198x Olivetti Lettera 42 #044 1298
Status: My Collection
Hunter: Ovi Sergiu (ovisergiu)
Created: 11-06-2023 at 11:42AM
Last Edit: 11-06-2023 at 11:51AM
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Description:
I bought this Olivetti Lettera 42 in the summer of 2023 from a flea market. I liked the shape and the feel of the keys and the price was under 25 Euro.
I don't know its story like I usually ask for every typewriter I buy because the seller brings a lot of antiques from the German deposits.
It was very easy to clean it and to remove the case. I found some small reziduals from pen sharpening. I had to do some cleaning because some keys were frozen. It cleaned up nicely and the frozen keys are working now.
The pros:
+ nice and firm feel when touching the keys and also when pressing them;
+ multiple line spacing
+ Tab and Repeat Spacer keys
+ the way number 3 looks
+ multiple punctuation keys
The cons:
- the plastic case and the plastic lid (if metal was used it would have looked more awsome);
- the small retractable paper suport arm;
- the lack of accent keys;
- the red Tab key beside the Backspace key (which maked me confused and made me press the red key instead of the white key for Backspace);
- the strange way to make the ribbon to go the other way (first you need to slide the ribbon `guide` (?) to the other way and then push some narrow metal piece to the other way) - but I am not sure wether the ribbon reverse process is damaged because of the lack of lubricant since I do not know where to put lubricant.
Typeface Specimen:
Photos:
Hunter: Ovi Sergiu (ovisergiu)
Ovi Sergiu's Typewriter Galleries [ My Collection ] [ My Sightings ]
Status: Typewriter Hunter
Points: 433
Typewriter lover and collector.
RESEARCH NOTE: When researching the Olivetti Lettera 42 on a computer with lots of screen real estate, you may find that launching the Olivetti Serial Number page and the Olivetti Lettera 42 By Model/Year/Serial page in new browser windows can give you interesting perspectives on changes throughout the model series.
