Smith-Corona Sterling - burgundy "flat top" beauty
I have this machine since long.
For many months she was my favourite machine. She had some problems, as all these oldtimers do, but I could fix them easily.
The first and biggest issue was dirt. No surprise. To make matters worse someone sprayed the mechanism with WD40 or similar product which, together with dust, stalled the mechanism for good.
Nothing moved.
It took me several baths in “typewriter soup” to remove all the gunk.
On Smith-Coronas the job of a serviceman is easier than on most other brands: escapement mechanism is readily accessible and easy to clean or adjust. No need to disassemble the whole machine like on Olivettis.
Once cleaned all started to work nice and smooth again.
The usual burden of cleaning keytops was well worth it - it feels and looks much nicer when all nicotine and dirt is wiped off.
It adds spice that the key legends are yellow letters on black background!
There were two other issues to address: tab mechanism was sluggish and tend to stall. And the usual one: rubber feet were long gone. While having the machine on my bench I addressed them both in the same go.
Tabulator problem happened to be very easy to fix: the actuator rod jumped out of it’s guiding tongue, resulting in partial carriage release action. Arrow below shows where it should be. On my machine it was above the metal tongue.
Feet are of little special construction so finding exact replacement is hard. My machine had them hard as plastic and top parts broke when I tried to slide them out of their mounts.
I wanted to use this machine without it sliding around the table so I made my own version from available components.
Mounted on the machine they work like a charm.
Not only the typewriter stays in place upon fast carriage return or tabulating but the modern rubber-like components dump vibrations much more effectively compared to single-piece rubber blocks. At least in my experience.
Smith-Coronas are famous for their typing action. This machine is no exception - it is snappy and light, very responsive and extremely pleasant to use.
Importantly for me she is also a joy to look at.
No wonder they are very popular among typospherians.
I like how the profile is almost symmetrical.
This machine had certainly eventful life.
Marks and scratches constitute what I call “honest patina” and add charm and character to the thing.
Its burgundy colour is darker than rendered on photographs, I tend to think of it more as cherry. In poorer light she looks almost black but today the sun was bright so I took her for a photo session.
.Always a joy to look “under the hood”:
Body panels, after waxing, got back their brilliancy and the colours are more vibrant.