When appliances were built to last!

[Gavin John Hyde]

Have been at a house today to do a quote to install an alarm system as an old lady is moving in with her daughter and will in due course be selling the house to another relative. so want it secure when empty.
She moved into this house in 1974 when she and her husband came over from India. They bought a cooker in 1974 from Argos and the thing still works.. so I googled it and she paid the princely some £59.95. I found a old catalogue from back then with the model in.
https://issuu.com/retromash/docs/argos-no02-1974 page 88-89 item 2
I cant think of any modern cooker that will last over 40 years! they are built to be replaced and disposed of nowadays. The lady said she likes her cooker, it works, never had an issue with it and why replace it? she has brought up 4 children cooking all the time on this thing and it still works and looked quite clean and tidy as she is very house proud.
looking at these old argos books has made me nostalgic though, its funny how a lot of the things i had as a kid have come back around.... its funny looking at some of the old tools from back then...

 

[Pete999]

my dad bought a LEC fridge in 1958 . was still working perfectly when scrapped due to kitchen refit in 1990. so was his Hotpoint Empress washing machine with electric mangle. also bought in 1958.

Wasn't she in Neighbors Miss Mangle I mean?

 

[LeeH]

I hope it hasn't got a young Pete999 posing with it!!!!!!!!!!!

Think it was, posing with nothing but a leather tool belt and retro drill.

 

[Andy-1960]

Did the Kenwood Chef have any RIFA golden-yellow epoxy-cased suppression capacitors in it? They are notorious for failing stinkily after a few decades!

I’ve just replaced them (this week!) in the one we have at home, you’re quite right, twenty years old and bang!

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

Ca

I hope it hasn't got a young Pete999 posing with it!!!!!!!!!!!

Not sure but check out the retro fred perry tracksuits in the sports section... The haircuts though!!! A few pages before the boat with outboard motor!!

 

[Midwest]

Isn't it funny; you could compare it with a 2018 Argos catalogue, and apart from the missing mobile phones & ipads, it would be selling the same ----.

I had to buy loads of those silver foil rear screen heaters (last 5 mins), and my brother had ones of those fibre glass aerials on his car; you could take pedestrians eyes out going round corners.

 

[pirate]

When my folks moved into the house I was brought up in, in 1956, they bought a Frigidaire fridge, the curvy topped American style with 3 inch thick walls...when they retired they sold the house and left the fridge there...I see the guy who bought the house occasionally and yep...it's doing service still as a beer fridge in his workshop!
Also, I still have my dad's electric drill, a Bridges model, and it too is still going strong. I bought this B&D drill in 1984, and use it lots...ok, I have recent cordless stuff, but for hard graft this one is my go-to.

 

[LeeH]

^^^What’s that T shaped tool with the funny end for?

 

[pirate]

Really?
It's a chuck key...none of your key-less nonsense in those days!

 

[LeeH]

It's a chuck key...none of your key-less nonsense in those days

 

[polo1]

Wow, nostalgia city! Couldn't resist having a look through that....ah, the memories.

 

[chris murphy]

Have been at a house today to do a quote to install an alarm system as an old lady is moving in with her daughter and will in due course be selling the house to another relative. so want it secure when empty.
She moved into this house in 1974 when she and her husband came over from India. They bought a cooker in 1974 from Argos and the thing still works.. so I googled it and she paid the princely some £59.95. I found a old catalogue from back then with the model in.
https://issuu.com/retromash/docs/argos-no02-1974 page 88-89 item 2
I cant think of any modern cooker that will last over 40 years! they are built to be replaced and disposed of nowadays. The lady said she likes her cooker, it works, never had an issue with it and why replace it? she has brought up 4 children cooking all the time on this thing and it still works and looked quite clean and tidy as she is very house proud.
looking at these old argos books has made me nostalgic though, its funny how a lot of the things i had as a kid have come back around.... its funny looking at some of the old tools from back then...

Hello Gavin John Hyde,

Thanks very much for the Link to the 1970`s Argos Catalogues - it is interesting to see the prices from those years.

In the 1974 Catalogue I saw an 18" Colour TV - Recommended retail price £205.24 - Argos price: £164.15.

From our memories my Wife who was a Secretary / PA to a Company Director at that time was earning approx: £4000.00 per year after deductions then and she would have been considered `really well paid` for an office worker - probably more than twice as much as an office Clerk`s wage.

So guessing that an average office workers wage was something like £35.00 per week that TV was about 4.75 weeks wages for someone earning that wage.

And I think that my guess is probably an over estimate - a Clerk was probably only on something like £25.00 per week in 1974 ?

Trying to compare `spending power` between the 1974 price and a similar multiple now - If we guess that an office Clerk today would be earning £250.00 per week after deductions [?] - that would mean that TV would cost £1187.50 !

Today that £164.00 probably buys you a 32" TV - or an 18" TV for about £90.00 ?

Regards,

Chris

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

Today that £164.00 probably buys you a 32" TV - or an 18" TV for about £90.00 ?

As you have said trying to factor in time, inflation and modern tech against the old prices is much harder, you pay for brands and dont expect things to last these days- although a lot of tech is all the same underneath the branded case. where as then you bought something knowing it was a luxury and wanted it to last many years.

 

[chris murphy]

As you have said trying to factor in time, inflation and modern tech against the old prices is much harder, you pay for brands and dont expect things to last these days- although a lot of tech is all the same underneath the branded case. where as then you bought something knowing it was a luxury and wanted it to last many years.

Hello again Gavin,

Remembering when Colour TV`s were first readily available to everyone [1967 / 1968 ] they were seen as so expensive that almost every Family that I knew rented theirs - and from memory at quite a high monthly charge for the late 1960`s - possibly £8.00 - 10.00 per Month ?

My Father was a `High Earner` for a working class man in the Construction / Civil Engineering Industries so we were definitely not short of money - but he still would not buy his first Colour TV.

I have a vague recollection of a figure of £350.00 being spoken about as the price of a 24" Colour TV at that time.

If the office Clerk in my previous example had been earning £30.00 per week it would have cost approximately 11.66 weeks wages.

Using my guess of £250.00 per week earnings Today again that was like spending £2915.00 !

I know that these single price comparisons are not accurate - but `spending power` / price comparison does have a significance in trying to compare the `Cost of Living` between different decades.

I must try and find out what would be a more accurate comparison - apart from Food Shopping etc. as I would not be able to find out enough 1970`s Food prices to do a comparison to now.

Regards,

Chris

 

[chris murphy]

Hello again Gavin,

Remembering when Colour TV`s were first readily available to everyone [1967 / 1968 ] they were seen as so expensive that almost every Family that I knew rented theirs - and from memory at quite a high monthly charge for the late 1960`s - possibly £8.00 - 10.00 per Month ?

My Father was a `High Earner` for a working class man in the Construction / Civil Engineering Industries so we were definitely not short of money - but he still would not buy his first Colour TV.

I have a vague recollection of a figure of £350.00 being spoken about as the price of a 24" Colour TV at that time.

If the office Clerk in my previous example had been earning £30.00 per week it would have cost approximately 11.66 weeks wages.

Using my guess of £250.00 per week earnings Today again that was like spending £2915.00 !

I know that these single price comparisons are not accurate - but `spending power` / price comparison does have a significance in trying to compare the `Cost of Living` between different decades.

I must try and find out what would be a more accurate comparison - apart from Food Shopping etc. as I would not be able to find out enough 1970`s Food prices to do a comparison to now.

Regards,

Chris

Hello again,

I have just been reading an article about the introduction of Colour Television / Televisions just over 50 years ago - and the price quoted for a 23" Colour TV in 1968 was between £250 - £300 which was stated to be `between £4000 - £4800 in todays money` ! !

No wonder most people were renting their Colour TV`s !

Just in case anyone is interested - here is the article from the Mail online:

Fifty years since BBC broadcast the first colour programme | Daily Mail Online - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4628290/Fifty-years-BBC-broadcast-colour-programme.html

When I wrote previously about Colour TV`s becoming `readily available` in 1967 / 1968 - I have just read in that article that when the first `modern` Colour broadcast was done [not 1940`s or 1950`s] `there were only 1500 Colour TV`s in the UK`.

That cannot be correct as I am sure that my Family and other people I knew had them prior to that - receiving Black and White broadcasts but ready for the Colour programs to be broadcast ?

I remember a TV Engineer having to come to our Home after the Colour TV Broadcasts began to adjust the Colour / Contrast etc.

Do any of our older Members [like Me] remember whether that was the case in their Homes ?

Sorry if my posts have gone `Off Topic`.

Regards,

Chris

 

[Dave OCD]

The first time I ever saw a colour TV would have been the early 70s, I would have been 6 or 7 at the time,remember being amazed by all the different coloured shirts in Star Trek and Mrs Slocombes hair changing colour most weeks in Are You Being Served.

 

[sparkdog]

About 1967 the colour tellys became available, I was working as a telly engineer back then. I remember a lot of the public thought their black & white tellys just needed some adjustment to get colour and were none too pleased to discover that was not the case.

 

[sparkdog]

Very interesting to see all the old stuff in the Argos catalogue.

 

[StephenRowley]

Well for £670 quid in today's money I'd expect it too last a while.

 

[chris murphy]

Well for £670 quid in today's money I'd expect it too last a while.

Hello StephanRowley,

What is it that costs £670.00 in today`s money ?

If You are writing about the cost of the first Colour TV`s I mentioned in my previous message that according to the Mail online article that I quoted and gave the Link to £250.00 - £300.00 in about 1967 / 1968 would be equivalent to £4000.00 - £4800.00 in todays money value.

That seems a lot to me - I had previously guessed about £2900.00 - trying to compare an office Clerks wages from 1968 [guessed from memory] to todays average wage.

If You meant the 18" Colour TV at Argos for about £164.00 - I guessed that to be about £1180.00 at todays money - again comparing an office Clerks wages then and now,

I would be pleased to read your thoughts / calculation.

Regards,

Chris

 

[Devonchris]

I remember colour becoming available in 1967. Not that we had one, just that anybody who did had it facing the window so people going by could see it.