Fear, Bad Craziness, Aligned Planets and a $5 Smith-Corona Super Sterling

The day after the CIA shoots bin Laden in the head and dumps his corpse in the sea, I’m sensing weird vibes all around. Turns out almost all the planets are lined up and viewable in the morning sky and everyone’s talking about terrorist reprisals. The waves of fear and apprehension infect me as well – I dusted off the Sig P229 and loaded it with Federal Hydra-Shocks that are probably a decade old or more. All of my ammo is old now, and I’m no longer used to 30+ ounces of metal attached to my right hip. I’m *too* aware of it hanging heavily on my belt and digging into my kidney. I’m way out of practice at carrying concealed. It’s likely I’ll have to force myself to do it the rest of the week just to rediscover the proper mindset, even if this vague feeling that bad craziness is about to happen vanishes before then.

With all this apprehension going around, you’d maybe expect it was a bad day for me, but no – my Typewriter Bone started tingling again, as I approached the LDS thrift store (Deseret) that’s along my route back home from work. Despite my self-imposed ban on actively looking for typers and my nervousness about leaving the P229 in the car, I was compelled to stop and take a quick tour of the Typewriter Shelf. Nothing but plastic wedges, but my T-Bone is still tingling, so I round the corner and take a quick peek at the shelf that they normally keep the Crock Pots and George Foreman grills on – and behold: there on a little card table sits an opened Galaxie-class suitcase with a mid-60’s SCM Super Sterling in it, covered in $5.00 price stickers (I peeled off 4 separate but identical ones when I got it home)

Update: Tori came home from work and immediately fell in love with the dang thing. The color, as usual, was the deciding factor, since she seemed completely disinterested in either of the two Galaxie-class machines I picked up earlier this month. It now has a name: Roger Sterling. You know, from Mad Men. Officially, this will be her sixth typewriter. Plus my fabulous fifteen makes 21. We now have more typewriters than fingers, so we’ll soon be seeking professional help.

Updated: October 25, 2018 — 10:58 pm

11 Comments

Add a Comment
  1. This is just like my own Super Sterling, blue too! Except I kind of beat you on price; $3 is practically impossible to beat…except a gift, of course. But $5 is a great deal, I saw one just like ours in an antiques store for $25.

    I do enjoy typing on mine a lot, it also came in good shape, though yours types more evenly. –I notice that with mine, I actually get a headache after typing multiple pages continuously. No typer ever did that to me. (It’s happened twice with this… too bad cause it’s so nice to use)

    1. Clearly typewriter prices are skyrocketing thanks to all of the recent media coverage. An almost 40% spike in price between when you bought yours and I bought mine proves it! :D

  2. I never could carry, I spend too much time in places where I can’t, like working at the airport. What do people do about that? I never could afford premium hardware like that, only Kel-Tecs.

    Nice super sterling, just like mine!

    1. I imagine they do what they’re supposed to: hope that the officially armed people can be present and competent to handle any dangerous situation that might present itself. Personally, I trust neither the omniscience nor the competence of your average slightly-more-than-minimum-wage paid security guard. Cops at least have experience and training (and in many cases, a military background). Rent-a-cops? No thank you. I’d rather be responsible for my own safety. (:

  3. You bring up an odd thought. Did the world just get more safe, or is it still too early to relax our vigilance? Never mind, my 1917 Smith & Wesson revolver is within reach, right now. Yes, my choice of handgun predates even my typewriters! Federal HydraShocks? Have you ever seen a Winchester Black Talon? In forty-five caliber? Wicked stuff.

    We keep saying the revolution will be typewritten, but it’s nice to have backup when eloquent words and noble sentiments aren’t enough. I’m thinking bin Laden wasn’t interested in a quiet, one-way trip to Guantanamo. The operation in Pakistan has been a hot, critical subject, but I have yet to see anyone criticize the Navy SEALs for doing their job with such surgical precision.

    1. If I had to guess, I’d say “less safe”, but that makes the assumption that we were “safe” to begin with, which we never are. If you imagine yourself to be in such an environment that you can relax your vigilance down to Condition White, I imagine any safety you might feel would be pure illusion.

      That said, I think you are very well armed with the big .45acp Smith revolver. I hear they make wickedly clever half-moon clips for those things that makes tactical reloads a breeze. I’d carry a .45 myself, but the only one I have is a 6″ barreled AMT Hardballer 1911, and it’s impossible to sit down with that thing in an IWB hip holster. I used to use Black Talons until they stopped making them in the late 90’s/early oughts. Did they restart manufacture? Right now I keep Remington Golden Sabers in the AMT.

      Re: Bin Laden’s quiet trip to Guantanamo, I heard on NPR that he used some woman as a human shield when the SEALs came knocking. That could be propaganda, but who knows? In any case, Obama showed quite a lot of huevos by greenlighting that operation with the twin spectres of Carter and Clinton staring over his shoulder. He finally proved that a Democrat can order a chopper strike and not have it be the inglorious end to his political career.

      1. How perceptive that you automatically presume it’s a 45ACP wheelgun with moon clips! I use full moons, in fact, because carrying extras is no more bulky than packing the chunky gun in the first place. It’s not conducive to concealed carry…

        As far as I know, Winchester pulled the Black Talon line, way back when, and never reintroduced them. They were apparently a public relations nightmare. Thus, my box is vintage stock from the nineties. I haven’t been obliged to use any of them, and really hope I don’t ever have to.

        Generally, I am sparing with words of praise toward politicians. Being “kinder and gentler” is what got us into the defenseless condition against terrorists in the first place. The current President rose, in my estimation, by finally doing what needed to be done, and politics be damned.

  4. Thank you for this site! I keep it as my start page so I never have to look for it.
    My neighbor handed me a cherry condition (no marks on platen, supple rubber feet), every key works great, so I’m guessing unused. 6SS 199475, I have trouble nailing down the year. I prefer the 5-series, but this baby rocks. Came with manual and vinyl cover as well. I have about 100 typers, but my favorites are Hermes 3000, Erika 1950s and Lettera 32 in mint condition. Barcelona machines are superior to the Ivrea ones, with snappy action. Don’t know how they did it. Do you have any info on this?
    Again, I learn much from your blog, and never get tired of reading it.

    1. yeah, we don’t have a good list for SCM much after the 60’s. I can say that SCM started series at 100k though, so yours is an early one, prolly first year of production.

  5. I have one of these exact machines… However, I paid $55 at an antique store and $110 to get it repaired. It was adding unwanted spaces in my words… It has worked fine for a while but now the spaces have returned. Any advice on fixing that issue?

    1. Option 1) take it back to the guy that charged you $110 and tell him to fix it right this time.

      Option 2) learn how to fix it yourself. sounds like a problem with the loose dog being too loose, but I don’t see how it would have gotten out of adjustment so fast unless your guy didn’t tighten the adjustment he did (see Option 1):
      https://sellfy.com/p/7Kkk/

Leave a Reply to peter Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.