Instead I blew this chance completely and have
ended up selling them in their different colours with uninspiring accurate
descriptions. What has been interesting,
is that nobody wants a silver typewriter. All typewriters were put on Gumtree one after the other. The black and green SJ’s attracted a huge amount of interest and both sold within a couple of days. One sold to a girl in her early 20's, who patiently listened as I excitedly demonstrated all the features to her, before I worked out she was only going to use it as a display. The black one went to a friend who wanted to display it at his work alongside some super old-school computers. The silver one on the other hand was put on Gumtree with the same description, same photo location and the same price, but hardly attracted any interest
at all. It sold yesterday to the second of only two enquiries in almost three weeks. Go figure...? The silver one sold to a 30-someting chef-looking guy who was looking for a replacement "everyday typer" since his last one gave up the ghost. Before it sold I did however type up lyrics to a couple of Jonny Cash songs...
This example demonstrates what happens when you restore a dry ribbon
with WD40 but don't give it long enough to dry and don't clean the grub
out of the letters on the typeslugs first. In the 30 minutes between the
seller phoning me up and arriving at the doorstep I changed the ribbon
to a shop-bought ribbon and de-mucked the type slugs and gee it made a difference. Unfortunately the proof is at the house of the new owner.
I'd have thought the silver one would have flown out the door. I have to say, though, that black paint job looks the biz. I've been thinking of stripping the 'office grey' finish off my Quiet-Riter and respraying it in some other colour. Now you've got me thinking "Paint it black". Sorry, I'm a Stones fan.
ReplyDeleteAnd that KCB paint stripper looks like serious stuff.
Well done, Steve.
Thanks Teeritz! Yes KCB is definitely the right stuff, flick a drop onto your arm by mistake and it becomes even more apparrent! Painting any typewriter, the question must be asked: "Is it really necessary?" Because I do like to keep things original where possible, but if you can make something that looks awful look good, then why not? The decision was an easy one with each of the SJ's considering the state of the paintwork: chipped, corroded and scratched, not to mentinon sleep-inducingly blaaaaand...
ReplyDeleteTeeritz, old chap, I would think twice about repainting your Quietwriter if the paint is of a crinkle finish. Spraying over crinkle finish can be done but the result can awful.
ReplyDeleteThere are crinkle finish paints available in a spray can.. You will have to ask your local paint shop about availability or check out the local car repairs/panel beaters. I can get it here locally but in any colour I like as long as it is Black!
@ Steve, originality doesn't bug me with this machine. It's a nice enough shade of grey, but yes, it IS bland.
ReplyDelete@ McTaggart, yes it is a crinkle finish, but I'm hoping to give it a slightly glossy paint job. I haven't decided 100% yet. It would depend on whether or not the original crinkle finish colour comes off completely.
Of course, there's no way to know until you start, heh, heh.
Thanks for the considerations, gents. Definitely something to think about.
Very nice restoring job on your "grown in the wild" SJ's :D
ReplyDeleteWord verification, appropriately enough was "adayoff 15" :D
Wanna try working on a Remington Noiseless?
ReplyDeleteOh well, I think I might be able to conduct that same experiment soon. I'll have to take it into consideration. Nice to know there's some nice looking Remingtons out in the world of Brisbane again!
Before I'd T-Cut my Lexikon to find a pretty fair paint job underneath the grime, I'd half considered painting it. BUT I have a shabby and blaaaand FACIT that might make a better candidate. The burning question is, of course, did you turn a decent profit? I certainly hope so. The green is likely to be an acquired taste but black goes with everything. Last: the toothbrush and stripper combination, don't you find you get some bad sprayback?
ReplyDeleteNice work on the typewriters. I too found that WD-40 without waiting for a few hours or even over night, it will smudge. Sometimes it will smudge with clean type slugs.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ted!
ReplyDeleteScott- Good. Take one for the team and succeed where I failed! I'll be very keen to hear the results. Rem noiseless you say? Why not?
Rob- yes, an impractical but fun experience with a toothbrush. A bit like the joys of touching electric fences as a kid. You'll be pleased to know I was wearing safety glasses despite periodically speckling my forearm red with tiny caustic burns. Did I sell for a profit? Yes all three went for a modest profit if you don't put a dollar value on time spent repairing and painting. Was in half a mind to keep them once all painted, but space limitations and my sanity got the best of me.
Bill- I reckon! Not just overnight but a couple of days or so. Still worth it tho, a little bit of reduce reuse recycle