Friday, November 13, 2009 8:56 PM CST
Tuscola boy collects and repairs vacuum cleaners
By DAWN SCHABBING, Features Writer
dschabbing@jg-tc.com
Gregory Evans appreciates another man’s junk. Often times, a vacuum cleaner in the dumpster turns out to be a treasure in his eyes.
The Tuscola East Prairie Middle School fifth-grader has collected and worked on vacuums since before he can actually recall — about age 3.
Today, his collection includes more than 60 models with brand names such as Bissell, Black & Decker, Dyson, Eureka, Hoover, Oreck, Rainbow and Regina.
Gregory, 11, is the son of Kirk and Pam Evans of Tuscola.
He has models that reach as far back into the 1830s, a Superior, and an 1890 model, a Victor — and some so new, the product hadn’t even been on store shelves when he acquired it.
Gregory described in detail some of his various models. He said the Victor looks more like a toilet plunger, and has to be pumped to create the suction power. The Superior is an early model that featured a beater bar, bellows and a brush, to help with the carpet cleaning process.
His interest in vacuums all began as a preschooler.
“My grandpa Harold (Evans) goes around on trash day and looks for treasures. He started taking me on days I had preschool and together we’d look for vacuums,” Gregory said.
“I still go around on my bike looking for vacuums people have put out on the curb for trash,” he said.
Two recent treasures he found was a Hoover Elite II and a Black & Decker hand-vac.
One of the earliest finds he recalls was a Bissell Cleanview, when he was 5 years old. Gregory discovered the Cleanview had been clogged with plaster, but he was able to restore it to working condition.
Another treasure came as a gift on his sixth birthday — a used Hoover Constellation.
He said early on he started taking the machines apart and putting them back together — just curious to see how things worked.
Not even a teenager yet, but with several years of experience tinkering with vacuum cleaners, Gregory has some customers.
“People come asking for repairs. I’m out here about every day,” he said about his playhouse-turned-workshop in the family’s backyard.
His mother said he has the innate ability to look at something and figure out the problem and find a solution. He gets his mechanical skills from his dad, Kirk Evans, and both of his grandfathers, Harold Evans of Tuscola and Doug White of Villa Grove.
“I remember he took apart my good Hoover when he was about 4, and just recently he put it all back together,” Mrs Evans said.
Gregory has also sold some of his vacuums after making repairs or adjustments. Sometimes parts must be purchased in order to get the machine working again.
He said common problems with the equipment are that the vacuum is clogged up or it has broken belts.
The young repairman and collector has big dreams to earn a college degree in engineering.
“I want to be an engineer and inventor. I want to work for Dyson Company,” he said.
Gregory has a gift for remembering details and features about many models of vacuum cleaners and he can recognize one model from another simply by listening to its sound.
He said one model popular for its features is the Hoover Constellation, described as a canister model vacuum that “floats on air” and has “onboard attachments.” It also features a lightweight body, power head and 20-foot-long stretch hose, he said.
His list of favorite models included the Dyson Blueprint, Hoover Elite II and a 1970s model, the Regina Electrikbroom, with an air-pulse nozzle.
While Gregory has other hobbies, including Cub Scouts, 4-H, and collecting Coca-Cola items and toy Volkswagens, his interest in vacuums is high on the list.
“People will buy vacuums for me at auctions. Once I had my eye on an Oreck and said I would pay $10, but it went to $12.50, so I didn’t get it. But, then some others were left behind, and I got to keep those,” Gregory said.
Recently, the boy’s collection and interest in vacuum cleaners caught national attention after a local television news piece aired. He was invited and appeared on the “Jimmy Kimmel Live Show,” filmed in Hollywood, Calif.
His mother, Pam, and brother, John, 14, accompanied him on this two-day trip.
It was at this show that the Dyson Company provided Gregory with a new Dyson Blueprint, autographed by James Dyson, inventor. The product had not yet been on store shelves.
Pam Evans said her son has personal letters from James Dyson and David Oreck, founder of the Oreck Corp. He also has given Gregory a new Oreck for his collection.
Gregory is serious about learning all he can about vacuums. He once attended a Vacuum Cleaner Collectors Club Convention in Chicago, and was the youngest collector present — at age 5.
A family vacation in 2003 included a stop at the Hoover Museum in Canton, Ohio. The hands-on museum was perfect for Gregory.
“I got to run one of the very first Hoovers, which plugged into a light socket,” he said.
Contact Dawn Schabbing at dschabbing@jg-tc.com or 238-6864.
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Mama says wrote on Nov 15, 2009 5:07 PM:
I believe you will achieve big success and be a millionaire in time. You have good people behind you helping you to achieve and collect. We took a bigscreen from junk to go pile, and looked it over. It needed a new cord.
We laughed over that one. Rich persons cleaning person ran over cord with vacumn til frayed the wires. GOOD FOR US. It was 46 inch screen, nice tall cabinet, and the speakers were great.
Since can't dumpster dive or be arrested, we gave up that hobby.
We would find behind shoe stores box after box of shoes, take to SA as new and nice shoes. Unbroken cookie jar, jewelry from the jewelry store still in the plastic, clothes with tags on them, and lots of good things someone else could use. We loved going just see what we would find. It is a healthy hobby. Too bad we can't do it now more.
But keep tinkering son. You are a fine young man. I am proud of you. "