It's a 1976 SM9. The Monica did not have a tabulator. As for its typeface, I'd like to see a type sample of it since I'm not familiar with the Adler "Technik" typeface and it would be interesting to see if it was something less common. 
 

There's no point posting a picture up here, it looks just like all the others. But I just wanted to share the horror of this Lettera 32 I just got for a tenner from a girl in South London. The filth!! It was like sludge, not just dirt, grey sludge in the carriage rails and the mainspring and everywhere. Literally rising it out behind the vibrator with an embroidery needle. And what looked like tiny leavings of insects. And rust. and then more of all the above. And some white pinhead-sized things that stick to the metal, like alien spider pods or mini barnacles or something. You have to really scrub them. 

And when I went to brush the inner workings with meths (didn't want to stick my hand in there till I released the first layer), half the springs that operate the type bars popped out. Then I knocked three more out when trying to replace the others. Then putting one back in, I dropped it and it went into a rubbish bag full of old hay and guinea pig poos, which I then had to empty out on the balcony and sift through till I found the spring (which I did). OMG. And literally, gobs of dust and filth falling on my clothes when I held it on my lap to replace the springs... 

In short it has been a hellish saga. If I'd paid a penny more for it I'd be really pissed off. I've sat hunched over it to get those springs back in to the point where my back's seized up & I can barely even stand up straight. 

Nice little typer now, though. It's nicer than the one I sold for £50 last winter. Made in Barcelona; it has a 1971 serial number, and the TDB indicates that dealers were selling these machines in 1977/80?? What do we know about that? I'm not bothered but it's interesting?

Anyway, tonight, one more coat of meths as it were, then the body goes back on and I will do something else instead. Like recover. 

Last edited by KatLondon (14-9-2015 13:35:04)

How can machines get so crapped up, I wonder.  And this is not the proverbial Underwood 5 that's been out in the chicken coop for decades.  Congratulations on your persistence!

KatLondon wrote:

I like the Adlers, and have just bought - though not yet got - an Adler Gabriele 25 also, but with scriopt type! We can have a Gabriele-25-fest.  

{editing in to say that no, it's a Junior 3. But if anyone would like to talk me through the differences I'll be all ears.]

I would love to have a typewriter with script type. The Adler Junior looks to be the same as the Gabriele 25 and I don't know what the difference could be if any. I think Uwe has a Junior 3 so he would probably know. There are a lot of Adlers about so, yes, maybe we could have an Adler-fest at least or a flash mob at Liverpool st. station
 

Uwe wrote:

It's a 1976 SM9. The Monica did not have a tabulator. As for its typeface, I'd like to see a type sample of it since I'm not familiar with the Adler "Technik" typeface and it would be interesting to see if it was something less common. 
 

Ah, thanks for that. I have managed to track down what Olympia calls the typeface on my SM9 it's Senatorial Robot. I have probably led a very sheltered life in the world of typewriters using mainly whatever machines that were in the office where I was working at the time. I am very impressed with the SM9, now if Olympia made a lightweight portable as good as that but which one should I be looking for?