Shifty wrote:

I have a mint-condition one in transformer green.

Transformer?

Are we talking about a voltage conversion device, or a futuristic robot?





For what it's worth, the colour references I've seen made by Remington for the Quiet-Riter (and other models of the era) include: mist green, French gray, honey beige, white sand, desert sage, and rose light. Retailers seemed to most often describe the Riter models as either non-glare French velour gray or non-glare velour green.

The type-in was a lot of fun!

Paul Lundy and Don & Britt Feldman were very welcoming and enthusiastic, full of stories and information. I really enjoyed meeting and talking with them. When Don heard that I enjoy working on typewriters, he whisked me away to see his work bench and his washing & drying stations. 

Don's collection is impressive. It was a bit like stepping into a book like Robert & Weil's, or the SFO Museum's. Caligraphs, a Daugherty, IBM Electromatic - many first of its kind machines. 

Across the aisle were the machines for sale, where I got a lay my hands on machines that I'd only heard about on this forum - Facit TP1s, Hermes 3000 1st and 3rd generations, Erikas, all the Olympia SMs and an SG1, and of course so many American portables. I kept myself reigned in and did not bring any home, though here's a Torpedo (model 18?) that still lingers in my mind and fingertips (though my wallet is not ready for the $600 price tag). 

Appropriate to this thread: one of the attendees brought a late 50s Remington Travel-Riter that I got a chance to try. It was a really nice typer. Now I'm keeping my eyes out for one of these. 

Another attendee brought a nearly mint-condition Erika 5 with a Fraktur typeface (with all the Fratktur ligatures, too). It was amazing to see. Chances are, I'll never see another. Unfortunately, that attendee had to leave before the contest for best in show, which then went to a Smith Premiere 1, just nudging out a turquoise QDL with Royal Book type. My Erika 110 (right, below) won Ugliest Typewriter. (I think because with so many nice machines, people had to pick something, so they picked the unconventional one. Many people had told me they really liked the bathtub style and boxy Kristall typeface). 



I also brought my Thai typewriter, which people found interesting (yes, this one. I intend to do a write up of this machine sometime). The winner of the speed typing contest sported an Empire branded Skyriter formerly owned by the owner of the Erika 5. (Note to self: next time attending a Type-in with a typing contest, bring an American keyboard...)

Unfortunately, with so many things to see, I got a bit overwhelmed and forgot to take any pictures of anything...

But the type-in wasn't solely about the typewriters. The owners of the machines were equally interesting; a 1st grade teacher who uses typewriter to help inspire her students struggling while reading, a collector looking for a good Triumph typewriter to go with his 18 Triumph motorcycles, a college student who's fallen deep into the typewriter world (the SP 1 was hers), and many other fun, pleasant, and storied folks. 

The Triumph owner mentioned that he recently brought in his Lettera 22 to Paul for repairs. He said that he bought it years ago when doing charity work in Africa. He typed on it every morning in his dirt-floored hut and then travelled the world with it. It had been thoroughly used. Paul then mentioned that this is a common story to the Letteras he gets in the shop: someone bought it abroad, usually doing charity work, then drag them around the world and return them to the US thoroughly used. At this point, the schoolteacher said that she, too, had bought hers while in Africa for the Peace Corps. Paul credited the quality of Olivetti manufacturing that it didn't take much to get them running again.

In all, it was a really good time, and I hope they do it again. 

Uwe wrote:

robmck wrote:

... (t)here's a Torpedo (model 18?) that still lingers in my mind and fingertips (though my wallet is not ready for the $600 price tag). 

$600 USD!?! I keep seeing these asking prices for portables that we were buying not that many years ago for less than $50 CAD, but I doubt that I'll ever get used to them. I understand that this particular one was probably refurbished, restored, or re-something, but that's still a whole lot of money for a regular portable. Was it an 18a or 18b?

I think it was an 18b. It looked like this one: 1963 Torpedo 18b on the Typewriter Database.

To be fair, it was near mint and fully serviced by Don. But yeah, the prices nowadays are huge and getting more so. I guess you could consider the extra cost of this a donation to his museum of historical typewriters (that is the point of that side of the shop). That said, I don't know Torpedos well, or the market price for an 18b. Looking at Sold auctions on ebay, I see only two of this model: both offers accepted somewhere below $225. 

Uwe wrote:

robmck wrote:

He typed on it every morning in his dirt-floored hut and then travelled the world with it. It had been thoroughly used.

Fantastic history to that machine, and the image of typing in a grass hut brings one my favorite field-use images to mind, also in a grass hut, but one secured to the top of a raft:
 

Did you mean to include an image? I didn't see one. 
 

robmck wrote:

I think it was an 18b. It looked like this one: 1963 Torpedo 18b on the Typewriter Database.

The green 18b that I have ran me $50, however it was a number of years ago. Given the current prices I should be smart and sell-off my collection before the current typewriter fad ends.

robmck wrote:

Did you mean to include an image? I didn't see one.  

Yes, sorry about that. I had a phone call distract me and I forgot to add it to the post, which I've since done.
 

Uwe wrote:

robmck wrote:

Did you mean to include an image? I didn't see one.  

Yes, sorry about that. I had a phone call distract me and I forgot to add it to the post, which I've since done.
 

Yes! The perfect image. That's exactly how I imagine it.