Background: This is a review of my 1932 Imperial "The Good Companion" made in Leicaster, England. I bought this typewriter in 2014 from a seller on eBay listed as a "Buy it Now" auction for around $50 USD. It was my first typewriter after I became interested in them. I didn't know much about typewriters other than I knew I wanted one from the 30s or 40s. I thought this one looked pretty good so I decided to get it. The seller had good feedback and said it worked so I decided to go for it. Most sellers have a return policy as well backed by eBay.

Features: There's nothing too special about the features of this typewriter. It has all the basic features including a red, black, and stencil ribbon selector, shift lock, left and right margins, margin release, single/double line spacing selector, and ribbon direction selector (a push-pull knob hidden on the lower right side) among other standards. The ribbon spools are smaller than a generic "universal ribbon" I had bought to replace the dried up ribbon it came with. I had to unwind the ribbon from the new plastic ones and wind the ribbon back onto the old metal ones so that I could install the new ribbon into the typewriter. Not sure if I can buy Imperial The Good Companion sized replacement typewriter ribbons. It came with it's orignial case which has seen quite a bit of wear. The latch works but there is no key for the lock. This typewriter also includes the British currency pound symbol.

Performance: The typewriter types very well as far as my amateur experience is concerned. When I received it all that was needed was some cleaning up and lubrication. All features were intact, functional, and working. However, once in a while it will double space whether you are typing a letter or spacing. Not sure why that is yet, I haven't tried to fix it. Everything else works great and it will type as fast and as much as you want. The only minor thing I have noticed is that the letter "i" whether lower case or capital usually only prints faintly or not at all unless you use more pressure than the other keys. The bell is nice and loud...most of the time anyway. 

Pros: This is a pretty small typewriter and it works well without having to do any major repairs or adjustments, perfect for an amateur like me. The paint is in amazing shape and the decals are mostly still intact but with a little wear. This is a sharp looking typewriter, it shined up pretty good. It didn't cost me much either which was good considering I am an amateur and didn't really know what I was getting. The design made it pretty easy to get inside and do a light to medium cleaning of most of the mechanisms and relubricate them without having to disassemble.

Cons: It only has a platen knob and carriage release lever on one side of the carriage. The rollers on the paper bail are bare metal rather than rubber, I prefer the latter. The paper table is angled in such a way that it is difficult to see what you are typing without stopping and leaning forward. There is no paper guide or tab stops. The carriage return/line space lever is short and points straight up instead of horizontally forward, towards the typist. It doesn't matter much because the typewriter is so small but I prefer the latter configuration. The lever does fold forward but it doesn't stay, as a small spring pulls it back upright. I am not sure if this is because something is broken or if it's just a mechanism to facilitate placing the machine in it's case, as the case does seem to push it forward when you do this. The typewriter occasionally double spaces and won't print the letter "i" boldly enough. The keys seem to be covered in a thin metal or other material and the silverish gold colored metal bands that line the perimeters of keys and secure the metal finish seem to be loose, which cause several of the letters to spin and become disoriented. Two keys have their finish completey scraped off, which doesn't feel very pleasant. One of the biggest things about this typewriter is the sound it makes. I expected to receive a typewriter that produced that classic sound; the soft snap, snap, snap, of the key slugs against the platen. This typewriter, however, makes more of a rattling "clunk, clunk, clunk" noise. I also don't prefer the action. I akin this typewriter to a long trigger pull on a double action pistol.

Rating I only have two typewriters and have never rated a machine but I will make the guess that this typewriter is about a 5 out of 10.