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Viracocha, on Valencia Street in San Francisco's Mission District, sells typewriters. I sent my envoy Scott over there to check out the offerings a week or two ago, and here's what he found.
Can you name that 'writer? No looking anything up. (For encyclopedic types, this will be a no-brainer). I'll add my lame remarks, this is where you'll see how little I actually know about typewriter model specifics, only really being familiar with the typewriters I own. This general ignorance is why I never make appearances among the sages on Yahoo's Portable Typewriter Forum.
Some kind of big ol' Olympia SG standard. I have never paid any attention to the standard models made by Olympia.
1950's Remington Quiet Riter. I want one!
An Underwood standard whaaat? It looks 1950's.
Royal Quiet de Luxe, 1950's.
A Royal KMS? KM-something? 50's? 60's? Man, I don't know thing one about standards.
What is this?? A Torpedo? Is this a German brand? I only know Torpedos as imposing antique standard type machines, didn't know they made any in the 60's or whenever this was made.
Voss... another German brand? If I had to pick one of these 'writers, I'd take this one. I don't know anything about Voss machines and have never seen one in the wild.
Smith-Corona clipper. Now I am on more familiar territory. 40's?
Some kind of early IBM electric typewriter. I know even less about electric typewriters than I do about standards.
What's that goofy long green lever on the right side? This is a quiet de luxe, right? It's kind of hard to tell from this picture.
_____
Oh my, that was disgraceful. Please tell me you can do better at identifying these machines.
18 comments:
Pretty nice selection! The Olympia SG1 (the big guy) is a tank of a machine that is a mechanical masterwork. The Torpedo and Voss (yes, both are German from the '50s) are both very good typewriters. That white Torpedo is a beaut -- it's going to get some readers calling up the store, I bet.
With people like Richard and Olivander in the world, I am not even going to try. I tip my hat to the greats.
You should have your envoy grab that Torpedo 18b for you. Wonderful machines. It's really elegant in white.
I think the Underwood is a Model 100 or 150. I have a hard time telling those apart.
The grey Royal standard is a KMM, I believe.
The IBM is prolly a Model A, but I'm not too clear on the various IBM makes.
And the lever on the right of the Royal HH is a palm tabulator. Just reach over and smack it with your hand! The HH is one of the best typers Royal ever made, IMO.
I must agree with the HH sentiment. The HH is my work/school desktop typewriter and it is simply the best. If you have the space, desktops are wonderful machines.
That's quite a spread of typewriters!
that's quite an assortment. I would be tempted by the voss and the clipper first, but all of them are great.
The first Royal (the standard beneath the Quiet De Luxe) is a KMG. I was recently given one and Clemens has had one for a while. They are pretty nice machines.
This shop is on Valencia Street in SF???? Right near my house???And I didn't know about it? Yikes. I am on my way to check things out. I wonder what the prices are like....My Royal Quiet DeLuxe came from Mass.....
Very interesting selection! MLG is right: just grab that Torpedo! Torpedos are underrated machines, but also seriously fun to type with and a joy to look at.
On the Royal HH, the last big Royal, the green lever that looks like something from an adding machine is the tabulator key. You whack it with the side/heel of the right hand for quick advance to the tab stop without leaving the keyboard.
Tell Scott to buy everything he saw there in the shop--especially that Olympia SG-1.
Too bad there weren't any Olivers, they should take precedence over everything else!
yours,
Marty
P.S., If you do want a Remington Quite Riter from the 50s, Keith McBride has one for sale on his ebay site at http://stores.ebay.com/Arkaem-Sales_
I've still got my Royal KMG, it's a fine machine. That SG1 is sweeeeet lookin', too.
Having once tried a Torpedo at Polt's typospherical meet-up, I'd grab that sucker. The Voss is a fine machine, too.
That Torpedo looks rather a lot like a Hermes 2000. I wonder if they share very many mechanical aspects? If so, it oughta be a really nice typer, if you don't mind carriage shift machines.
The Torpedo is a basket-shift machine, and very snappy. No relation to the Hermes 2000, as far as I can tell.
I e-mailed the store to get its price. $375. Expensive, but I have seen a very nice Torpedo portable go over $700 on eBay, and I don't recall seeing a white one in this model. Could be a worthy investment if someone wants a typewriter to cherish and use.
$375??? No wonder the store has that much inventory, if their prices are so high. I wonder if they're looking at certain online typewriter stores and pricing the machines accordingly... I hope they are at least cleaning/oiling the typewriters and supplying new ribbons at that price!
I agree that the white color is rare, but I think some diligent eBay stalking could get you a Torpedo 18b in the range of $50 to $100 within a few months, even in the US. Unless it's a script font or there's a bidding war, of course.
The IBM could be a MOdel B, too. A or B, they may have the best keyboard of any electric, ever. I wrote thousands of words on one (every one of them rejected by editors) and lost it when I had it at work to type up labels and my boss threw it out by mistake.
I've been looking for one ever sense.
Despite the splendid key spacing and feel, they're a bit like typing with a dryer: they're warm, purring and sort of in motion. It made for a big change from a manual.
My memory is sketchy but I think that the difference between the IBM A and B is that the B, I think, has a split space bar, one functions to advance the carriage one space at a time and the other is a "zoom" type function.
They weigh a ton, I mean twice as much as even a large, heavy full-sized underwood or royal desktop, so if you are planning on shipping, well be my guest.
They also take ribbons that are strange to Olympia users such as myself, another reason I have steered clear of them, though I have used one once and, wow, I did like it.
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