What was you parents first vacuum!????

[hygiene903]

My parents were married in 1936, but didn't have their own vacuum until either 1951 or 1952, when they bought a brand new Lux XXX, with cord winder, Companion tool holder, sprayer, vaporizer, and floor polisher. Mom used it until 1974, when I bought her a 966 Electro-Hygiene tank, while I was selling Electro-Hygiene. Here's my Lux XXX, just wish I had Mom's. This is actually about 3 or 4 years older than Mom's, but similarly equipped.
Jeff

 

[easyace]

My parents' first vacuum cleaner was a first-year General Electric swivel top they got as a wedding present, I think.

They unloaded it in 1962 in favour of an Electrolux Model F. (Thank GOD they did, that GE turned into a pain in the ass---something happened to it and when you used the upholstery nozzle it made a loud buzzing noise like a hive of hornets on amphetamines. No idea what happened, and in time it cost suction, so they were only too glad to get rid of it and so was I, I hated that buzzing!)

When my mother remarried (she was widowed in 1966), she traded that in for an Electrolux 1205 only because she wanted the power nozzle. She kept that Lux for the rest of her life (she died in 1992), and my stepfather kept it until he died in 2001.

 

[martin187]

my parents got married in 1998 and as a wedding gift my grandmother gave my mom a hoover powermax supreme canister, when the hose broke on the canister my mom bought a dirt devil featherlite, and in 2003 my mom bought a kirby ultimate G. It was weird when she bought the kirby because they took the dirt devil, and my brother cried (he was 3, i was 1.5) even though he hated that thing.

 

[tolivac]

For what I could remember-A Kirby 510 or 511.Machine bought the year I was born.1962 divorece-Dad kept the Kirby-Stepmom had a Kenmore "KenKart" pink-whellbarrow KN.The Kirby and that together made a good team.My Mom and Stpdad bought a Hoover dial-A- Matic.Was an early one-amostly metal-was used with the hose as a canister and upright.Later My Mom bought homes with central vacuums-Balck&Decker and NuTone.She kept the Dial-A-Matic for carpets.She no longer used the tools.

 

[rainbowd4c]

My moms first vacuum was one that my Aunt gave her as a house warming gift when she rented her first apartment. It was a golden GE Swivel Top. I was three years old. Over time it went to her sister. My Grandma upgraded to a New Electrolux. I don't remember the model but I was about 5 at the time and she gave my mom the old Electrolux she had. My mom always had the hand me downs from my Grandma. It was around 1986 when she finally bought a new one from Sears.

My mom was always hell on vacuums and so is my sister. She killed the Electrolux my Grandma gave her. Bought the Kenmore and had that about seven years or so before she killed it.

 

[vac-o-matic]

My "training" vacs...

were a Kirby 505, and a coral/white GE canister. Back then before power nozzle canisters, most homes had both upright/canister vacuums unless they didn't have rugs. In the 60's when we went to wall-to-wall carpet, I noticed the rug nozzle plate on the 505 was snagging the Dupont 501 loop carpet, so we got a Hoover model 1010 on sale for $48.88 plus tx. She wouldn't spring for the headlight model, and sure wouldn't think of spending over a hundred for a new Kirby...oh well. I did try, our neighbors had a Sanitronic that I was in love with!

 

[vacman1961]

My parent's first vacuum was a Kirby 518, which I still have, I refurbished it some years back and it sits in the box, I took it to the 2014 100th Birthday Kirby convention and it won 1st prize for best rebuilt. I still have a few of my parent's old vacuums.

 

[crazykirbydude]

You Guys Are Lucky...

I remember two bagged vacs that my dad used to clean drywall dust. In the house, we had a Shark upright that started "screaming" a year later. Bought a Bissell Lift-Off, but me as a dumb 5 year old cut the cord WHILE IT WAS LIVE!!! We got a Bissell Healthy Home Vacuum to replace the Lift-Off. The Healthy Home got nasty and was replaced with a Dyson DC25 which I loved! (I didn't know Dysons were terible!) My great grandmother had a Hoover Elite with a metal brushroll, but that was tossed because the belt had slipped.

 

[ctvacman]

A 1982 Lux Olympia One Deluxe, still have and it runs great. I said we should get another vac since the Olympia was getting old haha, so they bought a Renaissance. I remember that day vividly, the salesman started to pull out a 6500 and before he got it out my mom said is that the best? He said actually we have a brand new machine, we were the first house in CT to have one, that dealer got them first and he hadn't sold any yet since he literally got them the day before. I always remember being jealous of my friends with their cheaper machines, everything I grew up with had to be the best.

 

[toastermike]

My parents first vacuum was a new Electrolux Model E purchased from a friend of my Dad. At the same time my grandmother has a brown Kenmore Commander pull around tank from the late forties, that was shaped like a torpedo and sounded like a jet engine winding up when it was turned on. Today I own one just like it along with a recently acquired Kencart version in the same color. Very nostalgic for me!

 

[KirbyCollector01]

My great Grandmother's first vacuum was an Electrolux Model XXX back in the late 40s or early 50s. My grandmother's first vacuum was a Hoover Model 28. My parent's first vacuum was a Hoover Sprint (elite style machine) as a wedding gift.

 

[crazykirbydude]

100 replies on this post!

 

[tolivac]

The first vacuum I know of is a Kirby that was bought from a DTD salesman in 1951 the year I was born.My Dad used the sprayer attachment to spray varnish or something on wall paneling and it got all over the new Kirby.My Mom said she was furious about the new vacuum getting messed up.so Dad bought his first air compressor from Sears to use for spraying and then took the Kirby to the Ohio Kirby place where they cleaned it up.the machine got lost in the Rapid City flood in 1972.Used that machine to clean my room and the hosue when my turn came up on the duty roster.My stepmom had a pink Wheelbarrow Kenmore canister that we used with the Kirby.The Kirbys tools got lost many years ago.Figure the Kirby they would have bought would have been a 510-511?Would like to get one.My Stepmom said she bought the Kenmore in 1958.Was a neat vacuum.

 

[turbo500]

My Mum first got married in 1974 to her first husband, so I don't know what her first vacuum was. She didn't marry my Dad until 1988 and at the time had a Hoover Turbopower U2332

 

[durango159]

My parents had a 1970's Hoover Celebrity II Elite canister for the main floor of the home. The second floor had a Pickles model Convertible from the Condiment series. They also had a Black and Decker DustBuster.

 

[texaskirbyguy]

This is a great thread!

Love seeing and reading all of the history here...

My mom's first vacuum that she owned was a Kirby Dual Sanitronic 50, bought new in October 1965. My dad believed in buying the best of everything then, so I am sure he was responsible for the purchase. And like the other stuff he bought back at that time - the Zenith color TV, the Lawn-Boy mower, the Kenmore sewing machine, the Toastmaster toaster, etc, the Kirby is still in routine service. She has the rug renovator and original paperwork to go with it.
I was scared of the Kirby when I was little and used it when I was older - I thought it was a great machine. While still running okay today, the bearings are getting noisy and the armature is heavily grooved. I will be restoring it this fall as a Christmas gift to her. Therefore this Kirby will be her first - and last - vacuum!
Here are a few pics of it from last month when I was evaluating it. The scratches were from me trying to get it under my bed!

 

[delores]

My folks married in 51, my mom's first vacuum was a two-tone green GE swivel-
top with the gray cloth hose. It came with a box to store it in. The hose was stored in the lid. My mom died when I was 6 two years later, my stepmom had an Electrolux Automatic with the halo. I have several GEs including one NOS. Pictures to follow.