Wow, I just noticed this thread. :cool:

I've been cleaning up a 1954 Electrolux Model LX that I picked up at the junk store over Labor Day weekend. I think I'm going to purchase one of the newer style plastic hoses and use this thing. Has super suction.

What are you guys using for an after filter in these? The old hairy one is pretty disgusting.

Well I bought a really cool Vacuum today.

It's an Interstate Compact Electra, "Anniversary Model" which as near as I can figure put's in in the mid 60's.
It's "As new as tomorrow" well roughly 16,000 tomorrows have gone by since this was new but it still looks pretty good.

All I got was the body and the hose, no attachments, the bag is still in it though. :puke:
I was surprised to see bags are still available for it.

Anyhow,. I just got it because it looks cool and is a great color, it does run good however so it will come in handy for cleaning up small messes and stuff that you don't want running through the impeller of your Hoover Upright, like old capacitors and solder bits. :yes:

The label says it's an Interstate Quality Product" indeed it is.

Eric, what is the amp rating on the motor? I have a Sharp about 15 years old, that is a similar design, and is no more advanced that yours there. I rarely see that good old vacuum equipment anymore.

I don't know what the rating is, I haven't taken it apart yet.

The history of these is pretty interesting, according to the Internets (which are always right) , they were originally designed and used to clean Hughes Airplanes, they worked so well they started selling them to the public via door to door salesmen in 1946 or 47.

This one has a plug on the side, presumably for power attachments like a beater brush or rug shampooer, I could use it to plug in an old TV I suppose.
Seems like a seriuos shock hazard being completely exposed like that!

The housing is made completely out of Aluminum, early models had skids instead of front wheels, from what I read online the Anniversary model is from 1966, I guess it was the 20th anniversary.

Eric H,

I have several of this little Interstate Compact vacuums. I love them. One of mine had a truly rotton hose, so, I took it to a vac repair shop, and he put me a 16 foot replacement hose on it. I use it to vacuum the carpets in the cars, and that hose can reach everything. The cloth bag is great, too, as I often vacuum up change and things.

My grandmother had one that she bought in 1961. She ran it to death.

Yours has a plug-in for a power attachment. I think they offered a power head. I'll have to dig and see if I have an extra.

Lately, I've been trying to help out some people from my Church, we have a facebook group for things needed, or wanting to donate, etc. Been coming across a bunch of people that need vacuum cleaners lately, and I've started seeing more and more of them in the trash, so for the heck of it, I've been picking them up and rebuilding them (consisting mainly of cleaning all the disgusting stuff out of them, disassembling them, sanitizing them as best I can, new belts, and rehoming them).

I just got done with two bagless units, a Eureka Boss 12 amp, and a Bissell 12 amp bagless. I am highly embarrassed to say this, but they make my Kirby G6 look like a bad broom :(

These are by and large the most incredible vacuums I have ever used. They make the pile look like new, and the Eureka sucked up a SOFTBALL size wad of cat hair and dirt that my Kirby missed, over the whole house and furniture. This is after I just vacuumed the day before with the Kirby. I replaced the Hoover Convertible that I'd been using (had to put a new motor in that when the plastic impeller shattered when it sucked up a nail) with the Kirby, when it was given to me in the usual pre-trash disgusting condition.

Thought I'd hit a gold mine until I used the Eureka Boss. Just wow :(

Tim, If you happen upon a Dyson Animal, I have some experience replacing plastic with metal to keep ours together.

How are those Dysons, in your opinion?

Probably no better than a Kirby, but supposedly filter outgoing air better, supposedly a HEPA filter, which is important as we have severe allergies (not to cats, but dust and mold)

My grandma had a Rainbow canister (looks like a small R2D2) which I inherited, uses water as a bubbler-filter, I use that occasionally but its an involved procedure.

Kirbys just look cool. I swear I always saw them in city hotels..

At my movie theatre, we have a big Royal Commercial upright vacuum that has a huge suction snout on it... 18"! Makes short work of the lobby and auditoriums! It's at least 35 years old.

Royal, also maker of the Dirt Devil. Good little units.

I don't generally have a great deal of interest in vacuum cleaners, but I ran across one of these in a thrift store last week: a 1955-ish Air Way 'Sanitizor' 77. (Picture is not mine... me no have digicam.)

I decided to pick it up for three main reasons:
1. It looks like a rocketship.
2. It seemed to work a lot better than the vacuum cleaner I had.
3. It looks like a goddamn rocketship.

So $20 got me the unit, plus 30 bags and all the attachments, including a blower thingy for distributing moth crystals, and a... paint sprayer, apparently? Not sure if I'll be trying that one. :headscrat

All it needed was a bit of a cleaning and some new grease in the motor bearings, and it was good to go.

The thing I'd been using previously was a 10-ish year old Simplicity, which did a pretty spectacular job of not picking up dirt. It's pretty much the epitome of plastic crap... although at this point I think it consists of more superglue than plastic, since something or other would break off of it about every time I used it.

So having something made out of metal is a nice change, as is having clean floors. Also, it looks like a goddamn rocketship. :banana:

I've got 3 Kirbys... a 1940's era, a 1966 Sanitronic, and a 1990's era G-3 full size. Of the 3, the 1940's is the best at sucking. It gets stuff out of the carpet when the other two didnt... However, the automatic transmission on the G-3 is a lovely thing to have.

That's quite the item there. If I ever see one... and I think I have, I will buy one!:yes:

The paint sprayer thing came with the rainbow too. It seems that the filtering is good enough to use the exhaust to paint. I bet that sprayer was a sales gimmick and, like mine, was not actually used.

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