The guy that owned the Kirby Sales and Service office/Dealership in my area has been in business since 1952. He is retired now, and passed the dealership onto his son, but i heard the old man say once that the Kirby Classic 1CR, and Classic Omega (and the red Classic 3) were by far the most sold models of all, from his dealership, in this area anyway.
I asked him why, and he said it was because at the time, the shag and wall to wall carpet and large homes were popular, and Kirby had came out with the totally redesigned model (the Classic 1CR), doing away with the 500 series (DS80 being the last) The newly designed Kirby, with its new large bell shaped head,and everything else newly designed practially sold itself. Plus,at the time many businesses in the area also used Kirbys.
Also about this time the Kirby West plant was opened in Texas, so the manufacturing was going like gangbusters, as were the salesmen out in the field.
Back in those days, if the salesmen sold 11 Kirby's, they got the 12th one free, to do with as they wished. They usually would sell it for a HUGE profit, which was a great insentive.
He said that at the time of the Kirby Classic, and especially Classic Omega, and Classic 3,,,he had over 100 salesmen,each selling at least 12 machines a day. Truckloads of new machines and attachments had to be ordered DAILY in order to keep up.
The walls of his office were covered with sales award plaques, and he had a lineup in his office of the gold Kirby's from Classics to G3s. I know at one time he even had a Kirby van with a HUGE Kirby Classic Omega logo on the side, that the office would use to pick up and deliver repaired machines. I know they did alot of the repairs right out of the van, in the customers driveway,,and i would see his big gold cadillac around town once in awhile. It had a Kirby Classic Omega bumber sticker on the rear bumper.
A lady from the area told me once(late 70s) that she had an older ( prob 500s series, she said from the 50s) Kirby that needed repair, and the van happened to be in her neighborhood. She waved them down, and they took her Kirby, saying it needed repairs that only the shop could do, so they would have to take it in, but would deliver it back to her when it was repaired. She never saw her Kirby again.
She called after several days, but they told her they had never heard of her.
So, maybe his dealersip was a little crooked? Who knows. But that lady said she would NEVER EVER have anything to do with a Kirby after that!
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