Still ugly after all these years

I found a spotless 1968 SM9 at Goodwill today for 19.99, so I snatched it up. I already have a 66 and a 67 and I'm not a huge fan of either one, but with it's almost-black keys I like the appearance of this one better than the others with their white keys. I wasn't even sure it was an SM9 till I got it home.

Unfortunately they threw the case out earlier this morning, and the garbage truck had already hauled it away or I would have been dumpster diving. I suppose it was probably one of the disabled persons who work in back that just didn't know any better, so I can't be too upset. Maybe someday I'll stumble on an empty case.

ESC4P3 wrote:

I have not seen a brown SM3 on shopgoodwill in the short time I’ve been watching, but I absolutely love the burgundy color I have with the burgundy/brown keys/knobs.

No it was like a miracle that one finally came up locally AND if it was my favorite color AND I was the first caller AND the twerp said he would hold it for me for all of 48 hours.

I'm pretty sure I know who got it too, there has been a local guy advertising typewriters regularly (I have to wade through notifications for his ads every other day because he renews them that often) and the paper did a story on him. He has a bunch of crappy machines for sale at all times so I'm sure he couldn't pass up buying a good one for 50 bucks. He will probably turn around and advertise it now for at least twice that.

 

Been looking for an SM3 locally, as its really the only machine left that I have a desire to try and I'm not interested in large shipping fees or the price they often go for on SGW. They are not common where I live. After 3 years, the first one finally came up on Craigslist last Thursday, and it was my favorite typewriter color: brown. I called within hours of the ad being posted and was the first caller. The seller lives 30 miles away and I drive to that town every Saturday. So I told him where I live, asked him if he would hold it till Saturday, and he said yes, I gave him my name and number and asked him to call if any complications came up.

Knowing what jerks people on Craigslist can be, I made sure to call him Friday evening and let him know that I'm not one of those Craigslist jerks who stands people up, and I still planned to come Saturday. Now he hems and haws and says someone else is coming to look at it. I reminded him that he said he would hold it for a mere 48 hours, and he says "well its first come first serve."  I hung up certain that the other guy would take it and pretty much gave it up for lost.

But something made me call the guy back Saturday. He didn't answer. But as soon as I hung up he called back and said my name, and said "you're still interested in the typewriter"? We arranged to meet in an hour.

Just before I left home I noticed he had jacked the price up $10 on his ad!!! I now had very low expectations of this deal going well but he managed to exceed my low expectaions, going even lower than I imagined.

I walked in and he had several machines  but, of course, not the one I came for. I asked him where the brown one was and he said very casually "Oh some other guy came by and took that one."

Before he even finished the sentence I had turned around and walked out the door. He calls after me "Oh did you want that one?" 



I

Uwe wrote:

Assuming this is true, Kodak prices should stabilize at some point. Then again, they might have to drop if Kodak wants to remain competitive, because there are other film manufacturers producing less expensive colour negative film, and claims by others that they want to get back in the game.

Its too bad because I'd love to abandon them completely, but Kodak is the only one that makes high quality color negative OR transparency film. The rest are junk, from what I've seen of them. So bad that I've never even been tempted to try any.