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#1
11-09-2013, 10:12 AM
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We had an RCA Whirlpool freezer
You wouldn't have thought that RCA had a hand in freezers.  Or why they licensed their name to Whirlpool. We had this old freezer, that we just turned in to the power company, Pubic Service Electric and Gas, for $50. This freezer drew about 4 amps, and at 16 cents a kilowatt hour (I think only Con Ed of NYC charges more)...
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#2
11-09-2013, 11:11 AM
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Before WWII, Whirlpool was primarily a supplier of washers to Sears. They had few, if any products sold outside of Sears; so they were an unknown company to the public.
After the war they wanted to get into the consumer appliance business with a line outside of Sears (who was still their major customer). RCA somewhere along the way had bought out a company called Estate that made ranges and sold them under the RCA Estate brand. Whirlpool came along in the early 50's and wanted to buy Estate. Since Whirlpool was little known at the time they struck a deal with RCA to use their name for I think 10 years. It also gave them access to RCA dealers to sell their appliances. I think I read somewhere that color TV development was sucking down cash so fast at RCA that they jumped at the deal with Whirlpool to suppliment their funds. It worked out good for Whirlpool because they're still the biggest maker of appliances today (and still a major supplier to Sears). If it says "RCA Whilrpool," RCA really didn't have anything to do with it. It was just a marketing tool.
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#4
11-09-2013, 02:04 PM
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What egrand says.
We had an RCA/Whirlpool washer and dryer at one point. Those belt-drive washers would run forever. I've got one built in 1970 that's still going strong. Too bad RCA TV's in 1970 were slowly going down. I repaired hundreds of the early solid state sets along with many of the hybrid color sets.
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Bruce
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#5
11-09-2013, 05:22 PM
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RCA was also used on low-end appliances manufactured by General Electric throughout most of the 1990's. If I remember correctly, the RCA line was sold through wholesale distributors (GE and Hotpoint were factory-direct). Not many dealers carried them, as the more popular Hotpoint name already covered the low cost models.
I remember buying a few electric ranges for my store, and was not at all impressed with them. I like to never sold the darn things!
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#6
11-09-2013, 05:30 PM
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That '90's RCA stuff was totally garbage. This was no connection to RCA/Whirlpool at all.
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Bruce
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#7
11-09-2013, 05:40 PM
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Whirlpool did make TVs in the late 60's early 70's. They bought out Warwick Electronics from Sears and tried to make a go of it for about 10 years, and finally sold out to Sanyo.
Also from what I've read, apparently Sears forced Whirlpool to buy Warwick. Sears was a major stock holder in Whirlpool and could easily have had someone else make Kenmore appliances. Sears was starting to buy TVs from Japan and wanted to offload Warwick. Whirlpool lost a bunch of money on the deal, but felt they had to keep Sears happy.
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#8
11-09-2013, 06:43 PM
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When living in D.C., my parents got us an RCA/Whirlpool gas refrigerator/freezer in 1960. Yes, I said "gas", as in natural gas!
I remember the thing had the RCA "lightning bolt" logo on the top door...
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Reception Reports for Channel 37 TVDX Can Not Only Get You a QSL Card, but a One-Way Trip to the Planet Davanna is a Real Possibility...
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#10
11-09-2013, 10:34 PM
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When I cleaned out my friend Tony's Tv shop I found a great sign up in the attic, dual sided lighted sign that would just fit in the bed of my truck. It said "RCA Victor/RCA Whirlpool" and on the other side "RCA Whirlpool/RCA Victor". I would have kept it but didn't have the room so I sold it on behalf of Tony to a vintage appliance collector. Got a picture somewhere I guess. Tony remained a dealer for both RCA and Whirlpool up into the 80s at least.
We had the later RCA appliances in an apartment once. The local GE dealer stocked some, along with Hotpoint.
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Bryan
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#13
11-10-2013, 12:48 PM
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Quote:
-Steve D.
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Please visit my CT-100, CTC-5, vintage color tv site: http://www.wtv-zone.com/Stevetek/ Last edited by Steve D.; 04-09-2016 at 03:14 PM.
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#14
11-10-2013, 02:01 PM
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The shape of this badge would make sense, as there was a bezel on the freezer door in the shape of this badge (the badge was missing, "The quality runs out when the nameplate falls off").
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#15
11-10-2013, 03:46 PM
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When I was a kid in the mid 1960's, I took apart a 1951 Whirlpool washer. It had an ultra-violet light that supposedly sanitized the wash load.
It was built with the same design that Whirlpool used until the early 1980's, when the direct-drive line came out. My 1970 washer has only had the pump, and inlet water valve replaced in all these years. Imagine a new machine lasting this long. Ain't gonna happen!! Amazing what can happen on the early color TV forum.
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Bruce
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