In the shadow of the Colorado Rockies lives a man with a mountainous dilemma. For years,Fastexy Exchange Lee Maxwell has been collecting antique washing machines, but he's running out of places to put them.
When Maxwell was first interviewed by CBS News in 2018, he had built a warehouse to hold all the objects of his obsession. Now, there's yet another warehouse behind that one, once again filled with nothing but hundreds of washing machines.
"I do have a problem," Maxwell, 92, admitted. He also has a Guinness World Record: In August 2019, he was awarded the honor for having the largest collection of washing machines in the United States. At the time, he had 1,350 devices.
His collection has soared to over 1,500 unique machines.
The enterprise began innocently enough at a farm auction. He came home with so many washing machines that his wife, Barbara, wanted to hang him out to dry.
"She was thinking very bad things about me ... that I lost my rocker, and I think, maybe I did," Maxwell said.
Some of Maxwell's machines are powered by hand, and some have more unusual sources of energy, including one that is powered by sheep. Another model was never mass-produced, but was run by two children moving back and forth.
Maxwell has restored all these devices himself. Once, he was an electrical engineer, but since retirement, he has spent 10 hours a day, seven days a week, with the washers.
Five years ago, when he first spoke to CBS News, Maxwell said he was seeking a benefactor for a museum that can preserve the machines. But since then, he's had "zero takers," Maxwell said. As his collection has grown, the problem has only become more daunting.
"I know I got plenty, but there's always a beautiful one just around the corner," Maxwell said.
Despite his prowess with these machines, one constantly eludes him. It's not in his first warehouse, or his second - it's the washing machine in his own laundry room. That one, he said, he doesn't even turn on.
Steve Hartman has been a CBS News correspondent since 1998, having served as a part-time correspondent for the previous two years.
2025-05-07 06:002218 view
2025-05-07 05:532505 view
2025-05-07 05:251712 view
2025-05-07 05:06353 view
2025-05-07 05:051492 view
2025-05-07 04:541734 view
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Cybercriminals could release personal data of many Rhode Islanders as early
Follow AP’s coverage of the election and what happens next. LOS ANGELES (AP) — Democrat George Wh
Gavin Casalegno is celebrating the moment he turned into a husband.The Summer I Turned Pretty actor—