August 16 2010
Hey! I Got A New Old Toaster!
So over the weekend I was walking around town with a friend of mine and we stopped to check out a stoop sale. Lots of weird vintage-y stuff was on the curb. Tea pots with wind-up musicboxes built in. Strange old booklets and pamphlets. Creepy crate of old wonk eye dolls. Sunday hats. Vinyl records. Fur things. Old film cans (no there was no new Zapruder film). Old radios. Old magazines. All coolio– (although I was a little creeped out because it seemed like all the stuff belonged to one old lady– so was a ghosty mist hovering around it all.)
Anyway, there was a small toaster that looked coolio. And one thing I’ve been thinking for a while is I should get a smaller toaster. I don’t have alot of counter space and I have a hunking big toaster that’s a pain to take out and put away every time I want to make toast etc. This was the perfect size.
I asked the woman if it worked and she said it did. Said it was from the 1930’s. She was asking $40 but I bargained her down to $30 and I bought it. Check it out…
Cool looking, right?
>>>>>>>>>>>
Right! I think it’s cool!
I took it home and plugged it in and it totally worked! The thing heats up literally in like 2 seconds. Faster than anything I’ve ever seen heat up ever. Within five seconds the temperature in the room was going up fast. I seriously think it could function as a space heater.
The problem is my Mom burned into my brain that any household appliance can (and will) friggin burn the house down if left plugged in. (I can understand the paranoia. If I grew up around stuff like this I’d be fire paranoid too. Especially if the fire department was all keystoney and stuff.)
But then again, if this thing was really that much of a fire hazard– it hasn’t caused one in 80 years, right? I mean if it had caught fire– I assume it would have been charred up or at least thrown away. So that’s a pretty good safety track record.
Underneath it says it’s an Electrahot brand toaster from Mansfield Ohio. I guess somewhere in Mansfield back in the day they used to make toasters that could last for 80 friggin years. I youtubed up Mansfield to see what it looked like today and here’s what came up (turn down the volume):
Bummed me out to see.
Anyway, I haven’t made toast in this thing yet because I don’t have any bread here but I’ll let you know how it goes. I think it’ll make toast inside of a minute! Maybe 45 seconds! Take that space-age microwave!
Umm… I just won’t leave the room. And I’ll unplug it when it’s done. And yes, I do have a fire extinguisher.
ok bye!
tOdd
PS. Here’s a vintage toaster blog with other Electrahots…
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Totally awesome retro toaster, dude. But watch that old-style frayed cloth cord before YOU get toasted!
Ohio is toast
Ohio isn’t really run down, don’t let the pictures get you down. I’ve lived here since I was 3 and sure, there’s a lot of empty and abandon buildings but it’s not bad. Really. It would be great to see them do something with them but most of Ohio isn’t too bad. Even with the run down buildings. It’s actually a really proud kind of state (Buckeyes are some of the coolest sports fans EVER!!!). So…yeah, don’t let it get you down!
P.S.
wwww.philophobia420.wordpress.com
^ my blog
It’s kinda new and I’m not completely sure what I’m doing with it…and right now, honestly all that is on it is a bunch of random gibberish but I plan on putting up some great shat as soon as I get my camera back and save up some money to start gettin’ my adventure on. Give it a peep…and I’m totally open to suggestions.
Hi tOdd,
That IS a cool looking toaster. It looks like, if I can figure it out right, that it only toasts one side of the bread. Also, it doesn’t really look new. The cord looks like it has seen better days. But the body is mint, I’d agree.
Anyway, it is really “coolio” that you are willing to buy stuff like this and actually use it. Stuff from the early part of last century was built so much better than stuff today, that comes from China and is sold in Walmart that is evil.
Love, Z
My grandmother has a waffle iron that is like, 60 years old, same type cord and all. Best waffles ever! Now we just get crap made in China that lasts 2 years.
Totally true that it’s not ‘new’. I changed the title..
It’s new to him.
Todd. Why you not purchise china made toster !? You buy emericun made stuffs and my kids will be hungrys !
Check out “The Toast Song” by Heywood Banks. It’s funny !
ENJOY YOUR FIRE!
Mr. Deng?
I seriously doubt it.
Being from OH, Mansfield has always felt creepy to me. Perhaps it’s the max security prison or the crazy Halloween spots, but it just felt…different than the rest of OH. Like there was bad energy there or something. If I was OT, I’d keep an eye on the toaster, besides the fact it’s super old. Sounds crazy, but I’m a believer of bad energy stuff.
You have my toaster!!! I will get you… and your little dog too!
you need to replace the power cord on that thing before shocky shocky time, or worse, a short that your mom warned would definitely cause a fire.
if you’re too clutzy to do it yourself, an indepedent appliance shop could do it for like $20
you need to replace the power cord on that thing before shocky shocky time, or worse, a short that your mom warned would definitely cause a fire.
if you’re too clutzy to do it yourself, an independent appliance shop could do it for like $20
T. Please replace that cord ASAP!
s.s.
FIRRSSTT BITCHESSS!!!! IN YOUR FASES HATERS!!!!! ROFL!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
I like turtles
You can buy a new toaster at Walmart for less than 15 bucks.
I have never seen an old toaster before. I wouldn’t have even been able to guess that was a toaster. Did you recognize it on sight or did the old lady tell you what everything was?
King James wants some ol fashioned Ohio toast. Git back in the kitchen!
My sister and her husband were given that exact same style of toaster for their wedding and it totally rocks. Definitely a case of where old school is best. Good find, dude.
MANSon….. MANSfield….. get it?
cool toaster, get a new cord on it.
Mansfield is about an hour from my place. That video was going out of their way to be depressing, you can find run down spots in any town. Mansfield is a nice looking little town. However…their main claim to fame is that Shawshank Redemption was filmed there at the old reformatory.
You could have a cool loft in that building!
So how does it toast? Tried a bagel yet?
Toasted on one side only is gooooood. I bought a bagel-size toaster just so that I could do that. The toast is crispy on one side, and steamy soft on the other. In a bagel toaster you do this by toasting two slices of bread at once, but in your new/old toaster you can just do it. Do it, tOdd, do it.
Fix the cord. I am a handyman by trade, and it is my professional opinion that that cord is a doorway of electric death out of your world. We would all be very sad because you are funny and kinda-hot. Don’t die.
That totally looks like one of those applicances that you see in movies that are possessed and end up burning down apartment blocks. When the fire fighters arrive the toaster is found in the middle ofthe charred remains but looks sparkling new and innocent. Becareful Todd.
I was going to say pretty much the same thing Jillinois, at least the part about Shawshank. Don’t think they had to go too far out of their way to make the video rust-belty, though! We don’t make stuff here in OH like they did back in the day, and stuff…and our population has been decreasing for years.
Aren’t toasters like $10?
Totally replace that cord.