Poor 301; it has had a rough life!!!

I have a featherweight Singer that is working beautifully. I've named her Pearl as she was 'born' in 1941 just before they had to stop using chrome for decorations, I'm told, because the military needed it for something.

Derla, Beautiful machines; however, both are 99s which explains why they're so heavy. The AA 99 was allotted on Aug, 4, 1925, with a run of 25,000. The AD 99 was allootted on April 23, 1930, with a run of 10,000. Both were manufactured in Elizabeth, NJ. I'm sorry to burst your bubble byut I love my 99 almost as much as my featherweight. They are good solid machines and will sew denim (jeans) very nicely with right size needle and thread in them. I hope this helps. Chris

Thanks Chris, for helping us out. I didn't think those were FW's. If they were dated as being allotted in the 40's wouldn't they have been a blackish finish? The chorem and japan was used for the war efforts. Like rubber, sugar and other commodities were withheld.

I knew these were not Featherweights - What I want to know is can the parts on these 2 machines be interchanged to make one good machine that works?

[quote=Derla][quote=chris_quilts]Derla, sorry I was confused by your post. Parts should be interchangeable; although Singer made proprietary things for their machines, parts from a 99 should easily interchange with another 99. It works on the 15s so think it would be applicable to the 99s also.

[quote=chris_quilts][quote=Derla]That's ok Chris, My husband gets confused with the way I word things also -- maybe in my second life I'll even be able to write a good book.

Still haven't gotten my husband interested in getting the 99s running - and I certainly am not talented in that way either. I really am eager to see how they sew.

Derla

I was finally able to locate and purchase a Singer 401A that was local, only 20 minutes away. I don't like having machines shipped. I worry about them all the time they're in transit because some people don't pack them properly. Anyway, it's here and it's wonderful! I am so much in awe of how much the older machines can do. I thought we were so smart with our computerized machines, but the stitches this one makes are lovely. And it has two throat plates to switch, depending on whether you are zigzagging or straight stitching. Funny that the brand new Janome 12000 has the same feature.......Everything old is new again I guess:) Thanks for looking!

I love the cabinet that your machine is in, way retro! The Singer 401s are fun machines to sew with!