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Post by voodoochikin04 on Sept 18, 2020 15:53:13 GMT -5
I had wanted one of these toasters after seeing one on a TV show years back, many years back. Time allowed me to forget about it and recently a local vintage toaster on FB re-energized my brain about that old automatic toaster. I did some digging and found it was a Sunbeam Radiant Control Toaster. A quick ebay search found units going for $80 to over $300 for the completed sold listings. I then used searchtempest to search the entire countries craigslist listings. I like to use broad terms like "vintage toaster" in hopes that someone doesnt know what they have and just lists an item for what it is lol. Low and behold I found what I wanted. In withcita, KS a lady had a vintage sunbeam toaster listed as such. I employed the help of a client to go pick it up, and ship it to me.
With the item in hand, I cleaned it up and made some adjustments AND..... its impressive!! In sturdiness, ability, quality, AND engineering. It uses mechanical leverage tied to the nichrome heating wires to lower and raise the bread. It also uses a bi-metal thermostat that takes temp "readings" from the toast surface. Ill post a video about it too for those inclined to learn more about it. SO FAR, very cool!!
Almost forgot: This is a model T-20b. The sellers story was as such: She is 65 years old, her grandparents received this toaster as a wedding gift when they got married. Her mother used this toaster for years and then so did she. But they are downsizing and selling off extra items. Dating this toaster puts it somewhere between 1949-1955 from what I could gather online. In my opinion this is a beautiful piece of equipment! I paid $50 for the unit, $15 for shipping and $25 for the clients time to do this for me.
Here is a video explaining in depth how this system works.
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Post by mach12 on Sept 18, 2020 17:44:30 GMT -5
Cool Find! We had one like that when I was growing up so a couple of years ago when I saw one in an antique store still in its original box I couldn't pass it up. I used it once to make sure it worked and then cleaned it up and put it back in the box. I keep waiting for the toaster we have right now to fail so I can use it, though that might have collectors putting a bounty on my head. Somewhere online I came across a pdf download of the service manual for it so if you haven't found it, let me know and I can email it to you.
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Post by voodoochikin04 on Sept 18, 2020 18:04:00 GMT -5
Oh nice!! It's crazy people still find these new in the box.
Haven't even looked for the manual but since you offered I'd gladly take it! You got my email. Much appreciated!
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Post by mach12 on Sept 18, 2020 18:21:07 GMT -5
Should be in your email.
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Post by voodoochikin04 on Sept 18, 2020 18:46:27 GMT -5
Thank you!!
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Post by Chuckie on Sept 18, 2020 18:58:33 GMT -5
In withcita, KS a lady had a vintage sunbeam toaster listed as such. I employed the help of a client to go pick it up, and ship it to me. You QUIT "poaching" in MY neck of the woods, MISTER!!! LOL, great find, enjoy it!! CHEERS! Chuckie
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Post by voodoochikin04 on Sept 18, 2020 20:19:53 GMT -5
CHUCKIE!! I cant help your area IS packed full of the good stuff lol!! sorry.
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Post by pooka on Sept 19, 2020 1:59:29 GMT -5
Those toasters are cool, & ingenious the was they work. I've seen them for years, but was never impressed with the looks myself. Not that it looks bad, but I'm more attracted to things of earlier eras. In fact I saw one just a week or two ago at a thrift shop. I don't recall the price for sure, but it was something like $20.
I'm full up on toasters. I've taken the pledge. If anything, I need to get shed of one or two. The 1939 Sunbeam T-9 is my favorite. the 1936 Toastmaster is second for the novelty of the clockwork timer. If I had my druthers, I'd like the 1934 model Toastmaster, because I like the Art Deco design better. I do like my newer Krupp, because it has bigger openings for bagels & such, plus it has a crumb tray & grate on top for warming pasties. The last, a 50s GE is a solid functioning toaster. It's just that I shouldn't have bought it in the first place. I rationalize I could always sell it for more than the $10 it cost me. Or I could give it to someone who would appreciate it.
I posted that video in a thread a while back where we were discussing toasters. The design is an amazing & quite clever. I think I can across some info on this one when I was researching toasters in the past. They made it for quite a while. There are several version. I think the last has a little drawer on the bottom that would function like a mini toaster oven.
You might enjoy looking at this thread from when I got my Toastmaster. I think it's one of my better posts. I think the pic that's missing was of my Sunbeam T-9. That's Photobucket deleting my pics.
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Post by voodoochikin04 on Sept 19, 2020 6:57:14 GMT -5
I do like the T-9's as well. I think they are beautiful too! I'll mull over that thread later this evening. We have to head out to my BIL's highschool prom charity golf event.
The one thing im not wholely impressed about with this toaster of mine, it struggles with anything thicker than "penny loaf bread" cheapest thinnest depression bread you can get. I like a little thicker bread slices. And I like bagels. Videos claim the wide slots on this toaster are great for bagels. IDK, my sara lee thick slice bread struggles going up and down, like its getting hung up. Then carriage has no struggles going and up down.
Now it does look like maybe some of the guide wires are a little wonky and not nice & straight. So maybe this is a case of a few being bent, affecting the rest.
As a side note, I'm picking up a nice look sunbeam radiant control griddle/waffle maker for $20.. also been eyeballing their same era vacuum coffee pot with matching cream & sugar dishes.... all having the same design as the toaster. I'm a little younger than most on here and maybe thats why im so attracted to the look of this toaster, haha. IDK? lol
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Post by pooka on Sept 19, 2020 13:15:34 GMT -5
I've got two of the creamers, & one sugar bowl minus the lid from that set. I had one of the vacuum coffee pots that I got many years ago, but I don't know if it's still over in my brother garage. You may be right on the age thing. I'll be sixty two next month. I've always been enamored by the 30s. The Art Deco styling of that era strikes a chord with me. Also, a lot of innovation happened during the run up to WWII. I like things from many a bygone times. One of my favorite pieces is an 1885 converted drysink. They converted the wash pan section to a drawer around 1900, & put one solid top on it. But it's huge, as in sixty six inches long. The finish is original, although it's got some termite damage to one end.
Somehow I've managed to collect a number of furniture pieces from the 50s & 60s. What would be called Mid Century Modern. Some because they were free, & others because I like the clean lines of particular item's. I'd be tough to put your finger on what we like & why. I say, find your our style, & go with it. Be it quirky or conventional, revel in it. I enjoy being different myself.
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Post by Chuckie on Sept 19, 2020 14:00:45 GMT -5
As a side note, I'm picking up a nice look sunbeam radiant control griddle/waffle maker for $20.. also been eyeballing their same era vacuum coffee pot with matching cream & sugar dishes.... all having the same design as the toaster. I'm a little younger than most on here and maybe thats why im so attracted to the look of this toaster, haha. IDK? lol
Coming BACK to Kansas to poach some MORE?!! JEEZE!!! CHEERS! Chuckie
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Post by voodoochikin04 on Sept 19, 2020 16:08:35 GMT -5
Haha not this time. This ones in omaha lol, I'll have to try an beat you there.
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Post by cinnabar on Sept 19, 2020 18:18:43 GMT -5
I have a vaccuum T50 sunbeam, could part with it.
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Post by voodoochikin04 on Sept 19, 2020 19:34:19 GMT -5
Oh dang!! I just paid for a vacuum c30 coffee maker a few hours ago. :/
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Post by pooka on Feb 2, 2022 7:54:40 GMT -5
Well I guess this unending COVID-19 saga has weakened my resolve. I saw one of these Radiant Control Toasters today, & took it home. It was the unbelievable price of $6.29 plus 7% tax. My diehard logic told me I can always sell it & make my money back.
This makes two 1930s models. One late 40s one. My modern Krupp I bought new some years ago, & now this T-20C. I looked it up, & apparently it was made in 1957 or 58. These Radiant Control Toasters as a number of different forms were made from about 1949 up till 1997 or 2001. I see different years posted about them on the web. The earlier ones had a chassis plated with cadmium. The later ones were galvanized & the last ones had a polarized plug. I think the plug on mine has been replaced. It's not polarized, & it's one of those 90 degree types so the cord will hug the wall. It says Leviton on it which is a big name electrical parts Manufacturer. I was shocked to see on eBay some priced as high as a few hundred dollar. The cheapest was like $90. The upside on this, is the slots are a bit wider than all the other older ones, so it'll take thicker bread slices. Still not as wide as my newer Krupp, but I don't toast bagels, or warm pastries on top which it can do. It was a returned one I got at a discount at Sears for something less than $100, but I can't remember. I read the Radiant Control Toaster cost the equivalent of like $270 in 1949, so a big investment at the time. I've been real good about not blowing money on stuff like this for quite a while, but the less than $10 price appealed too much to my bargain hunting nature. I know I could sell it tomorrow & make a big profit, not that I will. It's my new toy to play with for now.
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Post by nana on Feb 2, 2022 20:23:04 GMT -5
Feel no guilt, Pooka. I spent $45 on etsy for a blue vintage metal breadbox made in, of all places, the Soviet Union. It has CCCP stamped into the bottom, the cyrillic letters for USSR. In my defense, I had been searching all summer and fall for one at yard sales and thrift shops, and had even checked out what Amazon had, with nothing catching my eye. I had a wooden breadbox, but a forgotten heel of bread that was consumed by mold seemed to have inoculated it with spores that even wiping it out with bleach failed to kill. Every bit of bread I put in there molded within two days, no matter how well wrapped, and I wanted to replace it with a metal one so it could be properly cleaned if need be. I saw this one and I just had to buy it. It’s not quite the same color as Marilyn, but very complementary. So less than $10 is showing great restraint, I think!
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Post by pooka on Feb 3, 2022 0:41:23 GMT -5
At least you were filling a need. A mold inoculated bread box impacts your life every day. That old wooden one can probably never be remediated. I'd suggest burying it. The new vintage one is cool, & being from the old Soviet Union makes it a bit exotic. It being a close match to Marilyn is a bonus. The copper trim is a nice accent. The curved shape has just the right 50s vibe too.
My purchase was purely emotional, even though I deluded myself that it was a good financial investment & purely rational. It's the current blossom my butterfly nature has landed on for the moment. I've seen these now & then for many years, but didn't know how they worked, so I'd pass them by. Later, once I got clued in about their innovative design, I already had my vintage Sunbeam T-9, & wasn't keen on starting a toaster collection. This ones $6.29 price pushed me over the edge. I tried to walk away, but it was of no use.
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Post by nana on Feb 3, 2022 6:33:05 GMT -5
I figured it would be bad karma to do anything but burn the old breadbox in our firepit. It was nothing special, just a K-Mart purchase years ago. I couldn’t in good conscience donate it anywhere!
Sometimes you just can’t walk away. That’s how I ended up with that big old Reed roaster. Still no takers, but I don’t want to abandon it just yet!
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Post by robere210 on Feb 14, 2022 18:16:30 GMT -5
I've got this model. Bought it decades ago for real cheap. It makes good toast.
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Post by pooka on Feb 15, 2022 10:04:36 GMT -5
Yeah, that's the Sunbeam T-9. The iconic model by the famous designer Raymond Loewy. It's in the Smithsonian & the Henry Ford Museum for it's styling. It came out in about 1939. The graphics on it supposedly mimic the Trylon and Perisphere. The symbol of the 1939 Worlds Fair. Sunbeam had a couple of models right before this that where similar, but were more boxy in shape. These were the early years of the pop up toasters. Some of the models right before the T-9 did not pop up on their own. The T-9 has a switch that stops it from popping up when it's done if you like. The T-20 continued to feature the same Trylon and Perisphere graphics until near the end. The last version did not have it. robere210, your T-9 look a bit better than mine. I got mine at a junk shop for $8 years ago. They do make great toast. They came out with a newer version of this one in September 13, 2007 called the Sunbeam 3916 Heritage Series. Of course it was just modern more cheaply made toaster with a vintage styled skin, albeit in stainless steel & with wider slots. It sold for about $40 at the time. As I said above, the T-20 cost the equivalent of about $270 when it first came out in 1949. I found an old hang tag instruction booklet for a T-9 that said $17.90 on the back. If that's a 1939 price, that's the equivalent to $362.05 according to an online calculator. Those are big numbers for their eras. Today most make due with discount store toasters for a whole lot less. If money was no object in buying a toaster, I'd get the original Dualit Classic toaster. They make a 2, 3, 4 & 6 slotted versions of a design they've been making for years. It's built like a tank & is meant to be repairable if need be, but they're expensive. They run in the neighborhood of $300. Even a used one on eBay run close to $100 with shipping. That's a bit rich for many of us. Sadly, a toaster has become just one of those utilitarian things every kitchen has. Eventually they all became just a rectangular box with no style at all The last couple of models of the Sunbeam Radiant Control Toasters were just that, chrome boxes. One was a normal two slice side by side type. The other had just one long slot for a long a sleek look. In the last twenty years, toaster styling has improved, but they just don't make them as robustly as the old ones. They've become just another consumable. You're supposed to buy a new one every few years instead of buying for life. You have to be an odd bird like myself to enjoy things like our vintage toasters. My favorite one is a mid 1930s Toastmaster. They invented the pop up toaster in the late 1920s. Mine is like their third model from about 1934 that features a clockwork timer that ticks down. I'd rather have their second version that had more classic Art Deco style, but I found mine cheap, & I couldn't walk away from it. I guess the clockwork mechanism was a pricey part, so it got replaced by a cheaper bi-metal thermostat on later models, & became the standard way to time toast making. It's cool to listen to the timer tick down til it's done. For decades a ticking toaster is how they were depicted in old cartoons.
It's strange that I'm constantly looking back in time to find better way of doing every day things. In our head long rush into tomorrow, we seem to lose so much of value. It's all about quicker & cheaper today rather than better. We've become consumer addicts mainlining the new & improved we've been conditioned to crave. In many ways I think I live better with all my every day antique stuff. I don't relish turning the clock back to the good old days of any previous eras, because there's lots of ugly & unthinkable things I don't want to revisit. But in so many ways we're weaker & less resilient than we use to be. Call it the dumbing down of America. I guess I'm just an old fuddy duddy til the end.
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Post by mach12 on Feb 15, 2022 10:32:11 GMT -5
Man Robere210, that's a sweet looking toaster. I wouldn't be able to pass it up if I came across one for sale. I have several vintage toasters taking up space in our appliance cabinet out in the garage but they probably need to find new homes. We bought a new four-slice toaster 4 or 5 years ago when we were taking care of our great-granddaughter every day while our granddaughter finished college. For the longest time she would only eat waffles for breakfast so we'd make up a big batch of them every Monday morning with her "help" and freeze a bunch for the rest of the week, so needed a four-slice toaster. I've seen vintage four-slice toasters but very rarely, and they're never around when you need to buy one, so we ended up with a red Kitchenaid (color matched with our BZ, Pepper) and the Sunbeam got cleaned up and parked in the garage. We've started downsizing, so will probably hand it off to one of the kids or something.
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Post by wizard0ftrance on Feb 21, 2022 2:46:21 GMT -5
Those toasters are cool, & ingenious the was they work. I've seen them for years, but was never impressed with the looks myself. Not that it looks bad, but I'm more attracted to things of earlier eras. In fact I saw one just a week or two ago at a thrift shop. I don't recall the price for sure, but it was something like $20.
I'm full up on toasters. I've taken the pledge. If anything, I need to get shed of one or two. The 1939 Sunbeam T-9 is my favorite. the 1936 Toastmaster is second for the novelty of the clockwork timer. If I had my druthers, I'd like the 1934 model Toastmaster, because I like the Art Deco design better. I do like my newer Krupp, because it has bigger openings for bagels & such, plus it has a crumb tray & grate on top for warming pasties. The last, a 50s GE is a solid functioning toaster. It's just that I shouldn't have bought it in the first place. I rationalize I could always sell it for more than the $10 it cost me. Or I could give it to someone who would appreciate it.
I posted that video in a thread a while back where we were discussing toasters. The design is an amazing & quite clever. I think I can across some info on this one when I was researching toasters in the past. They made it for quite a while. There are several version. I think the last has a little drawer on the bottom that would function like a mini toaster oven.
You might enjoy looking at this thread from when I got my Toastmaster. I think it's one of my better posts. I think the pic that's missing was of my Sunbeam T-9. That's Photobucket deleting my pics.
I have been looking for an affordable toastmaster for a while now. If you find any more of them... do me a favor and let me know! Thanks!
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Post by pooka on Feb 21, 2022 13:05:16 GMT -5
Is there any particular vintage Toastmaster model you were looking for wizard0ftrance, or are you just seeking any nice vintage toaster?
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Post by wizard0ftrance on Jun 28, 2022 1:03:32 GMT -5
Is there any particular vintage Toastmaster model you were looking for wizard0ftrance, or are you just seeking any nice vintage toaster? Sorry I missed this until now... I would love to find a Sunbeam Radiant Toaster... any year model but I don't have a lot to spend for it
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Post by pooka on Jun 30, 2022 13:50:23 GMT -5
wizard0ftrance as I mentioned above, I did find a Sunbeam Radiant Toaster for pretty cheap. I'd need to test it out a bit more before I pass it on. I've only used it a few times up till now. I think I'd be willing to part with it, because I've got too many old ones to appreciate. I could put it on eBay, & hope for a big return, but I not really in it for the profit.
Let me get it out & use it a but to test it, then I'll make a deal with you for whatever you're comfortable with plus postage. Maybe this'll give me the nudge to get shed of more of my stuff. I've spent my life collecting interesting & useful stuff, but now it's time I start dispersing it. If I don't start, my heirs will mountain of things to clear out after I'm gone. Maybe I can throw in a nice coffee mug with the deal too. I think I've got more of them than anything else.
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Post by wizard0ftrance on Jul 5, 2022 13:27:17 GMT -5
wizard0ftrance as I mentioned above, I did find a Sunbeam Radiant Toaster for pretty cheap. I'd need to test it out a bit more before I pass it on. I've only used it a few times up till now. I think I'd be willing to part with it, because I've got too many old ones to appreciate. I could put it on eBay, & hope for a big return, but I not really in it for the profit.
Let me get it out & use it a but to test it, then I'll make a deal with you for whatever you're comfortable with plus postage. Maybe this'll give me the nudge to get shed of more of my stuff. I've spent my life collecting interesting & useful stuff, but now it's time I start dispersing it. If I don't start, my heirs will mountain of things to clear out after I'm gone. Maybe I can throw in a nice coffee mug with the deal too. I think I've got more of them than anything else. That would be great! Let me know when you are done testing.
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Post by pooka on Jul 6, 2022 18:00:35 GMT -5
wizard0ftrance, if you Personal Message me your address. When I ready to send it, I'll go ahead & ship it off. When you get it, you can send whatever payment you feel comfortable with. I'm not looking at getting rich at this.
A lot of the things I buy, I do so just because I find them interesting, & want to learn about them. Once I had my fun with it, I move on to other things, & I should pass them on. Only a few things go on to get regular use. The problem is I've collected far too much stuff. Far more than is manageable anymore. My house is too small to have too many static collections that just sit there because their appearance pleases me. I'm glad to let you have this toaster if makes you happy. Honestly, your helping me get rid of something I like, but just don't need.
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Post by wizard0ftrance on Jul 7, 2022 2:23:29 GMT -5
wizard0ftrance, if you Personal Message me your address. When I ready to send it, I'll go ahead & ship it off. When you get it, you can send whatever payment you feel comfortable with. I'm not looking at getting rich at this.
A lot of the things I buy, I do so just because I find them interesting, & want to learn about them. Once I had my fun with it, I move on to other things, & I should pass them on. Only a few things go on to get regular use. The problem is I've collected far too much stuff. Far more than is manageable anymore. My house is too small to have too many static collections that just sit there because their appearance pleases me. I'm glad to let you have this toaster if makes you happy. Honestly, your helping me get rid of something I like, but just don't need. And if you will include your info in response to my Personal Message I will know where to send the money
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Post by wizard0ftrance on Oct 1, 2022 23:38:01 GMT -5
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