How big is that thing? It looks like it should be a huge standard, yet it seems so tiny! Can you do a comparison with another typewriter as a reference?

retro wrote:

I couldn't find the serial no. on the machine but it was on the shipping carton 8403007.

The serial number on a Dora (Lettera 31) is located on the frame on the right side under the carriage. It can be a little tough to see because it's between the plastic case and the metal frame.


 

The Century is just so cute!  It looks just like a baby standard!

Well I can't compete with all these fantastic ancient fixer-uppers... but as Spazmelda and I were discussing the other day, I did weaken and bought this little beauty:
It is really lovely! It needed a good clean but it wasnt nearly as disgusting as most of them when they arrive. It was made in 1957, so it's three years younger than my other one that has the 42 dark green keys. And it was a nice feeling watching the colour change to a nice minty 1950s green as I cleaned it! Of course it has a few little spots on it; don't we all. It feels just as great to use as my other, more beat-up-looking grey one, and it has a really beautiful, slightly unusual-looking little elite type.

A little question is that the serial number has a U after it - 5T 800205 U - and this isn't mentioned on the Database... Also, I'm interested to note that it says 'Made in Belgium' on the front - and has an exclamation mark key. In my (admittedly hardly exhaustive) experience, the European machines tend to have an exclamation mark far more than the US ones, though this one still has the fractions instead of (far more useful, in my view) accents, etc. 

HOWEVER, as with all these things... There turns out to be a bit of a problem. It became apparent slowly - first not at all, then the odd skip, then more skips, then bigger skips, and now it will only type two characters and then locks solid. I've worked out exactly what part of the escapement is misbehaving and how and where - I just don't know what to do about it. I'm about to start a thread in the repairs section with the details. 

On the wider Silent-Super front, though, I can now confirm my love for these machines. It's good to have a basis for comparison, especially given the condition my other one was in when I got it. And also, good to know, the grey one is just as good as the other, except for its broken 5/£ key. So I not only brought it back from the dead, I brought it all the way back, with just a slight limp.

Also, inspired by the thorough cleaning I gave the green one, I spent a good hour or so scrubbing the grey one again and saw a good couple more layers of grime come off. I just need to get the escapement fixed on the green one!

And then with luck that will be the last post I make on THIS thread. I need to have a selling frenzy, really. 

Last edited by KatLondon (28-6-2015 08:25:02)

Today I traded 3 portable typewriters for a 1945 underwood S
I believe it was made for the government during WWII
As all the little rings on the keys are black instead of silver.