Quote:
Originally Posted by Colourstar
This cooker was apparently installed in 1961 and was with the original owner until a couple of years ago. I acquired it for the princely sum of 99p on ebay, apparently in full working order, with the exception of the clock. It is unbelievably dirty, decades of Sunday roasts having left their mark.. Shame no one realised in all that time that the oven side and bottom panels simply lift out for cleaning!
In fact the whole cooker is beautifully 'modular' in terms of restoration. Every bit of it is removable in a remarkably user-friendly way. The glass oven door and main door simply lift off their peg hinges, the entire cooker top lifts off and the rings and elements simply unplug. All of this makes cleaning a lot less of a headache than it would appear on first inspection.
Points of interest are the large 'flat' cooking ring and the heating elements of the oven, exposed when the panels are lifted out. No fan assistance here! The hob light is a nice period touch. Fluorescent lamps tended to be fitted a bit later on so I expect that this one will comprise one or maybe two 15w pygmy bulbs. Its so greasy I can't tell from the external appearance.
Oddly this cooker was acquired whilst on a mission to pick up a slightly later 60s cooker (also English Electric) way down in Surrey. An ebay browse on the laptop whilst idling away an overnight stop in a hotel revealed this earlier model up for grabs in Leicester, a lot closer to home. So now I have two 1960s EE cookers at a total outlay of £5.99 (excluding travel expenses).
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In the US, we call them "Ranges". The range that you're restoring is what we referred as apartment size, around 20 to 22 inches wide, with four burners on top, plus the oven. Another thing is the high profile of the control panel. Ours were just 8 to ten inches from the range top surface.
I never owned an Electric range, so when I bought one, I bought one with the glass cook surface. I don't cook very often, but it is easier to keep clean.
Dave, USradcoll1.
