Okay, so I missed something.

Not a typewriter, but a good score nonetheless:



That's right! A typewriter desk! I've been looking for one of these for a long time, especially since my dinky table can barely handle the power of a Royal KMG carriage return.

I forgot to take a picture in person, so this Craigslist listing is all that I have. And you read that right too, it was free! The owner was looking to just get rid of it since he inherited it from his recently passed father who had written two books and an autobiography on it (not on a typewriter). I assured him that I would take good care of it. It's currently being stored at a friend's house since we are redoing the floors in my room, so I haven't actually tested it out yet. But I'm excited to use it and am still deciding which typewriter I should put in the collapsible compartment.

Just want to show off my latest addition, a Torpedo 18, that bought from Ebay in Germany.
Living in the Netherlands, shipping from Germany to the Netherlands isn't all that expensive, so in total this machine cost me about € 30, which I think isn't all that bad. The machine is fine working condition, only it's missing a knob on the right side (still thinking about how to replace this) and a rock-hard platen that I'll have to get renewed.

But I am very happy with how it looks and how it types.



What I particularly like about this machine is the chrome on the segment, showing the keybars in its reflection:

I.den wrote:

Just want to show off my latest addition, a Torpedo 18, that bought from Ebay in Germany.

Beautiful machine and beautiful photos. Machines like this seem to be plentiful in Germany for that is a lot less than it would fetch in the US if you had it here already and could ship it locally! 
 

This typewriter is a little camera shy so we will start with its beautiful voice:


That's an elite cursive and I think a very beautiful font. There was no great triumph to this buy, I did not find it was cursive by examining the 5th photo at twice maximum usable magnification, rather it was clearly stated and I paid the asking price. I think it was a fair price at $80 delivered, though the garage sale "I got this one of a kind Groma Kalibri special with the micro elite inverted hemi-semi-quaver font for $10!" crowd may scoff, considering what  I have seen asked for other cursive machines and the fact that it prints perfectly. That was Buy-It-Now, but I saw a related machine with an obviously out of alignment cursive font bid up for more. What can look worse than a misaligned cursive!?

Would you like to come out and say hello to the audience?


I think you will agree she has nothing to be ashamed of and is quite well-groomed! Once you can get past the fact that it is yet another late model Smith-Corona in its attache style case. Rather nubile, actually.

It has already mentioned it only real defect - it has a platen (oh my god, I misspelled "platen"! again! ) as hard as any I have so far encountered. Maybe surprising given that it is a "newer" machine, or maybe not given that newer machines are well into middle age now and it may have the original platen whereas older machines may have been more recently renewed. The last several lines above were typed with two thickness of card stock - possibly more than should be jammed in between the rollers - and just barely toned down the excruciating collision of type slug and hardened rubber. 

I am in an evil correction loop with "platen", which goes like this: "I always misspell it. I think because I leave out the second "l" which I will be sure to put in now". Standardized spelling is just a badge by which the educated class advertise themselves to each other, as they have leisure to learn the purely arbitrary convention! At least that's what poor spellers tell themselves! Grrr....