In Typewriter Video Series Episode 316, Joe has a conversation with Bob Marshall about shopping for typewriters. Resources mentioned in this video: typewritermuse.com www.austintypewriterink.com
I was extremely lucky when I purchased my Olivetti Lettera 32 a year or two ago. The only reason I purchased it was to avoid the outrageous cost of new cartridges for my inkjet printer. I answered a local add and bought the Olivetti for $80 Australian. It had been in a garage unused for 50 years and was in mint condition. What surprised me was how different typing on a manual typewriter was to other forms of writing in a creative sense. It's as though perfect words and sentences form on the page without my input apart from my concentration on the mechanical process. Difficult to explain, but perhaps those familiar with typewriters may also have felt this. I have fallen very deeply in love with my beautiful perfect Olivetti.
*I TOOK A RISK* on an Olympia SG 1 online - here in Bulgaria its really difficult to get QWERTY or QWERTZ It arrived and worked PERFECTLY - it was as dirty as hell, it looked like it had sat in a machine workshop for 50 years, but everything worked like perfection. I spent 8 hours cleaning it and oild the correct points with spindle oil - but honestly I does NOT work any better then when it arrived it was that good - 66 years old and worked out the box. The water in the tub was BLACK.
Love Bob's perspective at the 15:06 markpoint about spending a few hundred dollars on a machine that's been serviced and meets the person's needs vs spending "tens of dollars" for something that needs a lot of work... like buyig a turnkey house vs a fixer-upper!
Joe...I smiled when you talked about people who like their Smith Corona Corsairs, even though they're plastic bodied and a bit rickety. I was one of those people...I loved my Smith Corona Courier...but then I began writing my novel on the Courier and found it lacking as a book length writing machine. Then I discovered my Olympia SM 9 and really enjoyed using it when typing 20, 30, 40 pages a day. It stood the test of typing a 75,000 manuscript...two times over! My 1964 and 1968 Olympia SM9s are my new davorites! Thanks for this wonderful video Joe!
What a great video (again) - thanks for that 🙏 My online buying experience is most of the time good, very seldomly they sell junk and won't take it back. And sometimes there are really great moments when it is a private sale and I get a story on top. Like with a Wanderer 50 that was the office machine of a little craft enterprise. Or the uncle who owned it was a famous theatre director. Over the years I started to trust my gut instinct. And happily I found a thrift store (in Germany we don't have that many) selling typerwriters from time to time, and seeing and typing on a machine right in front of you is so much better.
Purchased my 1st typewriter today. Smith Corona WordSmith. Got it for 3 dollars at a thrift store. Works great. Really enjoying my new typewriter hobby!
I only own two this is all I need therefore I spent the money upfront for the great condition they were in. 1 compact one with cursive script $250.00 pristine condition. . and 1 larger one with regular script $350 pristine condition
Most people replace the draw band with strong fishing line. For the metal connection between draw band and carriage you’ll have to get it from a parts machine.
