Celebrating its 80th anniversary in 1996, Frigidaire Home Products ranks third among America’s manufacturers of “white goods” or major household appliances. In the 1990s, the company offered a complete line of branded appliances, including refrigerators, freezers, washers, dryers, microwaves, air conditioners, gas and electric stoves, and dishwashers. For many decades, Frigidaire was owned and operated as a division of automobile giant General Motors Corporation. Throughout its first half-century in business, Frigidaire earned renown as one of the appliance industry’s most innovative companies. But by the late 1970s, cutthroat pricing had pushed the GM division into the red. Acquired by White Consolidated Industries (WCI) in 1979, Frigidaire was subsumed under the WCI Major Appliances Group and existed primarily as a brand in the parent’s diverse lineup.