198X Smith Corona SL 500 #2228570
Status: My Collection
Hunter: Christopher Bailey (cbaile19)
Created: 04-28-2023 at 12:41PM
Last Edit: 04-28-2023 at 12:51PM
Description:
Almost identical to the SL 470 I have. The manual that came with this one bears a copyright date of 1988. The SL 470 manual I found on line bore a copyright date of 1997. Both typewriters are identified on the bottom as “Model 5A,” and both were made in Singapore. The plastic shells and probably the mechanics are identical, but a couple of electronic features have been added to the SL 470 model.
The type sample is the Regency 10 wheel that was in the machine when it came home from the thrift store, and I assume that was what came with the typewriter. In the manual it’s listed as “Regency 10/Courier 10.”
The serial number is from a sticker under the carrier, where it is preceded by “5ACC.” I entered the numbers only to match the other SL 500s in the database.
Typeface Specimen:
Photos:
Hunter: Christopher Bailey (cbaile19)
Christopher Bailey's Typewriter Galleries [ My Collection ] [ My Sightings ]
Status: Typewriter Hunter
Points: 844
I’m a writer who often writes with a typewriter to get away from the computer for a while. I think I became a typewriter collector when I bought my typewriters some industrial-grade wheeled steel shelving from a restaurant supply house. Before that I was just an accumulator, but now I’ve spent more on shelves than on all the typewriters put together. (They were all cheap.)
I have steel pens, too, which I also write with regularly. Both collections started at the same moment in 1990, at the liquidation of the head offices of the old G. C. Murphy five-and-dime chain, where I bought a Woodstock typewriter, two gross of Esterbrook Jackson Stub pens, and three bottles of Carter’s green ink.
RESEARCH NOTE: When researching the Smith Corona SL 500 on a computer with lots of screen real estate, you may find that launching the Smith Corona Serial Number page and the Smith Corona SL 500 By Model/Year/Serial page in new browser windows can give you interesting perspectives on changes throughout the model series.