Vintage Hoover Vacuum Cleaners

[Dyson Tech]

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I'll preface this topic by saying that as a company, we are generally pretty anti-Hoover. The 1993 "Flights to Florida" scandal that lost Hoover their Royal Warrant not only cost us money, but also irreparably damaged the brand in the UK (that Dyson immediately took advantage of to become the market leader). We do not stock Hoover products partly because of this, and partly because of very poor product quality in the modern machines. 

However, vintage Hoover machines are another matter entirely. Back when Hoover still had a good name and a Royal Warrant, the brand reached such ubiquity that "Hoovering" became a verb and "Hoover" a noun; terms still used by many in the UK today.

The way that the designs change to reflect the period in which they were sold fascinates me, as does the way that no matter how vintage the Hoover might be, it is highly likely that it is still in good working condition. Many machines are are still around today and are given regular workouts performing everyday cleaning tasks, and the do so with the efficiency they had when they were built.

At the start of the 1930s, Hoover had been selling their vacuum cleaners in the UK for over a decade, but their spectacular factory in London had not yet been opened, and machines were still being shipped over from their Canadian plant. The machines themselves looked little different to examples dating from the time of the Great War, but many detail improvements in design had been carried out, most notably the introduction of the beater bar in 1927, which made the Hoover Cleaner probably the most efficient upright cleaner on the market for several decades. It Beats as it Sweeps as it Cleans was the slogan for many years, and as this decade progressed, Hoover became more conscious of several factors that manufacturers could use to help spur on sales.



The first of the British-built Hoover cleaners to emerge from the new plant at Perivale was the Model 750 of 1932, which represents a top-of-the-range model from the turn of the 1930s, with a very functional design and limited ornamentation, while the budget Model 450 of a couple of years later has one significant change - the addition of a dirt finder lamp, to illuminate dark corners, and also apparently to facilitate vacuuming in the dark, as many machines were run from light sockets during this period - many homes were wired for electric light only, and lacked plug sockets. The Model 825 from 1935 features many detail changes in design from the 750, and uses several styling cues from the automotive industry, while the Junior 375 represents an increasingly diverse approach to different international markets. It was a small machine more suited to European homes, and was never sold on Hoover's home market of the USA. The Model 262 of 1939 represents the increasing importance of the role of the industrial designer - in Hoover's case Henry Dreyfuss - and its teardrop-like form contrasts wildly with the rudimentary styling of its forebearers. This design was followed in 1940 by a design not launched in the UK until 1949, as the Model 612, a far more substantial looking machine.



In 1950, the Junior 375 was replaced by the Junior 119. The styling of this was still a little archaic compared with the full-size Hoover, but in 1955 it was replaced by the Junior 1224 - the same basic machine, with its appearance transformed by the application of much brighter colours, reflecting the increasing gaiety in the design of post-war products. This can also be seen in the Deluxe 652 of 1959, later known as the Hoover Senior. The dull browns and navy blues of the early 1950s were discarded in favour of pastel pink plastics and aluminium trim, the most implicit use of the imagery of the American car yet seen. The previous year, the Junior 1334 had been launched, and it, from certain angles, resembled nothing less than the Volkswagen Beetle (Probably the first proper "world car") from many angles.



Both of these models were updated every few years, usually by changing the colour of the machine and effecting detail changes, and both the 652 and 1334 type of machine were reskinned to make them look more modern, but without changing the mechanics of the machine - the Junior 1346 of 1967 and its attendant derivatives are an example of this. But throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the product range was increasingly widened. Many Non-vacuum cleaner Hoover appliances were launched, as were different designs of Hoover cleaner. One of the best-known is the Hoover Constellation, a machine that owed more to Sci-Fi fantasy in design terms than any other vacuum cleaner at the time. It was a huge success, far more so than the Hooverette 2944B of 1961, a European-style stick vacuum cleaner of similarly futuristic design.



This machine was meant to rival machines made by firms like AEG and Miele, just as the Hoover Cylinder range increasingly sought to take sales from Electrolux, with the ultimate version being the Hoover Conquest 507 from 1970, with its automatic flex rewind, bag full indicator and turbo brush. But not all the new Hoover vacuum cleaners aped the products of other manufacturers. In 1963 Hoover launched the Dial-A-Matic in the USA, which was sold in the UK as the Hoover Convertible. This machine was the predecessor of the modern upright vacuum cleaner, with a hard bag chamber, clean fan action and equal efficiency as both an upright and suction cleaner.



This model didn't sell well in the UK, but it did inspire another Europe-only model, the Hoover Starlight U2002 of 1975, which later morphed into the more basic Junior Deluxe by 1977. By this time, a whole new round of Hoover vacuums were about to appear, but let's get into more detail.............

[Dyson Tech]

Hoover Model 750

The Hoover 750 is one of the older vintage Hoovers, and represents the end of the period where the design of electrical domestic equipment started to move away from the overtly industrial look that characterized the early years of product design.



The 750 was similar in appearance to far earlier machines, but evidence of making the machine more aesthetically pleasing to the consumer were emerging by 1932, the year this model was introduced. The black enamel paint and dull aluminium of the early machines were replaced by chrome, flashes of orange paint and highly polished aluminium took the design of the cleaner to resemble something more modern and technologically state of the art. But these 'improvements' were merely cosmetic. Between 1927, when the model 700 was introduced (the first cleaner to use beater bars and the earliest to be sold under the famous slogan "It Beats as it Sweeps as it Cleans") and the outbreak of World War Two, there were a dizzying array of slightly different 'new' models where the only changes made to the design were slight; the 725, 750, 800, 825, 850 and 875. This represented an early attempt at stimulating the consumer market by making machine obsolete in design very quickly, in the hope that their owners would quickly replace them with the latest model. This was especially important following the Wall Street crash and the financially depressed period of the 1930s.



That the 750 is an early model is borne out by the fact that it was not manufactured in London's great cathedral to housework, the Hoover factory in Perivale, west London. This was not opened until 1935, and thus the 750 predates it by three years. The triangular badge on the nozzle proclaims that the machine is 'An Empire Product' - it was built at Hoover's Canadian plant in Hamilton, Ontario, and shipped over the the UK.

Make no mistake, when this machine was built, it was very much a luxury item, unlike its modern equivalents. Just before manufacture of these products ceased following the outbreak of World War Two, the model 875 (the last of this style of model) sold at £19.19s.0d (£19.95 in new money) - at this time, a new car could be bought for £100. But these machines were not built down to the lowest price possible. The high quality of the appliance is evident in the way that despite its 73 years, this machine is in full working order, and performs as well as the other, far more modern machines in the collection.



One of the most dramatic aspects of this cleaner is the expansion of the dust bag whilst in operation. Designed before disposable paper bags became commonplace, it was intended that these early models had their fabric bags emptied after each use. To prevent clogging the fabric and reducing suction, the dust bag was designed to expand considerably while in operation, and as can be seen, it end up almost Zeppelin-like in appearance.

The greatest testament to this machine, however, must be its condition. Although there is admittedly evidence that the cleaner went through some reconditioning in the early 1960s, this machine has proved to be in perfect working order, and after a good clean and polish, has proved itself to be perfectly capable of performing the duties it was designed for, a whole 80-odd years after it left the factory across the Atlantic.

[Dyson Tech]

Hoover Model 450

This Hoover dates, I believe, to about 1934, and would have been one of the first models to be built at the Perivale factory in west London.



The 450 was slightly more basic than the 750 and its derivatives, with a matt black motor cowl and smaller brushroll, but it was also one of the first models to be fitted with the 'dirtsearcher' headlight, which was neatly enclosed under a comet-like motif.

[Dyson Tech]

Hoover Model 825

The Model 825 was one of the final unstreamlined large Hoover uprights to be built, and is also an early Perivale machine, dating from about 1935.



There are detail changes from the Model 750, but the influence of the auto industry is self-evident in some of the fittings. The rectangular badge that curves round the nozzle is strongly reminiscent of the Chrysler Airflow car of 1934, and the cleaner also features a gimmick that was sometimes found on luxury cars of the period - a badge that illuminates when the machine is running.

This Hoover was bought from Ebay. The seller had rescued it from a local library that was being demolished. The flex was missing, but the machine runs well now one has been fitted.

[Dyson Tech]

Hoover Junior 375

The 375 was the second version of the Hoover Junior, launched in late 1935 and using some styling cues from other models, like the 825. But the Junior was unusual in that it was built only for the UK market, and was not sold in the USA.



This model was built until 1950 (post war versions have a serial number beginning with the letter F, and late ones have wide front wheels with no height adjuster), and set the trend for the Hoover Junior being the best-selling vacuum cleaner in the UK, a position it held on to until the 1980s.

This example was sourced via a small ad in the local free paper.

[Dyson Tech]

Hoover 262

The Hoover 262 is one of a brace of vacuum cleaners introduced to the market in the mid-late 1930s. It is significant in design terms for a number of reasons: It represents the first flowering of the use of a professional designer for consumer goods (in this case Henry Dreyfuss), and it is a particularly good example of the application of streamlining and modernism to a mundane product.



The Drefuss designs were part of a new wave of appliance design that emerged in the mid 1930s. Up until this point, the vast majority of domestic appliances were styled with function rather than any aesthetic appeal in mind, but as appliance ownership increased (particularly in the USA), sales decreased as the market reached saturation point, a matter not aided by the repercussions of the Wall Street crash of 1926 and the economic depression that followed.

The solution that many manufacturers chose to stimulate the market with was good design, which would add showroom appeal to new goods and also render older but still functional goods stylistically obsolete. When the first of Dreyfuss' designs appeared in the USA in 1936 with the Hoover 150 Cleaning Ensemble, the preceding models of the Hoover vacuum cleaner had been little changed in outward appearance since 1919, despite various technical improvements. Dreyfuss kept the basic layout of the components, which were of sound design anyway, but improved several other aspects of the design.



The machine was made lighter in weight thanks to the substitution of aluminium with magnesium alloy and bakelite plastic, and the fitting procedure for the hose and its attended bakelite accessories was greatly simplified. Most noticeable however, was the comprehensive redesign of the motor head of the cleaner. The Hoover Cleaner of 1919 was strictly functional in design; Dreyfuss applied the principles of streamlining to this. Although the only change this made to the operation of the machine was the lack of nooks and crannies that could gather dust, it provided a striking visual contrast to the older products, and suggested modernity and efficiency.



After the launch of the 150 in 1936, several different variations appeared; the European equivalent model 160 was introduced in 1938, and more basic models (with single speed motors) such as the 26, 27 and 28 in the USA and the 262 like the machine in the photos in Europe. However, in keeping with the principles of built-in obsolescence, this family of cleaners was quickly superseded by the launch of the model 60, introduced to the American market in 1940 (and belatedly to Europe as the model 612 in 1949), this cleaner abandoned the rounded teardrop shape of the 150 and its associated models in favour of a rather more squared up and aggressive style. Again, this machine was the work of Dreyfuss, but when he next totally restyled the flagship model of the company with the model 65 (UK model 652 of 1957), its design had clear echoes of his initial work for Hoover.

Beko has a strip down and rebuild topic on this machine you can find here: Hoover 262 - Stripdown and Refurb.

[Dyson Tech]

Hoover Model 612

The 612 was the first new model of Hoover to be launched postwar, at least in the UK; the USA version was launched in 1940, the European one in 1949. Like the preceding models, eg the 262, this vacuum cleaner was styled by the industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss, but this model abandoned the fragile looking teardrop shape for something far more substantial looking. The 612 featured a dirtsearcher lamp which extended the full width of the bakelite motor hood, looking like the curved, steel framed windows of the 1930s.



This was one of the first machines that got me collecting, and was bought from a mid-Wales charity shop. It has since had the components from two other machines fitted, and still operates well, although the bag is not original.

[Dyson Tech]

Hoover Junior 119 and 1224

Hoover launched the Junior 119 in 1950, although a similar machine had been marketed in the USA as the model 115 since 1949. The 119 was a very contemporary looking small upright cleaner in its day, with very similar models being built by other manufacturers. It was replaced in 1955 by the 1224. This was an identical machine, even down to the use of a shake out fabric dustbag, but the colour palette used on the 1224 was a lot brighter with the use of pastel colours instead of the more severe brown and gold finish of the 119.



The 119 was rescued from a pile of rubbish at a local charity shop, while the 1224 was bought from a vacuum repair shop. Both were in good condition when acquired, but have unfortunately suffered from their paint lifting after being stored in a damp place for too long.

More on the Hoover 119 on this topic.

[Dyson Tech]

Hoover Junior 1334

By 1958, the Hoover Junior was looking rather old-fashioned and offered little over its competitors. The Junior 1334, launched that year, went some way to addressing those problems. A new full width nozzle cast alloy casing was introduced, and the Hoover Junior 1334 was the first small British upright to use disposable paper bags.

Mechanically the cleaner was little changed, although the method of attaching the tools was simplified - you can see this here. After this machine was introduced in 1958, there were various detail changes until it was discontinued in around 1968. The 1334A of 1962 featured a zip-up bag, and in 1965 or thereabouts the cast alloy nozzle housing was changed for a lighter (but less durable) plastic one.

The pink Hoover Junior 1334 on this page had been left out for the dustmen when I rescued it. it's in totally original condition, and still runs well.

You can read more about another somewhat non-standard 1334 on this topic.

[Dyson Tech]

Hoover Senior 652

The Hoover Senior is one of the design classics of the vacuum cleaner world. This cleaner was sold all over the world, and production lasted for over twenty years. In the USA it proved to be the most popular vacuum cleaner on the market, and was produced in a plethora of slightly different versions, whereas in the UK it proved to be a little less successful, due to the popularity of the smaller and less expensive Junior model, which was more suitable for the smaller British home.

The first of the Senior design appeared in 1957 in the US as the model 65 and 1959 in Europe as the 652, as shown on the left. These early models, with their distinctive pink coloured trim suffered due to problems with their use of plastics in the design; the vinyl dustbags were fragile, and tore easily, and if the cleaner was used for a prolonged period, heat from the motor caused the plastic dome covering it to melt and distort. But this aside, the performance of this cleaners on carpets was unquestionably good. In April 1960, Which? magazine, a British consumer publication, tested twenty-one vacuum cleaners, and the Senior was the only machine to score ten out of ten for carpet cleaning performance, and was summed up by the magazine as 'outstanding'.



The Hoover Senior was the final upright vacuum cleaner to be designed by Henry Dreyfuss' offices. This machine represents the wheel of design turning full circle, with the Senior incorporating many of the styling motifs of the first of the machines from the Dreyfuss office, the Hoover 150. The domed plastic motor cover, the floor nozzle that gently curves down, and the the tapered metal chassis all provide a link between the two cleaners. However, whilst the model 150 and its sister models reflect the industrial influences as seen in other appliance designs of the 1930s, the Senior is a far more colourful proposition. The Senior heavily draws on automotive imagery; the bright two-tone colour scheme, the wide, wrap-round headlamp lens, the fake grille at the base of the handle and the prominent, metallic badge on the front of the appliance.


In Europe, the original 652 was replaced circa 1962 by the 652a, which featured a two-speed motor, boosted from 420 watts to 625 watts when the tools were fitted. It first appeared in two tone grey, which was quickly replaced by a green and cream combination. By 1967, it had been replaced by the 6525a in two tone green (above left), and then the blue and white 6525c in 1970, which had a four position carpet height adjuster. It was phased out in 1973, and replaced by the U4002, although various exclusive models (the 6525e) and commercial variants (the U4082) carried on until the 1980s.



Despite its contemporary styling, the basic mechanical design and layout actually predates the work of Dreyfuss' design office by nearly thirty years, and is instantly recognisable as being a descendant of the original Hoover model 'O' of 1908. The soundness of this basic layout is indicated in the fact that it continued in production in domestic form until the 1990s, in the form of the European Powerplus models and the American Decade 80, and, nearly 100 years after introduction, the basic layout still survives as the US-market commercial Guardsman model. The differences between European and American versions were very subtle; the most notable being that US-market cleaners had their power switch located on the back of the handle, whilst European-market machines had a foot operated switch. There seems to be no obvious reason as to why this was the case, but it was a situation that both preceded and outlasted production of this model. The cleaner was also given a different name in each of the two markets - In the USA, it was known as the Convertible (yet more automotive imagery), whilst in Europe it was initially marketed as the Hoover Deluxe, before becoming the Senior in the early 1960s, a name which harked back to the earliest days of the Hoover Company. Confusingly, when the Hoover Dial-a-Matic was launched in Europe in the mid 1960s, it was known as the Convertible in that market.

The design of the cleaner was however far from perfect. If the machine was tipped forward while switched off, heavy debris could fall out of the dustbag and through the cleaner onto the floor. This was not rectified until 1975, but a more serious shortcoming was the design of the connection of the accessory hose to the cleaner. Unlike most modern upright vacuum cleaners where the hose is permanently fixed to the machine, in the 1950s affixing the hose to an upright cleaner could involve unclipping covers, pulling levers, turning dials and unhooking belts. But this machine was far less complex for users. The adaptor for the hose slotted into the rear of the machine, a simple procedure which could be carried out whilst the motor was still running. Additionally, on all models save for early European examples and American low-end models, attaching the hose automatically operated a switch allowing the motor to operate at a higher speed. This ease of operation was compared to the operation of automobiles in publicity for the American market - New Hoover Convertible - The Cleaner with the Automatic Shift! read early advertising for this machine, headed with a rather inaccurate illustration that furthered the motor car inspired allusions featured in the text.



The problem lay in the way the connector let a lot of the suction escape through the floor nozzle. The connection was far from airtight, and despite a motor using 625 watts of power, suction through the hose was at best barely adequate; indeed, for such an expensive machine it was downright appalling - this aspect of the cleaner was outperformed by the European Junior, which at 250 watts used less than half the power of its larger sibling.

But overall, the Senior was, and still is, an efficient and reliable machine, capable of cleaning carpets very efficiently.

Beko has a strip down topic on a 652 here: Hoover Senior 652C - Stripdown, Repair and Refurb!

[Dyson Tech]

Hoover Constellation 867

Launched in 1954 in the USA and 1956 in the UK, the Hoover Constellation is one of the most distinctive 20th century vacuum cleaner designs. Other vacuum cleaners and electrical appliances had used space-age motifs before, but the Constellation reflected the cult of the Atom that prevailed in the early 1950s.



The Constellation was made even flashier in 1958, when a fixed metal skirt was fitted to the bottom of the machine, enabling it to literally float on a cushion of its own exhaust air. The Constellation was a popular machine in the UK, staying on sale until 1980, and Maytag, the American company that owns Hoover USA have introduced a new cleaner very much based on the Constellation - the Maytag Satellite.

The Constellation on this page is a 1963 model in the short-lived two-tone grey finish. This cleaner has been with me since 1997, making it one of the first machines to grace my collection.

We have topics on these machines elsewhere on the forum:

Hoover Constellation 852 - Stripdown, refurb (breakage) and improvement!

1970s Hoover Constellation

Hoover Upright 652 and Constellation 867A Available - Be Quick

Hoover 867A

[Dyson Tech]

Hoover Hooverette 2944b

The Hooverette was not one of the most popular cleaners made by Hoover. Introduced in 1961 to both the UK and USA markets (with all machines built at Perivale, the Hooverette was intended to rival the stick type vacuum cleaners that were popular in European households, and to provide a second cleaner for larger homes. It featured space age styling like the Constellation and a low price, but the Hooverette lacked power at only 240 watts, and was swiftly replaced in the American market by the Hoover Handivac, which was never sold in the UK. Over here, this model limped on until the late 1970s before being quietly dropped.



This cleaner, a 1964 model, was bought through a private advert, and is in little-used condition, as is common with surviving Hooverettes.

[Dyson Tech]

Hoover Junior 1346

The Hoover Junior was restyled in 1967, and launched as a deluxe model to supplement the 1334. Mechanically it was identical, and the price premium was justified on the new styling alone. This situation lasted until the introduction of the Hoover Junior 1354 in 1969, a model with some extra features, and the 1334 model was dropped.


These two machines you can find in our Manchester Dyson Museum (despite not being Dysons)

Some have a pumpkin orange front fan cover. This was replaced by a brown cover soon after it hit the market, and there are at least four different versions of the 1346. It was replaced in 1970 by the 1346a, which had a four-position carpet height adjuster and a different colour scheme (pistachio green and white from 1970-72, and then navy blue and white from 1972-75). Various special editions were built in the late 1970s, but the 1346 type machine was replaced in 1975 with the U1012, a cleaner with an easier to empty dustbag but otherwise little different from its predecessor.

We have topics on these machines on the forum here:

Hoover Junior U1346 (December 1969) - Restoration

A parts monkey Hoover Junior U1346A

Blimey... a Brand New Hoover 1346A!

[Dyson Tech]

Hoover Convertible 1124a

In 1963, this cleaner was introduced in the USA as the Dial-a-matic, but it took four years before it was introduced to the UK as the Convertible, which, confusingly was the name of American market Senior-type cleaners! The Convertible was never a very popular cleaner in Europe due to its cost and its bulk, but was a revolutionary machine, and the forerunner of all modern uprights.



The Convertible worked like a cylinder cleaner, with a powerful motor which sucked dirt straight into the bag, instead of the dust passing through the motor as on traditional uprights. This lessened the chance of motor failure due to dust building up, and also meant that the cleaner had all the power of a cylinder for above-floor cleaning. Few changes were made to it in is lifetime, although a power-driven model the U6033 was sold in the 1970s - testament to the weight of the thing! Incidentally, if you have a Powerdrive U6033 you'd like to sell, please email me.

The Convertible on this page is a very late model 1124a from November 1974, and was found dumped on a street with a broken wheel but little other damage.

[Dyson Tech]

Hoover Conquest 507

This Hoover is rather a rare one - the Conquest 507, which was only made for four years for the European market. It was Hoover's top of the range cylinder cleaner, and as such was in direct competition with Electrolux and their Automatic range of cleaners.



Introduced in 1970 to replace the bulky, American designed Hoover Portable, the 507 featured automatic cord rewind, a bag full indicator and a hidden blower port, as well as one of Hoover's most comprehensive toolkits. Two of the nozzles - a radiator brush and a turbo brush - were only ever sold with this model (although the turbo brush was sold on the US market as an accessory), but the cleaner failed to get a Design Council recommendation, which made Hoover pull out of one of the Design Council's forthcoming exhibitions in a huff!

I was very lucky to get this machine, still boxed and barely used. The capacitor blew shortly after getting it, due to lack of use over the last 35 years, but this has now been fixed, and the cleaner runs smoothly and quietly again.