(Almost New) In Box Hoover Freedom S4174 from 1982 - First Look and First Use! 

Some friends of my parents bought one of these exact cleaners when they moved house in 1982. The house is enormous, on three floors, and I can only think this cleaner was purchased to supplement their two Hoover 1346 juniors (one white & jade green, the other white & navy blue) rather than replace them. Either way, as a small child, if we did any cleaning at their house we only ever used the Hoover Freedom (I was given to understand the juniors weren't up to much, but I don't know why I think that). Later in the 80s, a Hoover Turbopower U2332 was purchased to supplement the Freedom, and the juniors were disposed of. What I remember most about the Freedom they had was a portrait-style sticker attached to the top front of the cleaner, stuck to it landscape-style, with a picture of a bulldog & the words "This one's made in Britain". The hose on their cleaner was the exact same as this, but I have seen the same model cleaner with a brown suction control ring in the plastic hose handle - would that have been an earlier or later version? Their Freedom was eventually given away, but it didn't get a lot of use in the end as the suction had dropped off, and added to which, the machine end of the hose had worn down through all the twisting and pulling it took during use (made worse because there is no swivel at either end of the hose), meaning the hose would no longer stay attached to the cleaner. This is where Electrolux had nailed it, as their swivelling hoses complete with soft gaskets on the machine end fitting removed all the strain on hose ends.

A nice vacuum cleaner. I also have four models from this Freedom series (2 times S 4076, S 4042 and S 4070), but the older version with the metal plate in the lid and an additional cloth bag that prevented the paper bag from exploding. Here in Germany there is a dust paper bag fabric which you have got paper bags in four lay, so the non genuine bags here in Germany were much better than the original Hoover paper bags. I think, that Hoover used the paper from the junior/senior bags which have only one lay. In fact, they could be of a slightly better quality (stability), but I think they're actually pretty clever in terms of construction. I also repaired a model on the cable rewind myself and when putting on the lower part of the housing you actually have to push both internal plates into the guide. For me it worked straight away, because I made sure that it was a perfect fit when I put it on. Regarding the model in the operating instructions: the S 4176 is the basic model with a cable rewind, but without electronic suction power regulation. I think the optical design of this Freedom series is beautiful, Hoover could have built it a little more robust, but the quality is still better than today's Chinese rubbish.

What a beauty 😍 it looks great with the cream tools , I’m selling one at the mo but the handle is damaged and has the metal tools , otherwise I would keep it , they were much better when they had the cloth bag fitted to protect them , you can fit a lux 65 cloth bag to these and slide the paper bag inside it , it fits just right into the front end 😎 and protects it no end

Many an evening has ended in tears trying to re-build a Freedom. Whoever designed them obviously did not spare a thought for anyone who had to repair them, which, as you say, was a very regular occurrence, given they were prone to... death. Not one of Hoover’s finest moments I’m sure you’ll agree!!

What a Great Find my mom had one of these i used to use to impersonate the shake and vac advert back in the day 😂😂

I remember being told that back in the day Hoover were geniuses at the uprights and Electrolux were the cylinder experts and never the opposite lol.

Now we're talking. I remember a later Freedom in the box with the book etc going for like over a grand on ebay back in the day. It was insane.

Would like to see a strip down and service of this Freedom, if you feel up to the challenge.

Wondering why you are showing almost all the hoovers I owned in my life... Oh right we are both hoover nerds that's why LOL 😂

Do you have any Vactrics? I'd love to see a video on one!

have you heard of the hoover windtunnel bagless by any chance? it has twin chambers. they are super common in the us but not here in the uk. i live in the uk and have one branded maytag. so its called the maytag windtunnel bagless