Ryko 784-A/R-784.

[Wisconsin Car Wash Channe]

Hello Everybody! I thought I could possibly update you on old-school Ryko information. About 1 1/4 years ago, my friend located what was THOUGHT to be an R7B. I personally went down to that location to investigate, and we found that it's not an R7B, and seems older than an R7B, unfortunately, the platcard was all scraped up. We figured it was an R784 due to the signage. But we also noticed some other differences. We noticed that the Gantry is VERY VERY different from the R7B, and we also noticed that there were no air hisses, and instead were loud motors. We have also since figured out that there are 2 generations of the R-784, The one that I went to was a 1st gen, but there's also a video of a 2nd gen, which looks way more like the R7B, but still has some noticeable differences. The 2nd gen can be found in Kirkland Washington. We have located 2 of the 1st gen R-784s, located in Bellevue Iowa (the one that I went to), and New Castle PA. I will list some photos below so differences can be seen from the R7B. If anyone has any info on this very mysterious sytem, please let me know!
1st Gen R784:
(Blue Filament Not My Photo)

(Red filament are my photos that I took)





Videos I took of the 1st gen:

2nd Gen R784 Below: (Not my photos or videos for 2nd gen) This specific 2nd gen has Retrofitted rear arms. But they originally came with pinwheels.

Video of 2nd gen R-784

 

[Metro DSM Car Washes]

Another difference I saw on the 2nd Gen R-784 is how the signage goes in order from bottom to top instead of top to bottom (e.g. on 2nd gen enter is at the bottom and thank you is at the top)

 

[Ryko CS]

There are still a handful of those around, as well as the even older Model 4 and 5. Those were before my time, but I believe there were actually 4 versions of the R784. Those models often had saddle tank for detergent/wax, and they had the electrical and pneumatic panels on the same side and most had the pinwheel brushes. When we went to the R7B, we moved to having electrical panels on the right, and pneumatics on the left.

 

[Wisconsin Car Wash Channe]

There are still a handful of those around, as well as the even older Model 4 and 5. Those were before my time, but I believe there were actually 4 versions of the R784. Those models often had saddle tank for detergent/wax, and they had the electrical and pneumatic panels on the same side and most had the pinwheel brushes. When we went to the R7B, we moved to having electrical panels on the right, and pneumatics on the left.

Do you have any locations? I'd love to see some!

 

[Wisconsin Car Wash Channe]

I also would love some archives of this machine! I was also wondering what variation is in "The Car Wash" Located in Bellevue Iowa. Possibly a 1st gen?

 

[Chuck Ivey]

Are the tracks on the older machine in the photos pipe track or angle iron? The two R5's I've seen ran on angle iron tracks.

 

[Wisconsin Car Wash Channe]

Are the tracks on the older machine in the photos pipe track or angle iron? The two R5's I've seen ran on angle iron tracks.

1st gen runs on angle iron
2nd gen runs on pipe.
Do you have any photos of the R5? I'd love to see them!

 

[Chuck Ivey]

1st gen runs on angle iron
2nd gen runs on pipe.
Do you have any photos of the R5? I'd love to see them!

Sorry but no photos. I last saw those two machines in the late '80's.

 

[Wisconsin Car Wash Channe]

Sorry but no photos. I last saw those two machines in the late '80's.

If it was ran on angle iron I'm pretty sure it would've been an R4.