After recently adding another example of an Underwood Golden-Touch to my collection and giving it a thorough going-over, I have to admit that the new typer has left me a little confused.
 
I was lured by the fact that it was a de luxe (sic) model, and understandably, I expected it to be a more upscale version of the Universal Golden-Touch that I already owned. However, after comparing the typewriters against each other I was surprised to discover that there weren't any significant differences between them.
 
Just what had Underwood been thinking at the time? It turns out that the so-called de luxe is more of a marketing department’s slight of hand than it is a machine created by a designer’s Midas touch.
 
Both the 1958 Universal (#C2974565) and the 1959 de luxe (#A3025191) feature Underwood's Quiet Tab tabulator system, a ribbon colour selector, touch control, and the same red arrow margin indicators that point to a nonintuitive scale. Their keyboards and typesets are identical too, and both have the same number of keys.
 
Near mechanical twins, I assumed that at the very least there would be appreciable differences in their appearance, perhaps a few more chromed parts on the de luxe that were otherwise painted on the Universal. I was wrong. Aside from the obvious colour difference of their cases, a sickly off-white compared to a rather dull cream, the only difference in their trim was in the metallic piping that surrounds the keyboard opening. The de luxe uses a chrome-coloured trim whereas the Universal - given its Golden-Touch moniker – is finished in a more appropriate gold colour.


 
The other differences between these two typers are even less noticeable. The de luxe comes equipped with an easier-to-load vibrator (it can be opened to make ribbon replacements a less arduous task), and an antenna-like paper rest, a component that I've always argued should have been included on even the most basic of portables.


 
On a less positive note, these typers are ill-mannered in their performance. The basic operation of each machine does provide adequate feel and a satisfactory typing action, but when it comes down to their ancillary functions, both are a letdown. The tabulators are cantankerous (the tab clear on the de luxe doesn't work at all) and the line space levers are temperamental, which means that the line spacing throughout a document is at best erratic.
 

You can argue that these items can be easily repaired, and you would be right. They are small issues, ones that I normally wouldn’t even bother to mention if there was only one machine under consideration. However, when two similar models exhibit the same problems, it raises the question of a potential weakness in their original design. I've seen it before with other models in my collection that I have multiple examples of; if one exhibits a particular shortcoming, often the others will suffer from the same problem too, and you know that it's an issue that is inherent with their design.
 
As silly as it sounds, what I like most about these two typers is their Royal-like top cover release buttons. When you press the big letter U above the keyboard, the top cover will quietly and gracefully swing itself open toward the carriage. It's a simple touch, and not even an original one, and at the risk of sounding simpleminded, I'll confess that I sometimes find myself repeatedly opening and closing the cover just for the sheer fun of it.
 
Incidentally, those easy-opening covers are a boon for changing ribbons, but little else. Any troubleshooting task that requires you to move the carriage back and forth with the cover open becomes a real pain in the ass, and unlike some other machines with similar covers, the ones on these Underwood models can't be removed without the use of tools.


 
Overall, I like these Golden-Touch models to type with and find their exterior design pleasing enough to look at, but neither would ever score very high in an objective review. While skimming through online content for information on the de luxe I came across one blogger who gushed endlessly about the virtues of his Golden-Touch, and who also scoffed at suggestions made by others that perhaps it wasn’t as stellar a machine as he believed it to be. His opinion is the result of a common pitfall; if you only own a few typewriters it's very difficult to accurately assess their performance, mostly because you don't have a sufficient reference base to judge them against.
 
I'll eventually get around to fixing up the nagging problems with these two Underwoods, and maybe give them a repaint too; their marred and chipped cases would certainly benefit from a few coats of a more vibrant paint. These Golden-Touch typers might not be the best machines in my corral, far from it actually, but they're keepers none the less.