The last of a long line, this is the comparatively rare Champion WD front loading washer/dryer. Basically this is about all the Champions you can find in public. I know very little about the company operations except that they were called “Radiation Ltd” and were in Dunedin. Champion did a range of everyday ordinary machines, mostly top loaders, dryers and ranges. In the washing department, they ranged through manual, semiautomatic and fully automatic machines. I believe some of the earlier machines were branded “Thor” and may have been license assembled from the UK or US production of that brand (which still trades today in its own right).
The WD front loader was a rare departure for Champion. Once again without access to company information I am unable to state whether this was an indigenous effort or something licensed from overseas. It was also rare for NZ at the time due to the overwhelming dominance of top loading washers, as is the case still today. I know very little about this model except that it was Champion’s swansong. They were not very reliable, but some have survived as you still see them for sale from time to time. It was about this time that Sanyo NZ bought out Radiation and after their main business went into liquidation in the mid 1980s, Sanyo sold the remains to Fisher and Paykel.