Hello and welcome!

The 35 is a good machine; I have one too.  I was surprised at how nice the typing action was, and with the keyboard tab setting, and so on, it is easy to use.

You have identified the great difference typing brings to one's focus on the work in hand!

See you around the threads here, and again, welcome.

I'd go back with a bit of A4 paper and try it out. It's hard to say what a typewriter is really worth in pounds shillings and pence - if you find that you love it and it's there and you can walk away with it and not have to worry about damage in the post, then I'd say go for it!

Howdy folks,

I'm Dan, a 22 year old from a hideous little town in Kent. By day I'm an electric guitarist, music teacher and studio engineer; by night I'm an obsessive for anything old and groovy - classic cinema, vinyl, proper typography, and - yup - typewriters. I grew up watching black and white movies of men in their shirtsleeves, moodily smoking and clattering out half-baked ideas on enormous machines entirely unlike my late-'90s PC.

"That's the way you're supposed to do it!" I thought - real writers were smartly dressed, half-blind with whisky and memory, wrestling words out of a steel dream...

Then I sort of forgot about it, I suppose, until last week I saw the most beautiful typewriter in a local antique shop - an Optima Elite 3 in a sort of Mint Green colour, in its original case and with not a scratch on it. "Twenty-five quid," said the bloke. "Take my money, you glorious man!" said I.

Now, here I sit, stupidly across from my really absolutely shining Optima Elite 3, with the carriage that just won't stay in place no matter how much I swear at it, still thinking it's the best twenty five pounds I've ever spent.

Sixty-Six wrote:

Now, here I sit, stupidly across from my really absolutely shining Optima Elite 3, with the carriage that just won't stay in place no matter how much I swear at it, still thinking it's the best twenty five pounds I've ever spent.

Welcome to TT! The Elite 3 is a great machine (one of my favorites) and the problem you described should be easy enough to fix. Start a new thread on the subject in the Repairs section and I'm sure that someone will help you out.

Greetings everyone!  My name is Nathan & I just bought a Singer Professional portable typewriter at the flea market this past weekend.  Really enjoying using it, despite some issues it still has.  Hope to learn more browsing here!