That’s right: many of us have been alive as long as the Black & Decker DustBuster vacuum, a cleaner that I remember fondly from my ill-spent youth. Remember the first models? The tan color scheme? The incessant whirring? The sad majesty of the dying DustBuster as its battery slowly drained over a pile of Cheerios or sawdust?

Say what you want about Dyson and his ilk: the DustBuster is the Hitachi Magic Wand of home cleaning devices, dedicated to performance, fun, and, most importantly, the improvement of our lives in general.

So hats off, Mr. DustBuster, we salute you. Best of all Black & Decker is offering us five DustBusters – of the modern variety – to five lucky readers.

To win please leave your fondest vacuuming story in comments. We’ll pick the five most poignant remembrances next Wednesday at noon ET. Do you remember lying on the floor listening to the vacuum and trying to hum in tune? Did you make a huge mess and then clean it up? Did you get something caught somewhere? Tell us, dear reader.

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