They were a small run of imported Turbopowers from across the pond re-badged for the US Market as the "Innovation". They were not made in large numbers - I suspect it was done to use up a bunch of leftover product that Hoover had - and not many have survived due to the fragility. For US collectors they are the closest thing you can get to a Turbopower without spending a few Benjamins importing one. I got mine April 13, 2021 for $4.99 at Goodwill.
Two really nice ones one was a hardbody one a soft, I gave them to Tom Gasko, Im trying to be rid of everything i really dont like and thats 99.5 percent of all uprights i have.
Love Hoovers. I don't know where I would find one though. Either have luck finding on the internet, thrift stores, estate sales or from another collector.
Just out of curiosity, how many different Innovations were there? I have the maroon soft bag upright like pictured above, and I've also seen a white hard body model. The base reminds me of a blown up Elite, and IIRC the Innovation used two belts.
I believe there were three different Innovations in the US. There's the soft bag one, and two hard bag ones. One with a hose on-board and one without. I think the rarest ones are the hard bag versions. But the Hoovers that's definitely more rare than the Innovations are the Sovereign models which are basically the Turbopowers from the UK. There's one with a cord rewind and one without a cord rewind.
It’s kind of like a Hoover conquest, but made for home use. The attachments are the easiest to use. And it has decent enough suction for a fan first machine. The auger brush roll really pulls the dirt out of the carpet. I love the full bag indicator and the cord winder. The air flow is beyond tremendous. The handle is a little shorter than you would typically find on US machines.
Both of these came to me, brand new, first belonging to the late Michael Hays and passed on to me by my close friend Hans Craig. I love them both. The hard body absolutely must use Hoover sovereign type O bags. The soft bag can use the Hoover type B bag made for the soft bag innovations. I’ve seen many instances where the front bag door would blow off the hardbody model, because they were using bags that inflated too much.
Just thought I’d post a picture of my American Hoover innovation, and my British/United Kingdom, turbo master. The UK model has varying speeds in my American version has power surge. Both have the built-in/onboard tools.