Thursday, August 10, 2017

No Decals? Just Grab a Marker

I am, as near as its possible to be, a vacuum purist. I want everything possible on a machine…logos, attachments, hoses, cords, etc, etc…to be all original. It's a great theory, and gratifying when it comes true, but reality is slightly different. 

I mentioned in my page on the Guardians and Lux 9000s, that two particular models, the Guardian Encore and the Electrolux Lux 9000, were frequently missing their side bumper decals, according to the pictures I see. This decal is nothing but a faux aluminum strip that's glued onto the bumper…a shoddy shortcut in an otherwise great series of vacuums. I vastly preferred the recessed lettering of the Renaissance, or the raised lettering of the Epic 8000 and Guardian 75th.

Anyway, the point of all of this is, I just picked up an Electrolux Lux 9000, Model C134D, and guess what? Both decals are missing. I was, and still am, disappointed, despite the fact that the machine works perfectly, is in otherwise good cosmetic shape, and is a perfect addition to my near complete Style R collection. 

Now, this might be ridiculous to some, but here is what I did:



With the proper script as my guide, I hand wrote the ‘Electrolux’ logo on the side bumpers, with a silver Sharpie, and then overwrote it in dark blue. One can still see the vestiges of the glue in the corners there. Its obviously amateurish at best, and the left side looks worse than the right, but still, I'm fairly pleased with this, I must say. One of these days, I might happen upon a replacement bumper, but until then, I think this will do.

Top logo. Luckily, my handwritten logo is fairly close to this colour.


The full ensemble:


Ratings sticker. Again, the same power ratings as all the prior machines.


In the living room, ready for service. 



As far as I know, the model line mates for the Lux 9000 were the same as for the Guardian Encore. I don't think anything changed much until the company name change to Aerus, but I could be wrong on this.

By the way, I really don't know why this machine, and the Aerus Lux 9000, were not called "Guardian", as they are Guardians in every respect. If there's something different about them, I can't see it anywhere. As I proposed elsewhere, perhaps the company wasn't sure about keeping the Guardian name. In any case, I'm happy to have this machine as part of the collection.