When I was growing up, I was jealous of the toasters other people had. Because when the toast was done, they went SPROING and flew the toast up practically into the air. Or actually into the air, if you were on TV.
(It’s such a popular gag that you can find at least three other scenes from I Love Lucy using it.)
Our toaster, however, didn’t do that fun thing. It went “Click,” and the toast slowly, slowly rose. How boring.
Over the years, I came to value our family toaster for its clean, classy look (and, at the same time, stopped actually wanting to use my toaster as a projectile weapon). And at some point in my life, after I was on my own, I bought one.
Which wasn’t easy, because it was, y’know, vintage in some fashion. They didn’t make them any more. So I ended up buying one on (if I recall correctly) eBay. And, when it arrived, mirabile dictu, it actually worked.
And Margie got used to my peculiar toaster, and it looked pretty on the counter, and that was the end of the story.
Except … it wasn’t. Because it’s not just any toaster, it turns out. It’s a Sunbeam Radiant Control Toaster, first invented in 1949, and according to this article, it’s the Bestest Toaster Ever.
Or, heck, watch this video, that talks about not just how it’s the Bestest Toaster Ever, but how all the really cool stuff works:
Or read this honest-to-God fan site for the toaster, lovingly crafted in Microsoft FrontPage.
Or, heck, learn how one of these beauties was the first commercial kitchen appliance connected to the Internet.
Okay, I’m convinced. It’s the Bestest Toaster Ever.
As for my particular model, it’s a T-20C, manufactured between 1957-58. It has the art deco etching on the front, which only the original T-20 models did.
I believe my parents had a T-35, which had the yellow Sunbeam logo on the front, and the darkness dial on the side, but no etching. It was made 1958-1967, which would line up neatly with being a wedding present.
Sunbeam stopped making these beauties in the late 1980s, as they were simply more complex and expensive to manufacture than those ones that were so popular on TV.
All of this was a lot of time to write about a toaster, even if it’s the Bestest Toaster Ever (or even “Automatic Beyond Belief!”). But it is pretty spiffy, and evocative of my childhood (and adulthood), so … perfect for today.
Do you want to know more?
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- Why a toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today – The Verge
- Automatic Beyond Belief – Home Page
- The Antique Toaster that’s Better than Yours – YouTube
- Sunbeam Radiant Control Toaster–Repair and Modernization – YouTube
- Models & Years – Tim’s Toasters LLC
- Why Is Nobody Making the Best Toaster Ever Made? – Riverside Green