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I bought a Hula lamp today

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I was at the auto swap meet in Louisville today. Amongst the rusty hubcaps and greasy parts was a guy with lots of breweriana. And amongst the breweriana was this hula lamp. He said everything he was selling had been in his late fathers basement for many years.
Anyway...the lamp.
Doing a search here and on google shows many different styles and materials.
It is in working condition, there is only one switch with 4 positions for controlling the hips and light. The right hip has lost the little copper cam that attaches to the skirt, but I’m in the HVAC field, so I can easily fabricate a repair. The shade has some water staining and some creasing.
Can anyone here tell me about it? it’s age, manufacturer, is the shade correct, etc.
Thanks




I can't tell you anything about it other than that's a great find! Would love to come across one of these beauties in the wild!

An update with the lamp I purchased last week.
After searching numerous internet links, I know nothing more about the manufacturer than i did before.
I did find this link detailing a repair to the hip cam that helped me make my repair
Also the shade on his lamp is identical to mine.
https://jpmoeller.com/2017/01/01/dodge-hula-girl-lamp-repair/

I used a small piece of copper and luckily found a new snap dot in my wife’s sewing box
In the photo the snap on the left is an original hip cam the one on the right is my fabrication.
For those that don’t know the lamp body separates at the hips and has gears and bearings turned by the motor in the base...I seperated the lamp body, lubed the gears and bearings with a white lithium grease and reassembled with my new hip cam. She now swings both hips, is very quiet is ready for another 60 years of exotica.
The cord was in poor condition and had already been replaced sometime in the 60s, I guessing by the style of cord, the electrical connections and cloth covered electrical tape. I ordered a vintage looking replacement cord.
Can anyone tell me anything about any manufacturers other than Dodge? Or did Dodge make different styles? I’ve sent a pm to 61Surf, he seems to have a lot of knowledge but he hasn’t posted here for many months, so now I wait.

I finished the repairs today, the new retro looking cord was installed and I replaced the missing bottom cover with a piece of felt covered cardboard.
I took a few photos of the completed project and made a short video for YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFONzoGchW4PSoCYUAHmGGg
Now she can take her rightful place of honor in my bar.
Again if anyone has any information about this style lamp or needs help repairing their lamp feel free to contact me.


H
Hamo posted on Sat, Nov 3, 2018 4:55 PM

Great lamp; great refurb. Thanks for the video.

Welcome back to TC after some time away. Maybe you can post some updates to your bar thread, please?

On 2018-11-03 16:55, Hamo wrote:
Great lamp; great refurb. Thanks for the video.

Welcome back to TC after some time away. Maybe you can post some updates to your bar thread, please?

You’re right, I have been away for awhile... I’ve had a job change, the death of a dear friend, and just spending more time with other hobbies...I’ll make it a point to get to the basement and take some new photos
In the mean time here’s a couple from a few weeks ago

B

Great score on that lamp, she's a beauty! That one I believe is a little more rare than some of the others is what I"ve read too.

I just scored one the other day myself when a friend got two of them. One was wasn't working so good (mine) and needs help but got the motor to turn so I'm going to clean it all up inside, grease it and pray she dances.. :wink:
My skirt it came with is not on her but her hips still have the clips and there fine. The skirt is missing I believe the leather band inside and need to make a new one but can't figure out how it would attach to the little brass clips or whats looks like a "U" sorta in a way.. If you have any pics of that band and how it attache's to those hip clips I'd love to see it.
Aloha

I have learned from my limited findings, there was at least two different methods to attach the skirt at the hips.
Mine has small “snap dots” on the hips and the mating clips on the skirt. There was also different methods of coupling the upper and lower bodies, mine uses heavy steel staples. Whereas others use screws. Here’s photos of mine and I am attaching links to 2 repairs of the other style. From what I can see both styles used the same motor, perpendicular shafts and gear assemblies

https://jpmoeller.com/2017/01/01/dodge-hula-girl-lamp-repair/

https://jpmoeller.com/2017/06/28/a-second-hula-girl-lamp/




On 2018-11-06 05:18, USAF Retired wrote:
I have learned from my limited findings, there was at least two different methods to attach the skirt at the hips.
Mine has small “snap dots” on the hips and the mating clips on the skirt. There was also different methods of coupling the upper and lower bodies, mine uses heavy steel staples. Whereas others use screws. Here’s photos of mine and I am attaching links to 2 repairs of the other style. From what I can see both styles used the same motor, perpendicular shafts and gear assemblies

https://jpmoeller.com/2017/01/01/dodge-hula-girl-lamp-repair/

https://jpmoeller.com/2017/06/28/a-second-hula-girl-lamp/

Mahalo's for that info USAF.. My lamp unfortunately doesn't use the snaps, that looks way easier than how mine is.. In that second link that you posted on JP's blog the picture 2nd to last is exactly what mine looks like from behind without a skirt on.. Problem is nowhere can I find a good detailed photo of how the skirt is attached to those little prongs that I have on mine like in his picture.. :( I sent him a msg yesterday morning so I'm hoping he'll maybe get back to me and show me the way it's attached..

BTW, Great looking bar!!

Aloha

Nice that they made her anatomically correct under the skirt :lol: Great restoration. In case you need a retro cord for another project, Lowe's has cloth covered ones that might be suitable.

On 2018-11-06 12:46, MadDogMike wrote:
Nice that they made her anatomically correct under the skirt :lol:

Brazilian hula dancers! :lol:

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