Gabby Johnson wrote:

I've had this a while so it isn't a "recent" acquisition:...

That is a spectacular typewriter!  It has wings!

I love the look of wide carriage machines, but obviously there is some space issue for most.

So, I picked up this little SF for £5.50. The zip was broken on the case, it said; I;m not too worried about zips. When I got there, I noticed a piece of metal inside the case: it turned out to be the paper stand. Snapped in two. Also, trying it out in the reception area of the woman's building (I know! Right? She carried it down in a Gucci bag) I found that the lever wasn't working. 'Well', I thought. 'A fiver'. 'And it's pink'. One of the grommets was missing, so the ribbon cover was hanging on for dear life. The ribbon was only turning in one direction. And the right-hand carriage knob was broken in half, too. And it seemed to have a largish scratch on the top, but never mind. 
So I took it to home and got to work. Considering how nicely it was already typing, it was unbelievably filthy. The inside was covered in half an inch of brown dust, complete with dust mice. Everything was just sort of muddy - it took hours to get it clean - but very straightforward.

The knob was easy enough - I have a rusted-out black Splendid with identical knobs, so that did the trick. But the paper stand on the Splendid is too rusted in to free up at all, and the screws that would release the back strip so I could soak it out are even worse. So there's no paper stand. I had a big fiddle with the lever and found that that too was snapped in half (what is it with these people??), and it sort of came off in my hand. Changing it over for the lever from the Splendid (which is bigger and different, in any case) seems like too much for me. But I replaced the spring on the ribbon mechanism, and the grommet was inside the case, so the ribbon cover is now nice and snug, and the scratch turned out not to be one - and it types so well I hardly mind! I love these little flat Olympias. They feel like little friends.

Yes to all the above - with the proviso that the one I'm cannibalising is serial number 690somethingsomething, which I make 1963... that's almost mid! Very pretty but rusted almost solid.

Uwe you will perhaps not be surprised to learn that the typewriter was, at the moment when I acquired it, in an upside-down case, the bottom of which was being used as the lid. 

KatLondon wrote:

the typewriter was, at the moment when I acquired it, in an upside-down case, the bottom of which was being used as the lid. 

What's surprising is how often I see that. It's one thing when the travel case is form-fitting and doesn't rely on any hardware to hold the machine in place - at least the chance of damage is minimized in such cases (pun intentional) - but when you see the machine in a case with large mounting brackets about to be compressed onto the paper table, it's enough to make me cringe. I'll often send a quick message to sellers who are selling machines that are being stored incorrectly; how sad that a typewriter can survive decades in great condition only to be damaged through the ignorance of the last person to handle it.

To be fair, I have seen several 'form-fitted' cases where it is not easily possible to tell which way up the machine is to be placed except by trial and error. 

It is a common and basic design flaw (with almost anything) that its use not be obvious simply by looking at it.  For instance, a door that does not tell you whether you should push it, pull it or slide it is badly designed, IMO.