18 Comments

1. 

   Gordon Tillman on February 24, 2015 at 7:50 pm

   Richard that is a really neat machine. It the body made out of aluminum?

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2. 

   Richard P on February 24, 2015 at 7:52 pm

   Yes, it is. Click on the label "Underwood Electric" at the end of the story to see the phases of its restoration/modification.

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3. 

   Winston on February 24, 2015 at 8:04 pm

   This is the coolest electric typewriter I've ever seen!

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4. 

   Ton S. on February 24, 2015 at 8:24 pm

   Wow. It's stunning. The black-and-aluminum combo works so well, character and gravitas to spare. And it even sounds amazing. Congratulations for this awesome restoration. This should have a place in your library typewriter exhibit at XU if you ever get that chance again.

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5. 

   Ton S. on February 24, 2015 at 8:25 pm

   By the way, are you now calling your blog "The Typewriter Revolution"? Good move. I'd say!

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6. 

   Anonymous on February 24, 2015 at 8:43 pm

   Fab. What an amazing restoration, and second life for that old grungy beast – now a shiny, super duper THING! What a thing. Uniquely charming.

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7. 

   Miguel Chávez on February 24, 2015 at 9:56 pm

   That machine means business! Looks great and seems to be working very nicely. Congratulations!

   How does it compare with the IBM Executive, for instance? Both are big desktop machines with plenty of mass and automatic return keys. And but hum nicely when they're on. Which one would you use if you had to do some serious typing?

   Will you give the Underwood the carbon-ribbon treatment, too?

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8. 

   JustAnotherGuy on February 24, 2015 at 10:03 pm

   Looks great, you did a stellar job!

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9. 

   Richard P on February 24, 2015 at 10:04 pm

   Both the Underwood and the IBM are heavy, powerful machines that paradoxically have a finger-light touch. For serious typing, I would definitely pick the Underwood, because the proportional spacing on the IBM Executive requires very accurate typing — otherwise, fixing the errors will drive you crazy.

   I hadn't thought about a carbon ribbon. I should post a typing sample from the Retro-Lectric. To be honest, its print quality is not fantastic, as there are some alignment issues.

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10. 

    Bill M on February 24, 2015 at 11:27 pm

    Very nice work Richard.

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11. 

    Anonymous on February 25, 2015 at 5:08 am

    Very nice restoration, Industrial chic? Would make a great movie prop – in movies along the lines of, say, Terry Gilliam's Brazil, or Richard Ayoade's The Double.

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12. 

    schrijfmachine on February 25, 2015 at 7:06 am

    Nice restoration! I think "industrial chic" describes it well. Great show piece :)

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13. 

    Ted on February 25, 2015 at 7:19 am

    Fantastic! Finally, all together again, and so much more awesome than stock :D

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14. 

    Anonymous on February 25, 2015 at 2:10 pm

    Awesome work! Very steam-punk.

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15. 

    rn on February 25, 2015 at 4:50 pm

    Fabu! All it needs is a heat element to make it the world's first crossover typewriter/toaster.

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16. 

    Rob Bowker on February 26, 2015 at 1:06 pm

    Beautiful, and so much more striking than the original designers could ever have hoped…. or maybe bare metal was the plan and the marketing chaps said "No, paint it grey."

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17. 

    Unknown on February 27, 2015 at 12:25 am

    Much power of the horse under that hood!

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18. 

    notagain on February 27, 2015 at 12:43 am

    That's pretty awesome, for sure.

    Reply