Antique Toasters

[fixmeplease]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

These toasters were made to last, I'm sure, which is something we don't see anymore in mass-produced appliances, or anything else, for that matter. As I mentioned in a previous post, my grandmother had a toaster like the one being discussed here. It lasted years, if not decades, and may well have been working even after she died in 1985; this speaks volumes for the manner in which appliances were built in the 1920s to about the 1960s. We wll never see this kind of quality again, as I am about to explain.

I had a Sharp microwave for 20 years; it finally gave up last month, but I wasn't disappointed when it quit. It gave me excellent service in that time (I bought it new when I moved to my apartment in 1999), which again speaks volumes for how things were built until everything was being made in Japan and elsewhere in the Orient.

However, when my Sharp microwave finally quit (it began throwing sparks near the end, and I saw a bit of smoke in the cavity as well the last time I used it), I bought a Black and Decker microwave, which works very well--for now, anyway. I do not expect the new one to last anywhere nearly as long as the old one did, given the cheap and often slipshod way many if not most appliances are built nowadays; however, what can you do?

I rarely buy anything modern anymore minus video. I use a 1959 Frigidaire fridge, a early 1980s maytag washer and a 1935 maytag washer. Unsure how old my microwave is but its old. Old wood stoves, chairs, cars, trucks, phones, fans. My house was built in 1878. I jjust cant see wasting money on new things that wont last so I buy old and most will outlast me. The fridge my parents bought new and it was used for years, then was outside under cover for a few years at a campsite, then in a barn until I dug it out to use it again. Try that with anything newer. We made good stuff in this country and a few others. Now its all junk. Sad

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by fixmeplease

I rarely buy anything modern anymore minus video. I use a 1959 Frigidaire fridge, a early 1980s maytag washer and a 1935 maytag washer. Unsure how old my microwave is but its old. Old wood stoves, chairs, cars, trucks, phones, fans. My house was built in 1878. I jjust cant see wasting money on new things that wont last so I buy old and most will outlast me. The fridge my parents bought new and it was used for years, then was outside under cover for a few years at a campsite, then in a barn until I dug it out to use it again. Try that with anything newer. We made good stuff in this country and a few others. Now its all junk. Sad

I wouldn't say it's all junk, although I will say the quality is not what it once was. I have an Aiwa bookshelf stereo system which still works every bit as well as when I bought it 21 years ago, except for the dual cassette decks which quit a few years ago. The CD player and AM-FM stereo tuner, however, are still working very well; since most of the music I like is available on CD these days (and I have a large collection of CDs), I am not concerned about the failure of the cassette decks, although I have an old (1979) Radio Shack cassette deck in storage as I write this. The deck works, and well, but I think there must be an intermittent connection on one of the preamplifier output jacks since one stereo channel cuts out once in a while. Since most of my music is on CDs I already have, however, as I said, the problem with the RS cassette deck doesn't bother me.

BTW, if your microwave oven is as old as the one I replaced over a month ago, and yours still works, that's great; I hope it continues to give you good service. I don't know what make your microwave is, but if it is a well-known brand such as GE, Tappan, etc. and was made two or three decades or more ago, it's not surprising it still works. In fact, if yours is one of the original Tappan Radarange microwaves, and it still works, I'd hold on to it as long as it does work. If I remember correctly, the Tappan Radarange was one of the first mass-produced microwaves in the U. S.

The problem with today's appliances is they are not built with the same quality, precision, etc. as they once were; moreover, most appliances, like almost everything else these days, are made offshore, even though they still bear American brand names. My new microwave, for example, is branded Black & Decker, although I have absolutely no idea who actually manufactured it. My best guess is it was made for B&D by some obscure offshore company no one in this country ever heard of. However, I still have a B&D toaster and a one-cup coffeemaker (same make). The toaster still works well after 21 years, but I replaced the coffeemaker several months ago when the thermostat welded shut. That B&D coffeemaker (my first one, the one in which the thermostat welded) lasted twenty years and was used daily, so I think it gave me excellent service.

Ooops! I goofed. The Radarange microwaves were not made by Tappan, but by Amana, IIRC. I don't know if Tappan ever made its own microwave ovens; they may well have gone out of business by about the 1980s or so, if not earlier, before these ovens became as popular as they are today.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

I wouldn't say it's all junk, although I will say the quality is not what it once was. I have an Aiwa bookshelf stereo system which still works every bit as well as when I bought it 21 years ago, except for the dual cassette decks which quit a few years ago. The CD player and AM-FM stereo tuner, however, are still working very well; since most of the music I like is available on CD these days (and I have a large collection of CDs), I am not concerned about the failure of the cassette decks, although I have an old (1979) Radio Shack cassette deck in storage as I write this. The deck works, and well, but I think there must be an intermittent connection on one of the preamplifier output jacks since one stereo channel cuts out once in a while. Since most of my music is on CDs I already have, however, as I said, the problem with the RS cassette deck doesn't bother me.

BTW, if your microwave oven is as old as the one I replaced over a month ago, and yours still works, that's great; I hope it continues to give you good service. I don't know what make your microwave is, but if it is a well-known brand such as GE, Tappan, etc. and was made two or three decades or more ago, it's not surprising it still works. In fact, if yours is one of the original Tappan Radarange microwaves, and it still works, I'd hold on to it as long as it does work. If I remember correctly, the Tappan Radarange was one of the first mass-produced microwaves in the U. S.

The problem with today's appliances is they are not built with the same quality, precision, etc. as they once were; moreover, most appliances, like almost everything else these days, are made offshore, even though they still bear American brand names. My new microwave, for example, is branded Black & Decker, although I have absolutely no idea who actually manufactured it. My best guess is it was made for B&D by some obscure offshore company no one in this country ever heard of. However, I still have a B&D toaster and a one-cup coffeemaker (same make). The toaster still works well after 21 years, but I replaced the coffeemaker several months ago when the thermostat welded shut. That B&D coffeemaker (my first one, the one in which the thermostat welded) lasted twenty years and was used daily, so I think it gave me excellent service.

Black & Decker bought the small appliance division from GE.

[fixmeplease]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

I wouldn't say it's all junk, although I will say the quality is not what it once was. I have an Aiwa bookshelf stereo system which still works every bit as well as when I bought it 21 years ago, except for the dual cassette decks which quit a few years ago. The CD player and AM-FM stereo tuner, however, are still working very well; since most of the music I like is available on CD these days (and I have a large collection of CDs), I am not concerned about the failure of the cassette decks, although I have an old (1979) Radio Shack cassette deck in storage as I write this. The deck works, and well, but I think there must be an intermittent connection on one of the preamplifier output jacks since one stereo channel cuts out once in a while. Since most of my music is on CDs I already have, however, as I said, the problem with the RS cassette deck doesn't bother me.

BTW, if your microwave oven is as old as the one I replaced over a month ago, and yours still works, that's great; I hope it continues to give you good service. I don't know what make your microwave is, but if it is a well-known brand such as GE, Tappan, etc. and was made two or three decades or more ago, it's not surprising it still works. In fact, if yours is one of the original Tappan Radarange microwaves, and it still works, I'd hold on to it as long as it does work. If I remember correctly, the Tappan Radarange was one of the first mass-produced microwaves in the U. S.

The problem with today's appliances is they are not built with the same quality, precision, etc. as they once were; moreover, most appliances, like almost everything else these days, are made offshore, even though they still bear American brand names. My new microwave, for example, is branded Black & Decker, although I have absolutely no idea who actually manufactured it. My best guess is it was made for B&D by some obscure offshore company no one in this country ever heard of. However, I still have a B&D toaster and a one-cup coffeemaker (same make). The toaster still works well after 21 years, but I replaced the coffeemaker several months ago when the thermostat welded shut. That B&D coffeemaker (my first one, the one in which the thermostat welded) lasted twenty years and was used daily, so I think it gave me excellent service.

I took a look. Its a GE Model J EM3 001, manufacture date of 1985. Its not real big.