Hi and welcome to the forum! 

I would answer your question with a question. Where are you located? The reason I ask is that a good, inexpensive, and readily available model is something that changes depending on where you live. I would follow this up with wanting to understand your needs. Are you after a good typewriter for typing, or one that is very stylish and looks great sitting on a shelf? 

You indicated liking the design of the Imperial Good Companion. Do you know which generation of the machine you were looking at, because the design of the Good Companion changed significantly over the years.

Since you're in the UK I'll have to defer to the opinions of the many members here that live in your neck of the woods. It would be easy to suggest a number of models, but my experince is limited to what is readily available in North America.

Since you're only after an occasional use machine, I would suggest finding one that appeals to you on an aesthetic level as typing performance isn't as important factor. If you were on this side of the pond I would strongly suggest looking at a Royal Quiet De Luxe and Arrow models. They are fairly common here, fairly inexpensive, and as a bonus, excellent typers. However, most importantly they look very similar to the Model T that you like.

Good luck in your search. I hope you keep us updated and post a review of whatever machine you end up buying.

Hmm, I've just come across this thread and wonder if Hastings36 still reads this board... I've had a job and a half even finding a QDL in this country. The ones you ee most of really ARE the Good Companions, and the reason I've found this thread is that I'm trying to fix one. We gave it to my 'stepson'for XMas and he's having problems with it, over at his mum's house - it was all a bit of a pre-Christmas rush and I'm hoping that the thorough cleaning it SHOULD have had at the time will sort him out. 

Certainly the impression I have is that these machines are SO common that they must have felt like the really reliable choice.

For a good solid affordable reliable portable typewriter in the UK, really I'd have said an Olympia, though those are often more expensive. You can get lucky though, there are a lot of SM8s around. Midcentury, there are lots of Remington Quiet, Office and Letter Riters - my Quiet Riter is a terrific machine. And there are lots of Adlers. I'd feel saafe buying any of them, if the seller said it was in good nick and this was borne out by the photos. 

Now on with my quest for Good Cmpanion info! 

But it sounds like they wouldn't satisfy Hastings on the aesthetic front. I've seen some of the older, 1940s Good Companions for not too much, though; like everything else, it's just a question of sitting on eBay till the right one comes up.