloon/sedan should. I see the U.S generally call the Volvo 240, a "Classic" and "Vintage." Those cars were made right until 1990, so there's another reason to why or how I class things made before 1990 as vintage. I was heartbroken when the 240 eventually became too expensive to fix. My father eventually got rid of it in 1995 and bought a Honda made in the UK which was anything but reliable!

 

[suckolux]

Being a certain vintage myself, ie 56 model, I tend to think of things of my era as vintage, past about 70, not so much so

 

[davetranter]

Natural polymers

Thanks for splitting those hairs, Tolivac...... Someone HAD to...... ;-)

The general principle still stands, though???

All best

Dave T

 

[sebox4]

I was born in 1989

And I would consider anything pre-1950s to be "Vintage", 50s-70s "Retro" and 80s-90s "Used/Old"

However, most of the machines I collect are from the 80s, because they are the machines I am most fond of and I feel offer the best performance, not because they are "Vintage".

I have a really hard time considering anything Dyson even "old", to me the introduction of the Dyson was really the beginning of the end in vacuum design, not long after that we began to see all these awful single cyclone bagless things appear, and I would say from that time styling and so-called "features" (although many of the important features that made a vac better seemed to be disregarded by Dyson, which has led to most other manufacturers following suit) became far more important to the consumer than how well the thing actually cleans or how easy it is to use.

I think most of us have a soft spot for the machines we grew up around, and the nostalgia they bring back, whether they are vintage machines or not.

Matt

 

[cb123]

A wise answer in regards to that Dyson monstrosity! May the Heaven's show pity upon us all!

 

[kenkart]

Re Dyson///

Some guys love them....I DO NOT, no offense to those who do.

 

[dysonman1]

A Dyson is not vintage. I think that anything made after 1979 isn't all that interesting from a build quality standpoint, as compared to vacuums made before 1979. I like Filter Queens that have METAL guts and dirt container, Chrome Dome Rainbows, metal bodied Electrolux BEFORE the Diamond Jubilee (and it's horrible motor), 5033 bag Kenmores, Compact C-8, Royal tanks with Air-Way built RugMasteR, and of course, Air-Way's.

 

[nycwriter]

Dysonman ...

... you're right.

Post-1980 is when we saw the rise of the conglomerate and the "globalization" of production.

This is why today's mass-produced products are uninspired plain vanilla: everything is churned out of a central factory for the entire WORLD, so it has to be universally appealing. No fancy colors. No cutting-edge design.

The whole world is turning beige.

 

[tolivac]

I can go along with Dysonman1 on the Filter Queen vacuums--the METAL ones-not the all plastic ones-funny--I have bought a few plastic FQ vacuums at yard sales.Another bad thing on the plastic FQ machines sort of like the "Lux" style TriStars-they have a weaker motor.I attended one FQ sales traiing session-they mentioned to salesfolks NOT to stand on the plastic FQ dirt bins becuase they could break-the metal bins--no problem!Yes I like AirWays,too-glad I have the "Purple" one.Sad to see that company go under.They built a fine machine.Oh yes,the FQ dealership went under here.No FQ dealer in Greenville now.I think they should make a matt finish SS dust container with the aluminum cone guard instead of plastic.And bring back that more powerful US made Lamb motor.Same as for TriStar-ditch that horrible thing motor they use!TriStar should go back to their older design-MUCH BETTER!