I know I said I don't collect these, but...

[xoagray]

 My Coronet just got a little brother.  

When I went to the shop to get my Coronet Auto 12 refurbished, the folks at the typewriter shop showed me this machine as well, and it stuck in my head.  The price was really good and it's in better shape than my Coronet was when I got it.  These machines are very reliable, but since there aren't as many repair shops as there used to be, the ones that still exist are surprisingly busy, and I do use these as part of my daily workflow... I decided to hike up there and grab this one too.  Wait times for a repair can be over a month. 

This machine is slightly newer , and has a slightly different feature set than my larger Coronet.  But nothing really substantial.  It's little things, like this one lacksk half line spacing, but has a separate key for half spaces and the "power space" feature (just lets you hold the button down to auto space).  In their day, these machines were some of the best electric typewriters you could buy, and they're still really nice to type on.  Much like the Coronet this one also feels like typing on a mechanical PC keyboard. (Because really, it is.)  And like the Coronet, it's blazing fast. 

Interesting side note, the business that sold me this one, and refurbished my other one, don't use computers at their store, all their documents are still done on paper,  with a  typewriter.   (I believe an IBM Wheelwriter. ) 

Comments

[claudeb]

It's amazing that people still fix these machines at all. Here it was still possible to see the occasional typewriter in an antique shop many years ago, but not anymore. Heck, there aren't many computer repair shops left, let alone other kinds.

[xoagray]

There aren't as many as there used to be here either, that's for sure. But luckily I live within driving distance to one. (Driving distance for me anyway, it's a 5 hour round trip). Fortunately, with the renewed interest in typewriters here these stoares are really busy . The people that run them are often on the older side though, that's the only real fear there. Eventually these folks are going to have to retire. Fortunately, there are some folks taking up the task and learning to work on them, once in a while we even see a new repair shop open. And some repair shops will also let you mail in your machine for repairs and then send it back to you. It's always a little risky sending a 10-22kg or more machine through the mail though.

While the typewriter did almost die here at one point, it never completely did. And the younger generations that grew up with all the new tech are starting to embrace them in a similar way to how many of them like simple flip phones over smart phones. As a way to escape the overload of constantly being online, constantly plugged in. I can appreciate that myself, it's part of why I use these things as well.

Computer repair shops are still pretty plentiful here. Even the electronics store chain Best Buy has their "Geek Squad" that services computers. There's a lot of people here that tend to hold onto things as long as they work well.