Hoover Promotional 45

[Colourstar]

I came across this little gem recently. It's a Lyntone single-sided flexidisc containing the swinging brassy soundtrack to a Hoover TV commercial shown in 1961. It has a great voiceover with the tagline 'Washday? Just forget it!' The promotion was for the Hoover Keymatic washing machine. The blurb suggests the dealer plays it in his shop.

Has anyone got similar promotional records for electrical goods in their collection?

Steve J

[mickjjo]

And here is the original advertisement:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQaSpaKGY2I

I had an old Keymatic in use for years, it got scrapped when it became unreliable and flooded the kitchen regularly....

Regards, Mick.

[chipp1968]

Thats great fun

[Colourstar]

I had an old Keymatic in use for years, it got scrapped when it became unreliable and flooded the kitchen regularly....

Regards, Mick.

Blimey, no wonder the tagline was 'Washday? Just forget it!'

I would never have thought to even look for the original commercial, but that's certainly it! Annoyingly catchy isn't it? I love the program card- very hi-tech.

[Tractorfan]

Hi,
A schoolmate of mine had a flexidisc advertising the Liberator washing machine (his dad worked for the local electricity board). It was voiced by Denis Norden (famous for his TV outtake programmes). I can't remember who made the Liberator though.
Cheers de Pete

I think it was Hotpoint.

[Brian R Pateman]

The Liberator was Hotpoint.

The name was still in use by Zanussi until fairly recently. They bought out Hotpoint (formerly British Domestic Appliances) along with much of the rest of the white goods industry.

[fidobsa]

Originally Posted by Brian R Pateman

The Liberator was Hotpoint.

The name was still in use by Zanussi until fairly recently. They bought out Hotpoint (formerly British Domestic Appliances) along with much of the rest of the white goods industry.

Hotpoint (GDA) is owned by Merloni, a different Italian firm. They did have links with Zanussi (now part of Electrolux) around the time the Liberators were about in the late '70s but they have long since been broken:
http://www.gda.uk.com/

[slidertogrid]

Originally Posted by Colourstar

Has anyone got similar promotional records for electrical goods in their collection?

Steve J

Hi Steve ,
Thats a great find!
I have a promo disc that was given away with Dansette record players, it is a plastic disc glued to a card backing.
It is very 1950's "BBC English", it refers to your new "Dan-sutt record plaa" and encorages you to replace the needle with a genuine "Broadcaster needle" (Dansette's own brand) "regulaarly" !
The Hoover keymatic was a fantastic washing machine, my granparents had one new and it lasted over 20 years, being passed on to my uncle eventually.
ISTR that it was also a persistant water leak(s) that wrote it off in the end.

Rich.

[sp10mk11]

Hello I too have the Hoover Keymatic Sales disc, catchy yes but you can you imagine working in the shop with that playing over and over all day, it would drive me mad

I also have a Hoover Keymatic washing machine built in 1972, that is still working (albiet with some servicing)

Also I have a Hornby Railways cassette tape from the 1980s with Noel Edmunds explaining how to put your train set together (joining the tracks, connecting up the power etc)

[Colourstar]

Wow, that's a lovely washing machine. Looks like new!

All those coloured lights and buttons too. I'd be quite excited about washday. Does it have special program cards that slot in? I'm not sure how the Keymatic system is supposed to work. Do tell...


Steve J

[sp10mk11]

Hello Colourstar

The Hoover keymatics are my favourite machines, full mechanical enginuity designed by engineers.....
The key plates have slots in them for each program (16 in all 2 plates).
There is a card reader that is connected to a mechanical programmer, the slots select which function on the programmer will be used.
They wash really well and have weird sort of magic to them, that modern machines for me dont
Here is a video of the machine action hope you enjoy it
Gary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekYjDconrGE

[Colourstar]

Fascinating video Gary. I never thought I'd sit and watch a video of a washing machine working! You are right, it does have a real sense of proper engineering about it.

Have you had the machine from new? What's it's history?

Steve

[Phil G4SPZ]

In the 1970s I worked in a hospital where every ward had a Hoover washing machine for small-scale patient laundry. They had originally been Keymatics but the card readers/programmers had allegedly been unreliable. The Hoover service engineer warned me about buying a Keymatic second hand...

[sp10mk11]

Hello Steve i rescued the machine about 2 years ago from a re-cycling centre, despite its age it is in very good condition, a freind gave me the keyplates

Everything is made to last or be repaired, not just on this machine but most old machines are the same.

I do like it a lot, freinds up country have keymatics aswell, two of them have the first models that came out in about 1960 and one of those works....

Phil
Oh yes the Keymatics where not without there problems, the main problem being the tiny switches inside the card reader making bad contact, but this is not a difficult problem once you understand it.

I would rather have a mechanical problem on a programmer than the total failiure of the control boards in modern machines

anyway the machine chugs on

thanks
Gary