What was you parents first vacuum!????

[filterqueenman]

Mama's Vacuum

My parents got married in 1952 at the very young age of 15 for my Mama and 17 for Daddy. They did not get a vacuum till they had been married for 5 years. My Grandmother gave it to them. It was a GE swivel top tan and dark brown. Then after I was born (one of 6 kids) she got a dark blue and light blue Premier swivel top.

Then in 1972 our family business took off and my Mom got a brand new Electrolux 1205. I have the 1205 I do not remember what they did with the GE or Premier. Then when they downsized to a 2 bedroom condo back in 1993 she switched and purchased a Hoover Celebrity II. They had that for only a year and the housekeeper dropped the hose in the toilet when vacuuming and sucked up water and killed it.

I am now working and so I purchased a Miele do not remember the model and they had that till they passed and then it went to my sister who killed it in short order by leaving it outside in the rain. She said she was cleaning her car and got distracted. As she is a total air-head that is plausible.

 

[thermokid]

My Mom's first vacuum

was a 1948 Hoover Model 28 with all the attachments. Then in 1963 she got a turquoise Electrolux model G, and the Hoover got sent downstairs to be used in the basement. She used the Electrolux until a year ago when she passed away. I now have both her Hoover and Electrolux in my collection....

 

[gottahaveahoove]

Doug!

You family DOES have a thing for vacuums and WATER!!

 

[minivanmegafun]

My mom had a Electrolux Super J, which she got shortly after my grandmother upgraded to a Diamond J.

The Super J is long gone, but the Diamond J is now in my closet and still runs fine!

 

[westinghouseman]

When my folks married in 1956, someone had given then an old Royal tank. Then in 1959 when I was about 2 years of age, our neighbor Gloria who sister worked for the General Electric Company in Ohio, arranged for my mother to purchase a machine through Gloria's sister. My mom thought she was getting a model like Gloria had; a Westinghouse canister model DC 7. Instead she got a GE canary yellow canister machine with a plastic swivel top and no wheels. The machine came with a rectangle rug/floor attachment, dusting and upholstery (fabric) attachment. No crevice tool. Needless to say, she was quite disappointed. My mom told me that they paid $35 for the machine.
In those days we lived in a new 3 bedroom ranch style house. The only carpeting was in a small living room. I do remember her wearing out the original fabric nozzle and a replacement as well. She did not care for the rug nozzle, though she did use it too. I also remember my dad buying replacement attachments for the vacuum cleaner, including a crevice tool.The hose was replaced twice.

I remember the color of the replacement attachments: rug nozzle and fabric nozzles were green and the crevice tool was blue. The dusting brush never was replaced, though after time it disappeared. It probably was thrown out my accident; never did find it. The machine eventually ended up at in the basement, and in or around 1967 it was tossed in the trash. The machine was pretty-well tow up by then.

Years later, my dad told me that this machine probably was an economic model from the factory. My dad work for Sears as a repairman. So, after that we always had Kenmore machines, until in 1990 I bought my mom a Royal tank with power head. She ran that machine for 15 years. My mom now has a Sears Kenmore machine which was purchased 10 years ago. She does not do much vacuuming today.

 

[lillylux]

Parents first vac

My parents had my Grandmother's Hoover model 29 when they lived in Dallas as newlyweds. After they moved to Oklahoma my grandmother got on my dad's case and told him to buy his wife (my mother) a Hoover! So my dad called the furniture store that sold Hoover vac's and they delivered a blue Hoover model 63. I still have one just like it. I also had my grandmother's old maroon 29 Hoover--and it seemed like that thing was much more powerful than the 63. Maybe that was because of the paper insert in the 63 model. The 63 also had a wrap around trim. Later we had a used Electrolux XXX and then a rebuilt Kirby 509 (that was my sixth birthday present, and a rebuilt Electrolux model E for my nine'th birthday. We also got a used Lux S for upstairs. In later years a Kirby "composite" built around a rebuilt Dual-50. Then I went to work for Kirby in high school and sold mom and Omega and she kept her then model L Electrolux. When the S broke a wheel I traded her up to a rebuilt AF Lux from where I worked. Those are the vacs of my girlhood.

 

[luxflairguy]

My parents only had two vacuums in their married life. They married in 1946 in Washington D.C. and moved to Seattle soon after. The first machine was an Electrolux model 30. I don't know if it was a new machine purchase or a re-build. It is still running. The motor was serviced twice in roughly 1960 and again in 1967. Each time I of course lobbied HARD for a new vacuum. In 1969 we moved to Tacoma into a home with lots of wall-to-wall carpet, all white. We hadn't even finished unpacking when who appeared at my Mother's insistance, but the Electrolux man! She bought within 20 minutes a first generation 1205 complete with power nozzle. I still have it.

 

[fanonthefloor]

My mom and dad married June 21,1986 and a couple weeks later she went to Montgomery Ward and bought a blue and white Eureka with the attachment kit, then in 2000 came a Eureka Whirlwind then the Oreck in 2002.

 

[aeoliandave]

When my parents married in 1950 they lived on the second floor of Gramma Schaef's huge Victorian house in downtown London Ontario. Her brother Uncle Harry and his wife Aunt Bern(ice) lived on the third floor. Gramma had converted the house to three apartments just before the war. Being younger by 9 years than her 5 married siblings Mom Marylou lived with Gramma on the first floor until she met and married Dad Jack. Each large floor comprised 3 bedroom apartments with two baths, kitchen, dining room and living room. Both families bore and raised 3 children while there. My brother came along in 1951 and myself in 1953. Our 'apartment' was so large - the house was 3 times as long as it is wide with a two story stable barn with a turntable in the back yard (all carriage and auto access was through the back lanes) - that my parents had a student border Bill Schwetz renting the third bedroom until my sister came along in 1955. Bill was a lifelong buddy and babysitter long after we moved to our own house through the 1960s and in the 70's when Bill married the beautiful Maple.
We moved out of Dufferin Street in 1961. The house 'exploded' in 1965 entirely due to the city's purposeful neglect because they wanted the land to build their new City Hall, Concert hall, Apartment building and City Plaza for Canada's Centennial in 1967.
While I have vivid memories of the entire house and floor plan I am particularly fond of the leaded cylinder glass bay above the front porch entrance. This was the small kitchen off the dining room to the left. I would lie in that window and listen to the table radio for hours while my brother and sister were in the livingroom to the right watching the 19" B&W TV.
The Big House on Dufferin Street:

 

[aeoliandave]

Anyway, Mom would go down the back servant stairs and borrow Gramma's Filter Queen Model 200A, which she gave us when we moved to South London. I remember this beast so well and Mom would tie up my sister's hair in rags and set her under the FQ hairdryer hood. I also remember the cloth tool saddle yoke with pockets that sat on the motor rim. I don't have that Filter Queen but I do have one just like it that I got from Pete. Now if only I would find that tool saddle...

When the 200A wore out Mom got another used Filter Queen, probably the Model 700 or a brown 33 because I recall it had the Power Nozzle.

FQ Model 200A

 

[aeoliandave]

In 1967 Dad surprised Mom with a brand spankin' new Electrolux 89 with PN.

This vacuum was considered long gone and lost for years by Mom. Unbeknownst to her, when it was replaced with something I don't recall (I left home in 1969) Dad absconded the 89 to his basement and later garage workshops - whence Mom would never tread unbidden - where it served admirably for decades as his Shop Vac. He engineered & canoodled many modifications from spare parts to keep it running.

Two years ago at Christmas Dinner I brought up the subject of Mom's lost 89. My brother piped up that he had it in his basement gathering dust. Only he knew! He had taken it home after Dad died.

The next day I packed that vacuum in the car and brought it home. I have left all Dad's improvements just as he left it. Green Body well-dented, Red cordwinder and gray cord, green woven hose sealed with a layer of matching red Tuckey Hardware plastic bags and a pale yellow PN Model 200, no doubt acquired at some local vacuum Shop as required through the years. Nothing could break the green telescopic wand apparently...
Besides all the usual vacuuming tasks he used it to clean up balsa wood sanding dust from his airplane model hobby and also had a hookup to the belt sander and table saw.
Jim says that Dad called it The Baboon...because of its Red Ass. (He was no doubt thinking of the Mandrill baboon) Family story - great wistful memories. LOL

 

[nazard]

in 1959 or 1960 my parents got a hoover Senior 652A, grey color.
It still works very well.
Belt stays in very good condition, also Brushroll. And bulb is still OK

 

[electrikbroomgu]

Parents and grandparents

I remember as a 3 year old the Electrolux salesman showing up at our door literally right after our Westinghouse purple torpeedo vac crapped out as if the guy had ESP. Mom was flabergasted. He brought in both a low end blue L and one with a cord winder and powerhead. Asking mom if she had any trade in's she promptly went in the cellar and brought up her grandfathers model XI. The saleman was flabergasted and told her that was by far the oldest machine he had traded in for many a year! He told mom that was going in the front window on display. Mom settled on the regular blue L and still has it to this day as her main cleaner.

In 1978 Tehans department store was having a sale on Regina Electrikbrooms and her and Nana went there to check them out with me in tow. They settled on the deluxe blue 3 speed model with power plus and Nana bought both herself and mom one. Well mom's got used very hard and eventually sold at a garage sale in 1995 but I still have Nana's and it works as new.

Speaking of Nana, which of course was mom's mother, she had a brown model G Lux with powerhead as her daily driver bought new in 1968 right up until 1997 when she went into a nursing home. She gave it to me when I moved to my first apartment in 1998 and I used that awesome machine for a while until the hose gave up. I had her original hose ends with a new tan section installed, cleaned up the tank and cord and powerhead and from that point it has been carefully stored in a box complete as a show piece. She still purs like a kitten and runs as new to this day.

Dads mom who I called Gram, bought a new model E lux during the 50's and they had that machine right up until there passing in 1995. They also had a 1968 green one speed Regina broom that I loved using when I went over to there house. Of course I have both machines in mint condition stored away at my place curently. Pics to follow sometime soon.

 

[anthony]

my parents

got this as awedding present back in 1954 so it was already 3 years old when i came along as a child i was terrified of it but i grew to love it .Mum and Dad are long gone but the Hoover is still here with me

 

[kirbysthebest]

Grandmother on Mom's side never owned a vacuum. Her only cleaning devices were broom, mop, and dust mop.

Grandmother on Dad's side had a Electrolux XXX, but wouldn't use it because it used electricity. Grossen had more money than Hitler, but would rather go to bed when the sun went down than pay for electricity.

My Mother's First vacuum when she married husband #1 was a Kirby, that's all she's had since. Various models throughout the years, the original Kirby was destroyed in a fire, and replaced with a Kirby Classic for the cost of $12.50. Classic Omega was bought in 1975, which I still have.

 

[fantomfan]

Mom's first vac

My grandmother bought my mom a Kenmore Powermate around 1987 as a housewarming gift.
She used it up until I was born, 11 years later. Around the time I was born they bought a Kenmore Destiny Plus. That saw it's fate from vacuuming nails/other crap when our old carpet was ripped up in 2002. Sad thing is, It could have been saved and It probably would have still run today.

 

[human]

My parents had a 1950s vintage ('56 or 57 maybe?) Lewyt canister. It was vertically oriented like a shop vac with a charcoal gray tank and a pink motor on top. That thing was around the house well into the '80s, maybe even the '90s. The thing still ran but we quit using it because the hose was split.

 

[dandagreer]

What a fun thread!

My parents received this model of Eureka for a wedding present. They used it until my Great Grandfather went into nursing care and we inherited his Kirby Sanitronic VII. I loved that old Kirby...so sad my Mom sold it in a yard sale a few years ago without my knowledge!

I have such good memories of vacuums growing up!

 

[nazard]

Anthony, I love the picture of your Hoover 612.
The one I'm going to get is not in same wonderful condition as your one.

Do you use paper bag?

 

[hoover61]

my parents were married in 1957and they set up housekeeping with my fathers parents
I remember an Electrolux in1965 my mother bought a hoover convertible model 35
which did not last
long but most of my vacuum memories revolve around our
hoover 61 which I currently still use it is on its 3rd set of chassis moter rebult 1n1984 the attachments were gone by the time I was interested in it
but I was able to get my godmothers tools off her 29
bought a 2nd 61 in1998 to balance the wear and a 3rd 61 at my vacuum repair shop as a parts donor