Thanks Pete.

The Lettera 22 is my favourite but that is easy for me to say as it's the only working one in my collection and the only one I have any real experience of!  I'm keeping an eye out for a 32 but will need to wait a while as my Stdio 44 has now arrived and needs a fair bit of work to make it usable and I also have a cheap Lexikon 80 headed my way - condition unknown but paint is worn off at the front so guess it has had a hard life.  I'm just praying that it survives the journey, the carriage return lever strikes me as being very vulnerable to damage.  A Graphika is outside my price range so the 32 is the remaining Nizzoli design for my collection, not that I have any space for it or the Lexikon!

That’s an excellent idea, Pete, very neat, thanks.

Hi Chloe,

Welcome to the Forum.  Looks like you are on your way.

If you get a chance, do not pass up some of the manual typewriters made in the 1960's.
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Hello! I just found out about this forum! I didn't set out to collect typewriters, but I seem to own three of them anyway. This one is my first:

When we were cleaning out my great-uncle's apartment, I found it buried in a pile of stuff. (The top cover has always been missing. If anyone has a parts-only Underwood 18 and is willing to send one, send a message!)
You may notice that the bottom-left shift key and the F key don't match the rest.

That's because the shift keycap was missing, and the F had snapped off. When I was in college, a friend from India said that people still use typewriters a lot over there--- so it's easy to get them repaired. And he graciously agreed to cram it into his suitcase and take it to a repair shop when he went home for the holidays. I love the slightly mismatched keys. You can't feel any difference when typing, and it's a fun reminder that because of wonderful friends, this typewriter has been to entire continents without me.

This Royal is my second typewriter. The first time I moved, I couldn't fit the Underwood in my things. So I bought one when I got to my new home state.

I do have the lid to this machine, but for very important reasons, I never use it.  Other people in the house are prone to putting kipple onto any horizontal surface, including the tables that have my sewing machines in them. So I put the top of the Royal's case in a safe place, and made the typewriter a satin dress out of an old bedsheet.
I call it the "Guardian Typewriter" because it guards the sewing machine from clutter. You can easily stack something on top of a cube-shaped typewriter case, but you can't stack anything on a typewriter wearing satin! Also, the Royal is great for making recipe cards because it has tab stops.


And lastly, I have my ill-advised impulse buy:


I got it a month ago because I was utterly enchanted with having a machine that does proportional spacing. Unfortunately, it can't type quite right.


I'm debating whether to keep it or to sell it for parts or repair. I love the idea of a typewriter that looks like professional typesetting, but no one in my area fixes the dang things! I'd hate to send it to the municipal hereafter--- it's so close to working perfectly. But I'm at a loss on how to fix it.
My other misgiving is the carbon ribbon in this thing. I looked online, and can't find anyone selling new carbon typewriter ribbons. And I'd hate to have a typewriter that demands I go onto Ebay and pay exorbitant prices for NOS office supplies in crumbling cardboard boxes.
 

Pete E. wrote:

Hello Anastar,

Welcome to the Forum !

By chance, do you happen to live in the USA ?

If so, you could keep an eye out of ShopGoodwill.com for such an Underwood-Olivetti machine.  Many times you can win a parts-machine for less that $ 10 plus some shipping.  Ribbon covers are really hard to find for sale just by themselves an dif you do, a seller wants $ 40 or more just for a cover.

Part-machines can yield a ribbon cover and other spare parts for your parts-stash.
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I will do that. But it'll have to be one that's in quite a bad state. I'd hate to start gutting a perfectly good machine.