I attended a conference in Bloomington, Indiana this weekend. On the way there, I stopped at two midsized antique malls, which had zero typewriters. On the way back, I stopped at the creatively named Exit 76 Antique Mall in Edinburgh, Indiana—but everything there was stuff I would put in the basket of deplorables because of its commonness, condition, or price, such as …

Unnamed toy typewriter, $35:

Repainted Underwood no. 3, “$199.95 firm”:

Remington Noiseless no. 6, $239:

And the pièce de resistance, another Underwood no. 3, for “$1000.00, Good luck!” The vendor will indeed be lucky if they get a grand for this thing.

I left disappointed. But just down the road was Vic’s Antiques & Uniques, which is considerably more interesting. There are oddball cars inside and outside the building …

… and even a military plane and what looks like an armored boat (the rusty thing behind the red pickup).

Vic’s is not a multi-vendor mall, I think, but one man’s obsessive collection of intriguing junk.

Cute Fiat … 

… and a 1902 Rambler!

Seems like the kind of place where you could find typewriters … and here is an office-themed nook!

A cool, bulbous Remington calculator:

A Brother electric missing its top shell, $55:

Elsewhere I found this yellowed Royal Sprite for $45:

Still pretty deplorable … but here’s another batch of typewriters!

Another Royal KMG, for $145:

Smith-Corona Super-Speed, $165:

’50s Underwood with blank keys (for learning to touch type), $175:

Now what’s this? Another Super-Speed, but in a very unusual tan paint. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one before, at least not in person. Nearly all Super-Speeds are black or gray. This machine looks clean, and the carriage purrs nicely.

There was no price tag on this one. I offered $150, and it was mine!

I sang all the way to Greensburg, where I enjoyed a fish sandwich and peach pie at Stories Restaurant—small storefront, long premises:

At home, I cleaned the Super-Speed, gave it a fresh ribbon, and fixed a few mechanical issues.

This elite machine was made in 1948.

I can’t wait to do some writing on this beauty!