I saw a listing on ebay where the seller stated the Featherweight was accidently dropped and the motor fell off but it as reattached. It also stated that the machine was still in good working condition. I was just wondering how do we know if and how many times these very old and sought after machines have been dropped. A lot of seller would not tell us, they would just list them "as is" to make a sale. It makes you a little afraid to buy machines unseen because you don't know if something is loose. A lot of these seller are clueless about sewing and machines but are sticking prices and these machines out there because they know there is a great demand for them. I don't have one yet but hopefully I will be soon. Just wanted to know from all you owners of these little babies, can she they really take a licking and keep on ticking or should we be leary of buying machines sight unseen?

if any machine can be dropped and continue to work it would be a FW or other vintage Singer...those babies are made of metal with none of the "finely tuned" parts of today's electronic and plastic machines. While it's possible that a drop might knock the needle arm out of alignment, and prevent it from sewing correctly, that's about the only thing that could happen - I would think.

Would a needle alignment or a motor replacement be a hard fix?

I've seen a lot of FWs on ebay but I bought mine at an auction. I plugged it in and listened to the motor. My sister-in-law bought one at an antique show. We did the same thing.... plugged it in. I'm not sure I would buy one on eBay for the same reasons you said.... but there are still a lot of them out there and sometimes you can get one for a reasonable price. I love mine.

It happened to me. I was trying to learn how to use it on the kitchen counter an my 1 year old daughter pulled on the foot pedal cord. Off the counter it went flying onto my foot. Lucky for me it was not on her or the tile floor. It did a little bounce, I did a big curse and wouldn't you know it...it still works perfectly. You can't beat the quality of the 1940's machinery. My toe recovered later that week.
- Harry

I don't know about dropping it, but I did read once of one being found in a rubbish dump and it was cleaned etc. and still stitched.

I might try to pay less, but I'd still buy it. Very likely fine and almost certainly repairable. My toe hurts just thinking about this, Harryb1834.

go to top of page/searchVintage sewing machine and they have all kinds of great advice. pab

I'm glad your toe and your featherweight recovered.

have no idea on the price of these fixes...machines are available....as another poster said, check on the vintage machine discussion, or search for it, for more info. The early Singers are a very sturdy bunch!