I shot some pics:
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you never know what will turn up on my work bench
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it was a job getting it in the post office shipper
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it is ready for the next CL spammer

Yessirebob it is loaded in a shipper box:
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I was out of town when you posted this, and I'm thankful that I happened upon it today because it's just what I needed to see. Yesterday I bought a Craiglist Necchi Supernova, which the nice seller said in his ad: "works fine". You are not going to believe this, but I did not even ask him to plug it in and show me that it works, because we settled on a price that was such that I might have paid it for just the cabinet, which is a very functional style, even if it's not real wood. Also, I'd rather make sure that there's some oil in a machine before turning it on, and he lived in such a nice area and was so pleasant - and who the heck knows why!

Anyway, I brought it home, but didn't bring it in and try it out because DH has had surgery on a finger and still has stitches and can't help me move furniture at the moment. (That can wait, of course.) Operating purely on faith, I then went on eBay and paid quite a bit for a set of cams and attachments and a manual - all without knowing whether the machine will sew. Today I finally decided that maybe - maybe - it wouldn't be a bad idea to bring the head up here and plug it in. The light comes on - proof that my power source isn't the problem. The motor is dead silent. Could be the foot pedal, or...

In any case, although I'm not about to take a sledge hammer to this sweet little night light/door stop, it does my heart good to witness this option in case things get just too unbearable.

I'm pouting because I didn't hold out for a pink one in working order!

Are there little switches on the right side of the machine? Did you try them before you tried to sew?

Can you put a Lydia motor in a Supernova? If so, I can help.

Are the motors external or internal?

Yes, thank you. I tried the switches. For the motor they're "Min" and "Max", so it should work either way. Not the slightest response. Truth is, I'm just theorizing that it actually has a motor - kidding I hope.

It's in the post, but there's something in a housing under those switches. I don't know how complex it might be.

Thank you so much for the offer, Anastasia! Eventually, I may PM about that. I don't know the answer. I think mine is quite a bit earlier, and maybe the design was altered. But it may be a little premature to go with changing it out, considering the problem may be the foot pedal or wiring.

In any case, nothing that couldn't be fixed permanently with a sledge hammer!

you need an electrical tester

Good point. The pedal doesn't work. I have opened it up to see why, and it's not the wiring but some broken parts that don't allow it to make a connection. Since the wires are a bit stiff anyway, I opted to replace the pedal with a new, pre-wired one. I believe the machine will be okay. It makes pretty stitches with just turning the hand wheel. I could treadle it, if nothing else. No sledgehammer for this one.

Thanks, everyone, for all the kind interest and help! I do have at least one hopeless mess of a machine, a Kenmore with plastic innards, that may have quit sewing the first time it was used. It looked as if nobody had ever used it, and I paid very little, which I don't regret because it came with several shiny new feet, screwdrivers, needles and such, and a working 1.0 amp motor. I wound up using the foot pedal from it on an older machine.

The sad thing about a bad machine is that the person who had it originally may have been someone with no sewing experience who may have given up the whole idea of sewing because of the hopelessness and disappointment it caused. These machines came with impressive warranties, but inexperienced owners sometimes don't take them in because they assume it's something they're doing wrong. If anything ever deserved a sledge treatment, that was it.