My family had a Kirby Tradition when I was growing up in the 90s. My mother found it at a thrift store and it needed a little repair so thanks to living in Cleveland, she took it to the Kirby factory to be rebuilt. I inherited that vacuum after my mother passed in 2005 and retrofitted it with a Heritage II mini-emptor to use HEPA bags. I also replaced the impeller along the way after many years of abuse. Ultimately sold it on eBay in 2001 after I acquired a Kirby G4.

Great video and beautiful machine!

I had that one, the later version had the first plastic fan.😊

Good job, Karl! I have a '79 Tradition myself; mine also has the lock on the outside of the headlight cap, but the speed switch inside the cap had long ago been replaced by the older bottom-mount speed switch on the fan case. The metal fan in yours sounds like it has a broken fin and must be replaced soon.