1 of 1- Spudman
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Offline - Registered: 08-11-2018
- Posts: 6
Commodaore Speedwriter
Commodore Speedwriter.-- talk about an information vacuum when it comes to this mid-1950s beauty (SN: ZP-150725). I picked up my Speedwriter at my local Value Village yesterday. I figure the usual resellers passed it by because it does not work. AND VV has wised--up. I paid $50. Anyway, I bought it, figuring I could bring it back to life -- who knows what words of wisdom lurk inside it, yearning to be set free ! I have just finished cleaning and fixing an Olivetti Studio 44. But I was able to find and download a shop manual for that puppy. To my horror I can't find anything on line about the Skywriter. Groan. Does anyone have any information that you can pass along? Is there someone in Toronto who one can turn to when you need a technical fix? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks
Spudman
- Uwe
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- From: Toronto, Canada
- Registered: 12-3-2013
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Re: Commodaore Speedwriter
With that serial number you're actually looking at a 1960, possibly a 1961 model. Speedwriters from that era are actually 15-Series Consul models that was assembled in Toronto. Commodore had a few variations back then that included the Speedwriter, Speedwriter Simple, Personal, and Professional models.I have a number of Speedwriters and quite like them. I'm in Toronto if you need your machine looked at.
You also asked about the Skywriter? What information were you looking for concerning that Smith-Corona model?
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- Spudman
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- Posts: 6
Re: Commodaore Speedwriter
Good Morning Uwe! Thank you for your very fast and helpful response. And sorry about the "Skywriter" reference -- I am an idiot -- too many "writer" machines out there! To confirm, I DO have the Commodore Speedwriter. I need to clean it up and and open it up to see what's going on. Right now the carriage appears to be stuck -- is there a carriage lock that is hidden among all those levers? When I hit a key it stops just short of striking the platen. Perhaps there is something amiss with the advancement/excite thing? As you can see I am not very technical.
My Speedwriter looks like Nick's (below):
Like him I found a sticker on the case, but mine says 1959 (I think -- the "9" is pretty faded).
Once I get this machine cleaned up a bit I would very much like to touch base here in Toronto.. Perhaps you might share a bit of your extensive experience and knowledge...
best
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