1957 Smith Corona Silent Super #5T626375

Status: My Collection
Hunter: Mei Travis (meilynne)
Created: 12-07-2020 at 11:08AM
Last Edit: 01-11-2022 at 02:00PM

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Description:

It's like the sky opened up and the typewriter gods are raining down on me with a green Smith-Corona Silent-Super for $30 and 20 minutes away. Of course it's much nicer looking in person, but everything works fine after cleaning, oil, and fresh ribbon, and I'm totally stoked to find a 6-CPI Sight Ease #47 type style!

I always ask about the history of the old stuff I buy, and the sweet seller explained it was her Grandma's who was a secretary and this was her personal machine she bought used. I was a little sad to hear that because I'd never give away a family machine, but not everybody's into typewriters, thank goodness, and the seller was happy to find it a good home instead of trashing it. Meet Shirley, named after her last owner Grandma.

The body has to stay in timeout till I decide what to do after Dawn took the grease AND paint out of the way. I think this machine was cleaned over the years with harsh chemicals where it worked at the Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs AR, because the inside paint is perfectly intact, but the outside easily washed off with the dish soap. I'm still deciding on whether I want to paint it. Until then it's assembled just enough parts to type on it without the body, and now I have another sexy naked typewriter.

The only adjustment needed was a slight turn of the shift calibration screw, so all characters are now on feet.

Typeface Specimen:

Links:

• Owner's Manuals on The Classic Typewriter Page

Photos:

Hunter: Mei Travis (meilynne)

Mei Travis's Typewriter Galleries [ My Collection ] [ My Sightings ]

Status: Typewriter Hunter
Points: 1265

During the quiet summer of 2020, I longed to use a typewriter again. After some online research and browsing, two Brother machines landed on my doorstep. A 1971 Montgomery Ward's Signature 511D and a creamy 1985 Sears ultraportable both ignited a fire I haven't felt in a long time. I quickly found Ted Munk, the Facebook groups, and the rest of the typewriter online community, where I learned how to fix them and appreciate them. By summer's end I had collected 20 typewriters to cure my pandemic blues. Now I'm obsessed about the different styles, the mechanics & repair, and their important history. Typewriters are an endless source of fascination as a literary medium, for creativity, a tinker-fest for machine geeks, and they still contribute to the economy. I truly enjoy learning how to bring mid-century or later typewriters back to life, even the electric ones, while completely in awe of the unique antiques that folks brilliantly restore. It warms my heart that there are others, and here we are sharing the same passions about typewriters together.