No kidding. I had to replace a Whirlpool wash machine 2yrs to the day, got a Maytag, (same company). It broke in 2 WEEKS. Got GE Profile Impeller washer. So far, it's been good. 2+ yrs now. Ask me in another 10yrs how it's going.
I have a house that was built in 1955. From the day I purchased it I been furnishing it with period appliances and furniture. Just acquired a 1950 Tappan model U-70, not a 55 model but who's to know. The lady at the antique store wouldn't sell it for she was using it as a display piece. A year past and I bought it for 100 dollars, looks and works like new. My friends always say why you want that old junk. Todays stuff is junk, Americans took pride in the thing they made back then, things had style too! Even the cars and my vintage campers I own reflex the time line. It is a living museum here where everything is functional.
Looking back, we had a Zenith color TV, a Magnavox console stereo, an Amana deep freezer, a Kenmore vacuum, a Kelvinator refrigerator and a Maytag washer/dryer combo. When my newlywed cousin needed a fridge, my parents gave them their old one and bought a Frigidaire. All of them American made and durable.
My Mom had that exact same Sunbeam mixer, and every Christmas cake she ever made was made using it for over 50 years. Truly iconic! It was still working in 2012 when I cleaned out their house and threw it out. I'm still kicking myself.
Al "Chainsaw" Dunlap destroyed it after he was hired to get it back to profitability. Dunlap would drop in, sell off all thr assets, which would raise short term cash flow then the company would crumble within 18 months after he left with a very generous payout. Sunbeam went BK shortly after Dunlap chainsawed it to pieces.
Some of those refrigerators and freezers are still running. I once worked with a gentleman that told me he was the repairman for the IH refrigerators and freezers. When a customer called in that their appliance had quit working, he would go out and plug it back in. When they quit running, it was because they had been unplugged somehow. Usually by the lady of the house moving furniture!
When I bought my present home there was a Frigidaire refrigerator in the basement. Prior owner had used it to keep beer and other drinks. A few years ago the power company offered 50 dollars to take it away. When the guys came to pick it up, they drove a spike through the front and sides, very sad to see this happen to an iconic make.
I'm 62 years old now, but I still remember seeing my first color television set, I was just 4 years old. The brand was a Zenith and the program playing was "Flipper" it was magical.
I recall our first color TV, a big, long Admiral console that took up an entire wall. It had a record player on one side and an AM/FM radio on the opposite side. At times, the speaker on the right side would cut out while my mom would play her Billy Vaughn or Guy Lombardo records on it, and my oldest brother would go over and slap his hand against the right side, which made the speaker come back on. We had that Admiral well into my teens and one day, the curious kid who took everything apart to see how it worked, I took the back off to see why the speaker kept cutting in/out and found that the terminal that was soldered onto the speaker wire was loose. I took some electrical tape and taped the wire tightly around the wire and that fixed it for the longest while. Years later as we grew up, my parents decided it was time to get a more modern tv with a remote control (us kids were their remote prior) and bought a Zenith 19" which by today's standards is a small screen size for a TV.
Yep. I watched "The wonderful world of Disney" in living color circa 1965 on our neighbor's Admiral set on certain Sundays. Always a letdown to come back home to our 20" black & white set, but I understand. My father paid what would be considered a fortune now , for that Philco set in 1959.
Bought a Samsung washing machine three years ago before the suspension rods failed (No, we did NOT overload the machine, with just two of us in the house). Replacement rods cost about $80.00 each x4 = $320.00 IF I replace them myself! Junk. Meanwhile, mom's 20-year-old GE washer runs on and on.
NEVER buy Samsung appliances! They're just the worst, and their technicians are ordered to blame the customer for everything. They've even told technicians to deliberately sabotage the machines!
Westinghouse started out in the 1800s as a maker of braking systems for railroad cars and locomotives. It later expanded into electrical generation and appliances.
My aunt passed away in 1993. In her basement was a Frigidaire refrigerator just humming away. I remembered that frig. from when I would visit my grandma in the 50's when it was new. We hauled it home and put it in a storage locker with the rest of th truckload that I brought home, plugged it in and I had cold beer while we sorted. That thing got really cold and you could barely hear it running...
When my uncle passed away and we had to clean out his house, he had an old Norge fridge that had not been in use for probably two decades. When we plugged it in, that thing kicked on and within about an hour it was cold. My cousin took it to her house and used it as a second fridge in her garage for the next 10 years.
The majority of my relatives lived (or still live) on Long Island, NY, and they all referred to their refrigerator as "the Frigidaire"...regardless of what brand it actually was. That's always said something to me regarding the popularity and longevity of the Frigidaire brand...
I have a Maytag washing machine, a Speed Queen clothes dryer, and a Kenmore refrigerator… all of them over 50 years old. All 3 appliances run perfectly to this day… old fashioned American quality.
Speed Queens last forever and Sears had really good,reliable,quality products. Everybody had Kenmore’s in their kitchens and I can remember my dad swapping out his Die Hard battery with his Craftsman tools. Those tools came with LIFETIME GUARANTEES,too and the company would actually honor them,replacing them on the spot without question if damaged or broken.
Kenmore was simply a brand. Sears got other appliance manufacturers to make them and put the Kenmore name on then. Depending on who sears had a contact with if you bought a Kenmore it may have been manufactured by GE, maytag, whirlpool or any other brand
When I moved into my new house in 1990, it came with a brand new Kenmore appliance package; stove, refrigerator, washer/dryer. They all still work flawlessly to this day.
When my folks bought a new home in 1956, it came with all Westinghouse appliances, including a refrigerator, a freezer, a washer, a dryer. All in teal green, of course. The refrigerator and the freezer lasted well into the 1970s, maybe even early 1980s.
In 1989, I was working as a Major Household Appliance Repairman, and the issue with the Admiral washing machines were they came with bolt holding the innards of the machine together during shipping and handling, but it had to be removed, or it would take out main bearing and seal at the bottom of the tub. I replaced a lot of those, as it took out the main shaft also. I did one ladies house, that bolt had not been removed, I replaced the shaft and bearing/seal. 3 months later, she had the same issue, I go fix it again. 3 Month later she calls again, this time I am watched by 2 guys from Admiral watching how I did it. I replaced shaft and bearing for the 3rd time, they were impressed, it was the fastest they have ever seen anybody do this repair, and if she calls again, they will give her a brand new machine, we will ship to you folks and you install it..Well 3 month later she called, the new washing machine arrived the next day, we delivered, took the shipping bolt out, took the old one out of her house, problem solved. We did not hear from her again
I dropped out of college and began working in 1974 . I was a regular customer at the local "RADIO SHACK" store and I kept an eye out on any special bargains that came along. At one point I began to buy modular audio components . Over a certain time period I bought a REALISTIC turntable , a REALISTIC AM /FM tuner , a REALISTIC cassette tape recorder , a REALISTIC quadraphonic amplifier , and four REALISTIC MC - 500 bookshelf speakers . If I remember correctly , the MC -500 bookshelf speakers were half off - marked down from $80.00 each to $40.00 each . They had RADIO SHACK's guarantee of five years free replacement parts . The problem that I had was after the five year guarantee was over , the large woofer speaker failed - possibly a cracked magnet making a rattling sound being produced . I think that I had to buy all new woofer speakers for these bookshelf speakers .
I remember Realistic. We had an old reel-to-reel movie projector and tape recorder. Lasted forever. Honestly, they never broke. We just got rid of them because the formats were out-of-date.
Great place where you could get a part for almost everything electronic. And they made items for converting things such a cassette converter to be used in an 8-Track machine. I still have a Realistic 8trk recorder/player. I miss Radio Shack.
3:20 My dad was always a Zenith man. As a kid in the late '60s, we got our first (Black and White, of course) TV with (what dad called) "Robot Control." I'm sure that was never the right name, but yes, that's what pops called it. It was a four-button "Cling" or "Clang" thing, with only channel up, channel down, volume (in I think 3 steps), and mute.
Japan went through the nornal evolution from assembly factories to making simple electronics, to making cars, then making large transport ships. Then South Korea went through the same evolution. China is going through thrblatter stages of the same evolution, while Vietnam, Bangladesh, and the Philipines are starting off on fhr revolution.
What I am longing to see come back, is the style, colour and richness of all these products, in homes that are filled with style, colour and richness, once again.
@@Iconoclasher : And you know what My Darling; I'm sure no one at the time, thought anything wrong with it, at all. I get so pissed when I hear people crap on the styles of the past, in a day and age completely, lacking in everything. Very few look around and talk about how crappy everything is today, while we are living in it, but you wait another 50 years or so, and see what some future generation will say about this time. I'm virtually, 100%, convinced they will sit back, shake their heads and think; what in God's name were these people thinking, anyway?! Correct? I mean, we live in a time now, when people will paint the entirety of the inside of their homes all white, and have next to nothing in them; and then, will turn around and paint the outside of their homes all black! Black of all things! And EVERYTHING, black, to boot!! I'm seeing this more and more in my neck of the woods. People with taste like that, have no, damn, right crapping on the taste of anyone else, from any other time period, at all. My whole reason for watching any of these types of videos is that I miss the richness of the past. The vibrancy of everything. I miss it more than I can possibly, put into words. I'm a child of the 70s and 80s myself. l was born in 1965, so really, can't remember much from that decade, but from the 70s onward, I sure do. Ya, I remember the shag rugs too. Awesome to walk on, but must have been an absolute, nightmare to try to keep clean. That actually, may be one of the few things that maybe, can stay in the 70s. But Lord though, the colour. People definitely, were not afraid of colour back in the 70s. And really, it's not that all the colours were so very bad either, because they were not, really; it's just, the crazy way people chose to mix them together, that's all. And the oddball, mixture of textures, as well. I'm sure there could be a more subdued way to bring that 70s look back, that would not be bad at all. Ways of mixing these rich colours that can actually, work. I'm certain of it. Maybe I'll live long enough to see a revival of it again. I keep hoping, anyway. My Best. Out.
@@yootoobsuks4210 : For me, it's white and grey actually. Grey is insanely, overdone these days, too. And all these bloody, cold, industrial, metallics, as well. And colours so, insanely, washed out that one wonders why they bothered at all. And every, bloody, thing the same, bloody, colour, as well. Who in their right mind ever thought that was a good idea, anyway? White is great for ceilings and trim, and nothing more. And grey; dear God, who ever decided that grey was a warm, cozy and inviting colour anyway. When I was growing up grey was considered just the opposite. One of the very last colours you would want to put on anything. Then, if all that were not bad enough; they must knock out every wall possible, God forbid one has actual, rooms, and a bet of variety and privacy in your place any longer; and then, on top of that; everything must be as basic and bare as one can possibly, make it. I mean; how the bloody, heck can this be considered design and taste to any degree at all; places completely, lacking in EVERYTHING?! Correct? I have watched the progression of this madness for the past 20 plus, years now, and am in just as much a state of shock and dismay today, as I was then. What makes it worst still; if you rent, and millions of us do; you are forced to accept this whether you want or like it or not. I simply, cannot get my head around this, at all. And never before, in no generation or era before, have we seen people take things to this extreme and for this long. Yes, sure, all white, minimalism was a bet of a thing back in the 60s as well, so I understand, but it was always, on the fringe. It never, ever, went mainstream. And it is not because it is better by a long shot, in any degree at all, what-so-ever, it's just, people today, are too, damn, lazy to put any thought into anything, anymore. It's completely, that and nothing more. Would you not agree? Warmest Wishes. Out For Now.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I remember so many of those brands being born in the 60’s. Great appliances that lasted decades as mentioned. That was the real America I remember. 👍🇺🇸
Speaking of ranges: O'Keefe & Merritt was an iconic name in fine kitchen ranges. I still have my late mom's 1949 model. Wedgewood was yet another fine range!
The appliance world changed drastically when making long-lasting products was recognized as reducing profits, and time to failure became a measurable dimension of each product. Now products are not only made to fail, but manufacturers take steps to see that owners cannot fix them.
A lot of these brands were made in Chicago, Zenith,Hotpoint,Admiral Sunbeam. We had a big Hotpoint plant in Cicero,Sunbeam was right acoss the street in Chicago. Zenith televisions were made on the northwest side,Admiral on the north.
Still have and running fine, an Amana refridgerator from the 80s. Grew up with Zenith, Tappan and Westinghouse. It's astonishing the number of American made appliances, which were high quality, have been lost to foreign manufacturers. What's worse, the quality and longevity has suffered. Samsung refridgerators and some LG products are junk!
Litton was a big name in the early years of microwave ovens for the home. They decided to retreat from consumer level home microwave ovens and return to their company focus as a military contractor. Over the decades they were acquired and re-acquired many times and are now part of the corporation known as Northrop Grumman in some capacity.
@@horseathalt7308 Yes. Amana's Radar Range was #1. Litton was #2. After the market settled a few years later, the Japanese brand Sharp rapidly gained its way to the forefront of microwave oven brands.
Some of these brands disappeared because they were nothing but junk. Others disappeared because of corporate greed and/ or stupidity. And now with very few exceptions, all of our appliances are garbage.
@@ronalddevine9587 Speed Queen is the only washer and dryer that has metal parts and available units with no electronics. As far as when my 20 year old Kenmore refrigerator and 34 year old Kenmore microwave go kaput, I don’t know what I’ll get.
The hot water tank had a pilot light and some heaters too! Some didnt have any fan either, just heat and we were very comfortable!! Gas never failed!! Electricity did, so be prepaired!!
All of the consumer electronics devices that we see in America today are made in either Japan or China , where the cost of labor is very cheap in comparison to American labor costs . Imagine a television that would be made in America today : the cost to the average American would be double or more the current retail price ! This has been going on since the 1950's because it is so much cheaper to build the item in the foreign country and ship it to America than have it entirely built in America !
Yup greed! The reason why American appliances are not made here is not because of labor, but because of C-level salaries/benefits/bonuses and shareholder dividends. Most companies make about 3 - 10 times the salary/benefits of an employee in profits!
You are so right, we opened trade with China on the promise that we'd export all those products shown, now we buy imports by those vary same brands. Sadly we let it happen.
My grandfather worked for Midwest Mfg in Galesburg, IL his job was to apply the Criper drawer name plates. Retired in 1964 and rcvd a portable Admiral black and white TV. Also in the 1990s I worked for a company that handled the 800 number for White Westinghouse which owned Westinghouse appliances as well as Tappan, Fridgidaire, and Kelvanator (handled where to buy or who repairs appliances for them). Today I own a Crosley Director all in one radio, cassett, cd, and turntable with recording capabilities.
All the comments about each brand is largely the same. There's no detail, other the companies' founding year. You also missed a few important brands that are highly regarded...such as O'Keefe & Merritt.
I love the features new fridges have, I just wished they kept the same quality. My word of advice, get the white line appliances from whirlpool, Maytag or LG for tvs and only that.
I always liked Magnavox. The first big thing I bought when I got a job in 1966 was a big Magnavox console stereo. I recently bought one that's 60 years old and had all of the electronics refurbished. It plays like new.
All three of these brands are nolonger independent companies. What they sell now are mostly rebranded products. Whirlpool acquired Maytag, and Maytag appliances are now rebranded Whirlpool appliances with a higher price tag.
@garbo8962 GE sold off their appliance business to HAIER. No appliance with the GE name is a GE product anymore. GE now focuses on it's aerospace, and industrial businesses. GE is known for it's aircraft. My mother hated all their appliances, and called their appliances garbage electric. Mother bought Maytag, and nothing else.
@@ericknoblauch9195no wonder my microwave and fridge are crap. My fridge ice maker gave away after 9 months of purchasing and I’m still waiting warranty work after a yr. Also my. Microwave is always acting up. One month it’s the digital pad and next month it’s something else random
I have a General Motors (pre-Frigidaire) fridge that I got as a housewarming present in '84. It still hums away in the basement and keeps drinks cold, while the tiny freezer makes ice. The only repair I have ever put on it was a compressor (NOS) in 2007. It's still in it's original eggshell white paint and keeps my son and grandson's art safe. 70+ years old, the compressor is dated to '53, still running strong!
Sunbeam did not make Toastmaster toasters. Toastmaster was a division of McGraw-Edison Electric. And Crosley didn't just make refrigerators with shelves in the doors - it invented refrigeratosr with shelves in the door - the Shelvador. The Shelvador was the idea of a Crosley engineer. Powel Crosley, the head of Crosley Corporation, offered the man either $0.25 per refrigerator manufactured or $15,000 up front. The engineer foolishly took the $15,000 (it was during the Great Depression when $15,000 was a fortune). It's estimated he would have made close to a million dollars had he taken the $0.25 per unit royalty. Finally, Frigidaire was sold by GM to White-Westhnghouse and White-Westinghouse was sold to Electrolux.
We still use a Sunbeam toaster; it's unusual; you just drop in the toast and it oozes down into the toaster and oozes back up when it's done. We tried a new one but it took FOREVER to make toast, so we went right back to the Sunbeam - i think it's from the early 60's.
It seems that all high-quality, well-built, and innovative products made in America are a thing of the past. Compare that to today's low quality, throw-a-way, made in Asia products. Just buy the cheapest appliance today, because in 3 or 4 years, you'll be buying a new one.
Yah, and I'll never buy another one. Bought a Whirlpool washer 4 yrs ago. It lasted 2yrs. Replaced with a Maytag. It lasted 2 WEEKS. Before that, had a Whirlpool refrigerator, under 4 yrs, it was falling apart. Replaced everything with GE Profiles. Not saying Haier who prob makes them is better...no I am saying they are better. They've been great so far. I don't trust Cesspool anylonger. Too bad... they were really good at one point. Oh and the Maytag dishwasher...2yrs that's it.
We had a gas cook stove with a space heater built in!! They called it a "Gas on Gas" stove. It took the chill off the kitchen! And you didnt need electric to run it, it had a flame in it( a pilot light that was always light)
Many of these brands were gobbled up by large corporations before they faded from the scene. Now, just a small handful of corporations own all appliance manufacturing. Our first large screen (16 inch) TV was a Dumont. Around that time there was a brief flurry of excitement about Muntz TV.
@@dennisc6716 They date back to the late 1940s or 1950s. They were unique with their up-and-down agitators. There are quite a few videos on here of them in action.
I'm in my 70's and as a kid my parents had a Philco tv, a GE refrigerator; and a Maytag washer (with the wringers on it), My apartment has a Hotpoint stove. On an added note: my parents bought a Bengal stove when they married in 1940.
lf you take a Maytag washer from the fifties, convert its fifties price to today's Dollars, you'll quickly see why we aren't making them. Look at the price of a Sunbeam Mixmaster from the forties or fifties, convert that price to today's. People wouldn't buy them, no matter how well made.
@@loveisall5520 You got my curiosity, so I just checked that. In 1956 a Sunbeam Mixmaster was priced at $44.50 regular price. Adjusted for inflation that would be about $516.44 today. That is a bit on the high end today, but there are more expensive ones being sold. Today a lot of mixers on are going for as much $600. They are probably a bit cheaper on avarage, but not much.
Emerson ... The official low end product line. It died from competition.😅 I once delivered stereos and tv as a young man. We had to tune in each channel for every Emerson we set up. Like tuning in the old car radios that had push button pre sets.
2:58...we owned a Philco refrigerator...we owned Zenith televisions as late as the 1990s...and an Amana refrigerator as well. And Barbara Hale was probably as famous as for her Radarange commercials as she was as Della Street on "Perry Mason." Speaking of Hotpoint, we are still using a 1998 Hotpoint electric dryer that has outlived four washing machines! (I remember a neighbor who had one of the old Norge refrigerators with a clock in the door!) Kelvinator was known for its unique washing action (and their splashing)! Most sadly, I had to retire my 35-year-old Sunbeam Mixmaster because it was just plain worn out! Couldn't find a replacement...
The quality v back then was why American products were loved all over the world you could get 20 years or more out of something now you're lucky to get 5 years
1976 is when we 1st got a color tv, and it was used!! We had 3 local channels, WGR ON 2, WBEN ON 4. WKBW ON 7. 9 &11 FROM CANADA IF IT WASNT SNOWING OUT!!
My parents had a Norge refrigerator and stove which had a cookpot in the left rear where you could put a chicken or pot roast in and you pulled the pot out to remove the food.
So, basically, if it was an American built product that worked for decades without breakdown it's long gone The Frigidaire fridge in our home, bought in 1960, was running perfectly in 2005. The 1% have benefitted from globalization, but few others have.
I remember the house I moved into when I was five or six years old had a Westinghouse front loader washer and dryer. It had more buttons on it than I have ever seen on an appliance. This must have been around 1967. They lasted for over a decade. We had Zenith TVs. "If it doesn't say Amanna it's not a radar range."
I remember that my parents had a Kenmore fridge and a Maytag washer and dryer. I miss those days and the quity that came with American made appliances. It's to bad that if something says American made it's considered a joke, just like many years ago anything that had something from Japan was a joke,too and now anything from the America is a joke. It's just to bad. But that's just my opinion.
In the 50s my family owned a Philco TV and refrigerator. In later years, they were replaced with GE. Then later on still with RCA TV and Whirlpool appliances.
I remember all these and most of them were in my childhood/grandparents/relative's homes. I don't remember Brown though, and I heard of Crosley but never saw one. PS vintage Sunbeam mixers command high prices at flea markets/antique shops, serious amateur cooks seek them out.
Who researched and recorded this? Every brand was "once a staple in American homes/kitchens", "noted for quality, reliability, longevity and innovation" and were "trusted members of the household". Was any actual research done on these brands? I grew up with most of these brands. Other than a little nostalgia, there was little useful, factual information and at least two errors that I spotted. First, both Hotpoint and GE were credited to be the first to introduce a self-cleaning oven. Also, Hotpoint was a GE subsidiary for many years - that was not a recent development. Then at around 10:50 while discussing Norge appliances, they showed a mid 1980's GE washer both on the showroom floor and operating during a cycle. Definitely not Norge. At least get the facts right - based on the actual content, this video should have taken about 6 minutes...
Our family had an old 1950s Kelvinator refrigerator when I was tiny. Somehow my mom kept food for a family of 8 in that thing for years. We has an Admiral b&w tv. E erything else was Sears Kenmore.
Hello from Finland. I was working in a Finnish commercial TV company MTV 1975-2001 as senior maintenance engineer and I had RCA TV studio cameras which were quite old fascioned if compared to Japanese like Sony.
I love nostalgia! I'm 79 so I remember all these products! They were all wonderful products!❤
My first TV was an Admiral. I must be old as heck. I remember every last one of these brands.
@@lmc958 I'm 52, yet I recognize all these as well. I grew up with these either at home or seeing them at friend's and family's houses.
@@AUTISTICLYCAN My father had a Admiral Color TV set in the 60's. In my family nobody was allowed to watch it except him😀.
What they all had in common: American-made, reliable, long-lasting, quality.
They were all of that, AND repairable!
No kidding. I had to replace a Whirlpool wash machine 2yrs to the day, got a Maytag, (same company). It broke in 2 WEEKS. Got GE Profile Impeller washer. So far, it's been good. 2+ yrs now. Ask me in another 10yrs how it's going.
@@zyxw2000 like US made cars from the 1950-1990s?
I have a house that was built in 1955. From the day I purchased it I been furnishing it with period appliances and furniture. Just acquired a 1950 Tappan model U-70, not a 55 model but who's to know. The lady at the antique store wouldn't sell it for she was using it as a display piece. A year past and I bought it for 100 dollars, looks and works like new. My friends always say why you want that old junk. Todays stuff is junk, Americans took pride in the thing they made back then, things had style too! Even the cars and my vintage campers I own reflex the time line. It is a living museum here where everything is functional.
Like how many times you would haven't take a brand new US made 1970s car back to the dealer to get debugged?
This week I keep watching "Best Years of Our Lives" for some reason.
Looking back, we had a Zenith color TV, a Magnavox console stereo, an Amana deep freezer, a Kenmore vacuum, a Kelvinator refrigerator and a Maytag washer/dryer combo. When my newlywed cousin needed a fridge, my parents gave them their old one and bought a Frigidaire. All of them American made and durable.
Blackstone, Norge, and my SpeedQueen is still running like new 46yrs later!!
My Mom had that exact same Sunbeam mixer, and every Christmas cake she ever made was made using it for over 50 years. Truly iconic! It was still working in 2012 when I cleaned out their house and threw it out. I'm still kicking myself.
The Sunbeam mixer was a household staple in mid-twentieth century America.
i remember that mixer was in stailess steel later in the 60s that was a keepsake silly girl
Al "Chainsaw" Dunlap destroyed it after he was hired to get it back to profitability. Dunlap would drop in, sell off all thr assets, which would raise short term cash flow then the company would crumble within 18 months after he left with a very generous payout. Sunbeam went BK shortly after Dunlap chainsawed it to pieces.
Our family just loved the Magnavox color tv we bought in 1970 and we had it for 20 years.
International Harvester was an early maker of refrigerators that disappeared in the 1960s .
Some of those refrigerators and freezers are still running. I once worked with a gentleman that told me he was the repairman for the IH refrigerators and freezers. When a customer called in that their appliance had quit working, he would go out and plug it back in. When they quit running, it was because they had been unplugged somehow. Usually by the lady of the house moving furniture!
When I bought my present home there was a Frigidaire refrigerator in the basement. Prior owner had used it to keep beer and other drinks. A few years ago the power company offered 50 dollars to take it away. When the guys came to pick it up, they drove a spike through the front and sides, very sad to see this happen to an iconic make.
@@glennso47 didn’t know they made refrigerators. I knew them from tractors and buses.
I remember all these brands. 👍
I'm 62 years old now, but I still remember seeing my first color television set, I was just 4 years old. The brand was a Zenith and the program playing was "Flipper" it was magical.
I recall our first color TV, a big, long Admiral console that took up an entire wall. It had a record player on one side and an AM/FM radio on the opposite side. At times, the speaker on the right side would cut out while my mom would play her Billy Vaughn or Guy Lombardo records on it, and my oldest brother would go over and slap his hand against the right side, which made the speaker come back on. We had that Admiral well into my teens and one day, the curious kid who took everything apart to see how it worked, I took the back off to see why the speaker kept cutting in/out and found that the terminal that was soldered onto the speaker wire was loose. I took some electrical tape and taped the wire tightly around the wire and that fixed it for the longest while. Years later as we grew up, my parents decided it was time to get a more modern tv with a remote control (us kids were their remote prior) and bought a Zenith 19" which by today's standards is a small screen size for a TV.
Our family bought our first color TV to watch Apollo 11. We were disappointed when the broadcast from the moon was in black and white. Oh well!
Yep. I watched "The wonderful world of Disney" in living color circa 1965 on our neighbor's Admiral set on certain Sundays. Always a letdown to come back home to our 20" black & white set, but I understand. My father paid what would be considered a fortune now , for that Philco set in 1959.
Bought a Samsung washing machine three years ago before the suspension rods failed (No, we did NOT overload the machine, with just two of us in the house). Replacement rods cost about $80.00 each x4 = $320.00 IF I replace them myself! Junk. Meanwhile, mom's 20-year-old GE washer runs on and on.
NEVER buy Samsung appliances! They're just the worst, and their technicians are ordered to blame the customer for everything. They've even told technicians to deliberately sabotage the machines!
You can get suspension rods for a lot less. I replaced mine last year and they're still working well.
Westinghouse started out in the 1800s as a maker of braking systems for railroad cars and locomotives. It later expanded into electrical generation and appliances.
George Westinghouse invented the failsafe air brake, which was first used on railroad cars and later adapted for the trucking industry.
In the 1970’s in Canada Westinghouse made the Admiral appliances. Meanwhile Admiral was making the Westinghouse TV’s
A-MAN-A !!
Amana, Iowa!!
The Amish and Mennonite made products!
Mine had a rotating wave-guide, no need for a clumsy turntable. Cooked almost as evenly as a conventional oven. As heavy as a boat anchor!
The Amash and Mennonites are truly God's people.
No that’s owned by Raytheon and always has. Some of that is misinformation.
My aunt passed away in 1993. In her basement was a Frigidaire refrigerator just humming away. I remembered that frig. from when I would visit my grandma in the 50's when it was new. We hauled it home and put it in a storage locker with the rest of th truckload that I brought home, plugged it in and I had cold beer while we sorted. That thing got really cold and you could barely hear it running...
When my uncle passed away and we had to clean out his house, he had an old Norge fridge that had not been in use for probably two decades. When we plugged it in, that thing kicked on and within about an hour it was cold. My cousin took it to her house and used it as a second fridge in her garage for the next 10 years.
@@kckettridge What happened to oi next?
The majority of my relatives lived (or still live) on Long Island, NY, and they all referred to their refrigerator as "the Frigidaire"...regardless of what brand it actually was. That's always said something to me regarding the popularity and longevity of the Frigidaire brand...
I have a Maytag washing machine, a Speed Queen clothes dryer, and a Kenmore refrigerator… all of them over 50 years old. All 3 appliances run perfectly to this day… old fashioned American quality.
Speed Queens last forever and Sears had really good,reliable,quality products. Everybody had Kenmore’s in their kitchens and I can remember my dad swapping out his Die Hard battery with his Craftsman tools. Those tools came with LIFETIME GUARANTEES,too and the company would actually honor them,replacing them on the spot without question if damaged or broken.
Kenmore was simply a brand. Sears got other appliance manufacturers to make them and put the Kenmore name on then. Depending on who sears had a contact with if you bought a Kenmore it may have been manufactured by GE, maytag, whirlpool or any other brand
That's right
When I moved into my new house in 1990, it came with a brand new Kenmore appliance package; stove, refrigerator, washer/dryer. They all still work flawlessly to this day.
When my folks bought a new home in 1956, it came with all Westinghouse appliances, including a refrigerator, a freezer, a washer, a dryer. All in teal green, of course.
The refrigerator and the freezer lasted well into the 1970s, maybe even early 1980s.
In 1989, I was working as a Major Household Appliance Repairman, and the issue with the Admiral washing machines were they came with bolt holding the innards of the machine together during shipping and handling, but it had to be removed, or it would take out main bearing and seal at the bottom of the tub. I replaced a lot of those, as it took out the main shaft also. I did one ladies house, that bolt had not been removed, I replaced the shaft and bearing/seal. 3 months later, she had the same issue, I go fix it again. 3 Month later she calls again, this time I am watched by 2 guys from Admiral watching how I did it. I replaced shaft and bearing for the 3rd time, they were impressed, it was the fastest they have ever seen anybody do this repair, and if she calls again, they will give her a brand new machine, we will ship to you folks and you install it..Well 3 month later she called, the new washing machine arrived the next day, we delivered, took the shipping bolt out, took the old one out of her house, problem solved. We did not hear from her again
I dropped out of college and began working in 1974 . I was a regular customer at the local
"RADIO SHACK" store and I kept an eye out on any special bargains that came along. At one
point I began to buy modular audio components . Over a certain time period I bought a
REALISTIC turntable , a REALISTIC AM /FM tuner , a REALISTIC cassette tape recorder ,
a REALISTIC quadraphonic amplifier , and four REALISTIC MC - 500 bookshelf speakers .
If I remember correctly , the MC -500 bookshelf speakers were half off - marked down
from $80.00 each to $40.00 each . They had RADIO SHACK's guarantee of five years free replacement parts . The problem that I had was after the five year guarantee was over ,
the large woofer speaker failed - possibly a cracked magnet making a rattling sound being produced . I think that I had to buy all new woofer speakers for these bookshelf speakers .
I remember Realistic. We had an old reel-to-reel movie projector and tape recorder. Lasted forever. Honestly, they never broke. We just got rid of them because the formats were out-of-date.
Great place where you could get a part for almost everything electronic. And they made items for converting things such a cassette converter to be used in an 8-Track machine. I still have a Realistic 8trk recorder/player. I miss Radio Shack.
3:20 My dad was always a Zenith man. As a kid in the late '60s, we got our first (Black and White, of course) TV with (what dad called) "Robot Control." I'm sure that was never the right name, but yes, that's what pops called it. It was a four-button "Cling" or "Clang" thing, with only channel up, channel down, volume (in I think 3 steps), and mute.
Hamilton Beach small appliances
They were actually much better than Sunbeam.
I,remember Kirby Vacuum Cleaners and Singer Sewing Machines. 2:22
Our first vacuum cleaner was an Airway vacuum that was bought from a traveling salesman.
Kirby was a real workhorse.
Re-Title “when we made stuff.”
Union workers. Do you know any celebrity chef is a union worker?
When America had quality manufacturing,union jobs and a middle class.
@@myleslong5584
The democrats try to replace union workers with illegal aliens
Remember the outcry over "Made in Japan?" Now every second item comes from China!
Made in Japan was something good.
now its all cheap, throw away crap, thats over priced....
Yeah. Can we at least go back to the Japanese stuff? Way better quality, and I didn't feel like I was supporting a communist dictator.
Japan went through the nornal evolution from assembly factories to making simple electronics, to making cars, then making large transport ships. Then South Korea went through the same evolution. China is going through thrblatter stages of the same evolution, while Vietnam, Bangladesh, and the Philipines are starting off on fhr revolution.
@@ms.annthrope415 Put the bong down, space cowboy.
I still remember my new 1976 mobile home with the avocado toilet, bathtub and refrigerator. Oh, and avocado shag carpet. 😅
@@Iconoclasher My brother had bought a new Oldsmobile 98 in 1976. He drove it for 18 years.
I remember when Zenith touted their tv's as being hand wired rather than having circuit boards - we all know where that went...
What I am longing to see come back, is the style, colour and richness of all these products, in homes that are filled with style, colour and richness, once again.
I still remember my new 1976 mobile home with the avocado toilet, bathtub and refrigerator. Oh, and avocado shag carpet. 😅
@@Iconoclasher : And you know what My Darling; I'm sure no one at the time, thought anything wrong with it, at all. I get so pissed when I hear people crap on the styles of the past, in a day and age completely, lacking in everything. Very few look around and talk about how crappy everything is today, while we are living in it, but you wait another 50 years or so, and see what some future generation will say about this time. I'm virtually, 100%, convinced they will sit back, shake their heads and think; what in God's name were these people thinking, anyway?! Correct? I mean, we live in a time now, when people will paint the entirety of the inside of their homes all white, and have next to nothing in them; and then, will turn around and paint the outside of their homes all black! Black of all things! And EVERYTHING, black, to boot!! I'm seeing this more and more in my neck of the woods. People with taste like that, have no, damn, right crapping on the taste of anyone else, from any other time period, at all. My whole reason for watching any of these types of videos is that I miss the richness of the past. The vibrancy of everything. I miss it more than I can possibly, put into words. I'm a child of the 70s and 80s myself. l was born in 1965, so really, can't remember much from that decade, but from the 70s onward, I sure do. Ya, I remember the shag rugs too. Awesome to walk on, but must have been an absolute, nightmare to try to keep clean. That actually, may be one of the few things that maybe, can stay in the 70s. But Lord though, the colour. People definitely, were not afraid of colour back in the 70s. And really, it's not that all the colours were so very bad either, because they were not, really; it's just, the crazy way people chose to mix them together, that's all. And the oddball, mixture of textures, as well. I'm sure there could be a more subdued way to bring that 70s look back, that would not be bad at all. Ways of mixing these rich colours that can actually, work. I'm certain of it. Maybe I'll live long enough to see a revival of it again. I keep hoping, anyway. My Best. Out.
@@ivanj.conway9919 👍😀
If I never see white or beige again, I'll die happy.
@@yootoobsuks4210 : For me, it's white and grey actually. Grey is insanely, overdone these days, too. And all these bloody, cold, industrial, metallics, as well. And colours so, insanely, washed out that one wonders why they bothered at all. And every, bloody, thing the same, bloody, colour, as well. Who in their right mind ever thought that was a good idea, anyway? White is great for ceilings and trim, and nothing more. And grey; dear God, who ever decided that grey was a warm, cozy and inviting colour anyway. When I was growing up grey was considered just the opposite. One of the very last colours you would want to put on anything. Then, if all that were not bad enough; they must knock out every wall possible, God forbid one has actual, rooms, and a bet of variety and privacy in your place any longer; and then, on top of that; everything must be as basic and bare as one can possibly, make it. I mean; how the bloody, heck can this be considered design and taste to any degree at all; places completely, lacking in EVERYTHING?! Correct? I have watched the progression of this madness for the past 20 plus, years now, and am in just as much a state of shock and dismay today, as I was then. What makes it worst still; if you rent, and millions of us do; you are forced to accept this whether you want or like it or not. I simply, cannot get my head around this, at all. And never before, in no generation or era before, have we seen people take things to this extreme and for this long. Yes, sure, all white, minimalism was a bet of a thing back in the 60s as well, so I understand, but it was always, on the fringe. It never, ever, went mainstream. And it is not because it is better by a long shot, in any degree at all, what-so-ever, it's just, people today, are too, damn, lazy to put any thought into anything, anymore. It's completely, that and nothing more. Would you not agree?
Warmest Wishes. Out For Now.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I remember so many of those brands being born in the 60’s. Great appliances that lasted decades as mentioned. That was the real America I remember. 👍🇺🇸
"That was the real America" You're so right.
Speaking of ranges: O'Keefe & Merritt was an iconic name in fine kitchen ranges. I still have my late mom's 1949 model. Wedgewood was yet another fine range!
The appliance world changed drastically when making long-lasting products was recognized as reducing profits, and time to failure became a measurable dimension of each product. Now products are not only made to fail, but manufacturers take steps to see that owners cannot fix them.
I worked at Amana refrigeration for 41 years. The factory is in Amana Iowa.
4:45 That woman modeling the Amana microwave is Barbara Hale, FAMOUS for her role on Perry Mason.
Della Street
@@02chevyguy Exactly!
Righto
I'm not kidding. I remember that commercial, knew she was famous for some reason, and wondered how many packs of cigarettes she smoked per day!
A lot of these brands were made in Chicago, Zenith,Hotpoint,Admiral Sunbeam. We had a big Hotpoint plant in Cicero,Sunbeam was right acoss the street in Chicago. Zenith televisions were made on the northwest side,Admiral on the north.
And you used to buy them at Polk Brothers.
@@paulwicklund5044 Wow I remember them as a child back in the mid 1970s, we lived in Buffalo Grove at the time, I forget where Polk Bros was Dundee?
The one my parents went to was on Milwaukee ave by diverisy ave. In chicago. @horseathalt7308
Bring them all back , Make America Greater Again.
you are so cute.
Still have and running fine, an Amana refridgerator from the 80s. Grew up with Zenith, Tappan and Westinghouse. It's astonishing the number of American made appliances, which were high quality, have been lost to foreign manufacturers. What's worse, the quality and longevity has suffered. Samsung refridgerators and some LG products are junk!
@@andytaylor5476 totally agree!
Nonsense! My neighbor had a LG refrigerator, and it lasted almost an entire year!
@@ebx100😂 I’m dying
@ 🤣
@@ebx100 Linear compressor?
Litton was a big name in the early years of microwave ovens for the home. They decided to retreat from consumer level home microwave ovens and return to their company focus as a military contractor. Over the decades they were acquired and re-acquired many times and are now part of the corporation known as Northrop Grumman in some capacity.
Yes, I remember them being sold back in the mid 1970s, competing with Amana.
@@horseathalt7308 Yes. Amana's Radar Range was #1. Litton was #2. After the market settled a few years later, the Japanese brand Sharp rapidly gained its way to the forefront of microwave oven brands.
Some of these brands disappeared because they were nothing but junk. Others disappeared because of corporate greed and/ or stupidity. And now with very few exceptions, all of our appliances are garbage.
@@ronalddevine9587 Speed Queen is the only washer and dryer that has metal parts and available units with no electronics. As far as when my 20 year old Kenmore refrigerator and 34 year old Kenmore microwave go kaput, I don’t know what I’ll get.
@@kd6836 That is great to know! So many problems with the digital stuff. Mechanical rarely fails!
@@kd6836Speed Queen does have electronics. They have a computer board, and a motor controller. The last washer built with a timer, was in 2018.
You skipped over Curtis Mathis electronics (TV, Radio and more). Very high quality TV's in the 60's & 70's.
The hot water tank had a pilot light and some heaters too! Some didnt have any fan either, just heat and we were very comfortable!!
Gas never failed!! Electricity did, so be prepaired!!
What happened to America corporate America sold the United States out
Corporate greed. Profits over people. No longer interested in innovating, thus we are now playing “catch-up.”
All of the consumer electronics devices that we see in America today are made
in either Japan or China , where the cost of labor is very cheap in comparison to American labor costs . Imagine a television that would be made in America today :
the cost to the average American would be double or more the current retail price !
This has been going on since the 1950's because it is so much cheaper to build
the item in the foreign country and ship it to America than have it entirely built
in America !
Yup greed! The reason why American appliances are not made here is not because of labor, but because of C-level salaries/benefits/bonuses and shareholder dividends. Most companies make about 3 - 10 times the salary/benefits of an employee in profits!
@@drbluzer more like paying their ceos millions would make the devices over priced...
You are so right, we opened trade with China on the promise that we'd export all those products shown, now we buy imports by those vary same brands. Sadly we let it happen.
I use to love those maytag commercials 😊😊😊
My grandfather worked for Midwest Mfg in Galesburg, IL his job was to apply the Criper drawer name plates. Retired in 1964 and rcvd a portable Admiral black and white TV. Also in the 1990s I worked for a company that handled the 800 number for White Westinghouse which owned Westinghouse appliances as well as Tappan, Fridgidaire, and Kelvanator (handled where to buy or who repairs appliances for them). Today I own a Crosley Director all in one radio, cassett, cd, and turntable with recording capabilities.
Well, that modern Crosley is just a name. The units themselves are Chinese junk unfortunately.
13:00 Emerson was also a "cheapie" brand. If you couldn't afford a Westinghouse radio, get an Emerson.
News flash: Westinghouse, Kelvinator, Maytag, Frigidaire, Sunbeam and Hoover are alive & well in Australia 🙂
Those names still carry on in Canada. All are just part of other companies now.
Sears was the hardest charge card in America to get!! I knew Sears Managers who couldnt get one!! Their credit wasnt good enough!!
Never experienced that.
we bought a MAYTAG washer and dryer in 1982 and it is still working today, 42 years.
My Maytag washer and dryer turn 50 next year. Truly the best appliances made at that time.
Why pronounce Amana wrong especially since the snips of commercial correctly pronounces it A MAN A
Also, he said “RADE-a-range” rather than the correct “RADAR-range”.
They also mispronounced Norge as Nor-hay and Haier as Hair and Quasar as Quah-zar. I suspect a machine that refuses to be consistent in pronunciation.
Text-to-speech software is pretty amazing tech, but sometimes it really messes up, doesn't it? 😄
The few places text to speech still shows.
Because the voice is a bot that has no knowledge of how those words are actually pronounced.
All the comments about each brand is largely the same. There's no detail, other the companies' founding year. You also missed a few important brands that are highly regarded...such as O'Keefe & Merritt.
I agree. It’s the same script for each company with slightly different words.
Roper ranges.
and refrigerators
Built near me, in Kankakee, Illinois.
I love the features new fridges have, I just wished they kept the same quality. My word of advice, get the white line appliances from whirlpool, Maytag or LG for tvs and only that.
Thanks!
Thank you Doug for your kindness!
years ago, (1980's) I had a Magnavox 19 inch color tv with remote. It finally gave out 20, yes 20 years later...
I always liked Magnavox. The first big thing I bought when I got a job in 1966 was a big Magnavox console stereo. I recently bought one that's 60 years old and had all of the electronics refurbished. It plays like new.
GE Maytag and Frigidaire are still doing fine.
All three of these brands are nolonger independent companies. What they sell now are mostly rebranded products. Whirlpool acquired Maytag, and Maytag appliances are now rebranded Whirlpool appliances with a higher price tag.
Nope piss poor GE Sold off their refrigerator line to a Chinese company.
@garbo8962 GE sold off their appliance business to HAIER. No appliance with the GE name is a GE product anymore. GE now focuses on it's aerospace, and industrial businesses. GE is known for it's aircraft. My mother hated all their appliances, and called their appliances garbage electric. Mother bought Maytag, and nothing else.
@@ericknoblauch9195no wonder my microwave and fridge are crap. My fridge ice maker gave away after 9 months of purchasing and I’m still waiting warranty work after a yr. Also my. Microwave is always acting up. One month it’s the digital pad and next month it’s something else random
and theyre not that great...Ge is now owned by a Chinese company, Maytag is Whirlpool, and Frigidaire is Electrolux...
I remember when my mother had brought a little Kenmore electric dryer back in the early 90's and it's still working today.
I have a General Motors (pre-Frigidaire) fridge that I got as a housewarming present in '84. It still hums away in the basement and keeps drinks cold, while the tiny freezer makes ice. The only repair I have ever put on it was a compressor (NOS) in 2007. It's still in it's original eggshell white paint and keeps my son and grandson's art safe. 70+ years old, the compressor is dated to '53, still running strong!
Sunbeam did not make Toastmaster toasters. Toastmaster was a division of McGraw-Edison Electric. And Crosley didn't just make refrigerators with shelves in the doors - it invented refrigeratosr with shelves in the door - the Shelvador. The Shelvador was the idea of a Crosley engineer. Powel Crosley, the head of Crosley Corporation, offered the man either $0.25 per refrigerator manufactured or $15,000 up front. The engineer foolishly took the $15,000 (it was during the Great Depression when $15,000 was a fortune). It's estimated he would have made close to a million dollars had he taken the $0.25 per unit royalty. Finally, Frigidaire was sold by GM to White-Westhnghouse and White-Westinghouse was sold to Electrolux.
We still use a Sunbeam toaster; it's unusual; you just drop in the toast and it oozes down into the toaster and oozes back up when it's done. We tried a new one but it took FOREVER to make toast, so we went right back to the Sunbeam - i think it's from the early 60's.
Curtis Mathes, Maytag, Frigidaire, Motorola, Admiral, Sylvania,
I had a Curtis Mathes TV...The biggest piece of junk TV I had ever owned.
@@grandinosour But it had that WARRANTEE.
@@grandinosourI second that!!
It seems that all high-quality, well-built, and innovative products made in America are a thing of the past. Compare that to today's low quality, throw-a-way, made in Asia products. Just buy the cheapest appliance today, because in 3 or 4 years, you'll be buying a new one.
Whirlpool owns several brands including Amana, Jenn-Air, Kitchen Aid and MayTag
Forgot about JennAir.
Yah, and I'll never buy another one. Bought a Whirlpool washer 4 yrs ago. It lasted 2yrs. Replaced with a Maytag. It lasted 2 WEEKS. Before that, had a Whirlpool refrigerator, under 4 yrs, it was falling apart. Replaced everything with GE Profiles. Not saying Haier who prob makes them is better...no I am saying they are better. They've been great so far. I don't trust Cesspool anylonger. Too bad... they were really good at one point. Oh and the Maytag dishwasher...2yrs that's it.
Most of these brands are now owned by Electrolux.
RCA introduced color tv in 1953.
We had a gas cook stove with a space heater built in!! They called it a "Gas on Gas" stove. It took the chill off the kitchen! And you didnt need electric to run it, it had a flame in it( a pilot light that was always light)
They missed the brands that made those. Roper and Glenwood were 2 of the big ones.
People could hear WKBW in Phoenix,Az. SanJuan, PR,
Alaska, and ships at sea!!
My refrigerator and washing machine are both Amana. And they're new. So I guess they're really Whirlpool.
You guessed right!
9:45 Admiral was for people who couldn't afford Zenith.
My first color TV in 1976 was a Zenith. That sucker was extremely heavy!
Many of these brands were gobbled up by large corporations before they faded from the scene. Now, just a small handful of corporations own all appliance manufacturing. Our first large screen (16 inch) TV was a Dumont. Around that time there was a brief flurry of excitement about Muntz TV.
I remember Dumont TV's.. Leonard refrigerators too
It's so sad that all these MADE IN AMERICA brands are gone. GE not even owned by America any more that's crazy.
It's definitely sad.
"There's nothing like a Hoover when you're dealing with dirt"
General Motors also made appliances.
My grandma had one of their Refrigerators.
I know they made Frigidaire washing machines for a while back in the 70's.
@@dennisc6716 They date back to the late 1940s or 1950s. They were unique with their up-and-down agitators. There are quite a few videos on here of them in action.
@@02chevyguy I've owned a few.
American Motors Corp made Kalvenator refrigerator s.
I'm in my 70's and as a kid my parents had a Philco tv, a GE refrigerator; and a Maytag washer (with the wringers on it), My apartment has a Hotpoint stove. On an added note: my parents bought a Bengal stove when they married in 1940.
As a kid, my parents owned a Westinghouse TV. I own a Westinghouse flat screen TV today, and love it.
We need to bring manufacturing back to the US.
Yeah, that is not going to happen. That ship has sailed.
You’ll just get Chinese level quality at 10 times the price! If American build quality is equal to American customer service, it’s just gonna suck!
Yea and bring them back before Trump starts with tariffs which will cost us more!
lf you take a Maytag washer from the fifties, convert its fifties price to today's Dollars, you'll quickly see why we aren't making them. Look at the price of a Sunbeam Mixmaster from the forties or fifties, convert that price to today's. People wouldn't buy them, no matter how well made.
@@loveisall5520 You got my curiosity, so I just checked that. In 1956 a Sunbeam Mixmaster was priced at $44.50 regular price. Adjusted for inflation that would be about $516.44 today. That is a bit on the high end today, but there are more expensive ones being sold. Today a lot of mixers on are going for as much $600. They are probably a bit cheaper on avarage, but not much.
RCA VICTOR!!
HE HEARS HIS MASTERS VOICE!!
RCA Really Crappy Apparatis from an engineer who maintained an RCA televssion transmitter
Emerson ... The official low end product line. It died from competition.😅
I once delivered stereos and tv as a young man. We had to tune in each channel for every Emerson we set up. Like tuning in the old car radios that had push button pre sets.
Forgot to mention Modern Maid appliances with their unique one piece range/dishwasher unit. Sad...all of the jobs lost as we lost these companies.
My wife loved our Frigidaire washing machine with the up and down agitator. 😏
🤣🤣🤣
2:00 We toured William S. Hart's home in Newhall, CA in the late '60s, they bragged about Hart's Philco radio, that STILL PLAYED.
William S. Hart was born in Newburgh, NY on 12/06/1864
2:58...we owned a Philco refrigerator...we owned Zenith televisions as late as the 1990s...and an Amana refrigerator as well. And Barbara Hale was probably as famous as for her Radarange commercials as she was as Della Street on "Perry Mason." Speaking of Hotpoint, we are still using a 1998 Hotpoint electric dryer that has outlived four washing machines! (I remember a neighbor who had one of the old Norge refrigerators with a clock in the door!) Kelvinator was known for its unique washing action (and their splashing)! Most sadly, I had to retire my 35-year-old Sunbeam Mixmaster because it was just plain worn out! Couldn't find a replacement...
The quality v back then was why American products were loved all over the world you could get 20 years or more out of something now you're lucky to get 5 years
1976 is when we 1st got a color tv, and it was used!! We had 3 local channels, WGR ON 2, WBEN ON 4. WKBW ON 7.
9 &11 FROM CANADA IF IT WASNT SNOWING OUT!!
I got an antenna rotor in the late 60's and went from 3 to 5 channels.
My parents had a Norge refrigerator and stove which had a cookpot in the left rear where you could put a chicken or pot roast in and you pulled the pot out to remove the food.
My father purchased a Hotpoint refrigerator in 1955. It is still running in my nepehew's house to this day!!!!
So, basically, if it was an American built product that worked for decades without breakdown it's long gone The Frigidaire fridge in our home, bought in 1960, was running perfectly in 2005.
The 1% have benefitted from globalization, but few others have.
O Keefe and Merrit ranges.
The sitcom Bewitched showed nothing but Zenith TVs.
I loved the stove and oven in the Bewitched kitchen!
@@badcompany-w6s Frigidaire Flair.
I remember the house I moved into when I was five or six years old had a Westinghouse front loader washer and dryer. It had more buttons on it than I have ever seen on an appliance. This must have been around 1967. They lasted for over a decade. We had Zenith TVs. "If it doesn't say Amanna it's not a radar range."
The 1975 SNL "Broken Fridge" sketch featured a Norge refrigerator
I own some Magnavox stereo speakers to this day. Purchased in 1966, they still work very well.
I remember that my parents had a Kenmore fridge and a Maytag washer and dryer. I miss those days and the quity that came with American made appliances. It's to bad that if something says American made it's considered a joke, just like many years ago anything that had something from Japan was a joke,too and now anything from the America is a joke. It's just to bad. But that's just my opinion.
Kenmore was a Sears brand.
Kenmore appliances were mostly made by Whirlpool.
Just too bad 😢
In the 50s my family owned a Philco TV and refrigerator. In later years, they were replaced with GE. Then later on still with RCA TV and Whirlpool appliances.
Why are you adding annoying and distracting noise?
I remember all these and most of them were in my childhood/grandparents/relative's homes. I don't remember Brown though, and I heard of Crosley but never saw one. PS vintage Sunbeam mixers command high prices at flea markets/antique shops, serious amateur cooks seek them out.
Very nice video, but you left one out, DuMont. Our first TV was a DuMont. DuMont also owned one of the first TV networks.
Who researched and recorded this? Every brand was "once a staple in American homes/kitchens", "noted for quality, reliability, longevity and innovation" and were "trusted members of the household". Was any actual research done on these brands? I grew up with most of these brands. Other than a little nostalgia, there was little useful, factual information and at least two errors that I spotted. First, both Hotpoint and GE were credited to be the first to introduce a self-cleaning oven. Also, Hotpoint was a GE subsidiary for many years - that was not a recent development. Then at around 10:50 while discussing Norge appliances, they showed a mid 1980's GE washer both on the showroom floor and operating during a cycle. Definitely not Norge. At least get the facts right - based on the actual content, this video should have taken about 6 minutes...
How could you include ‘Hotpoint’ but leave out ‘Coldspot’ ! 😁
My grandma had a coldspot window air conditioner.
@ When I was a little kid, I thought it would be funny to have a Hotpoint refrigerator and a Coldspot stove. 😄
Coldspot was a Sears brand name, replaced on the fridges and freezers by Kenmore.
@@DoubleMrE 🤣👍
Zenith color TVs.... that's what our first color TV was.... I used to watch "World at War" in the 1970's with my estranged parents.
Anyone remember Magic Chief kitchen stoves?
Our family had an old 1950s Kelvinator refrigerator when I was tiny. Somehow my mom kept food for a family of 8 in that thing for years. We has an Admiral b&w tv. E erything else was Sears Kenmore.
Kelvinator at one time, was a subsidiary of Nash Motor Company, until Nash and Hudson merged to create American Motors.
Hello from Finland. I was working in a Finnish commercial TV company MTV 1975-2001 as senior maintenance engineer and I had RCA TV studio cameras which were quite old fascioned if compared to Japanese like Sony.