I'm seeeewwwww excited, I think I have found "The One". Well anyway for now today was my last shopping day for awhile as the garage is full. After a nap here is a long winded report.
Today I picked up three machines on a road trip to Los Angeles. My girlfriend came with me so it was a great day. We were going to run by the harp store for her but she voted to stop at the Apple store in Pasadena to look at Ipad. They are perty neat.
Oh, you guys want to know about the machines. I will tell you how the day went. First up was a hand crank in East LA. Kind of a scary part of town. We overcome my pitiful lack of speaking spanish and got Imeal to come down. He had brought the machine with him from Ecuador when he immigrated. Not sure why he would bring this with him but I'm glad he did. It is rusty and needle bar is zeized, but we will see what I can do with it. No markings or numbers on it. It appears the box is a handmade one, with a hand carved (more like chiseled) opening for the head.
Next was an area in North LA called Eagle Rock. What a wonderful little neighborhood. And Amy was a young woman that had rescued this machine while working on a documentary about an historic area of LA that was being razed. And not sure if it is just the best condition machine that I have purchased or the absolute dream it is to treadle. It is a labeled "The Free No 5", serial 5-5491. You get one rotation on the wheel and it will just continue to run. I am sure that will be different once there is the belt and it is hooked to the machine. I have not been through the drawers yet to figure out all that is in there. Too bad someone has silvered much of the front side decals. But I think she is beautiful. BTW Amy is going to send me some pictures of the home it was rescued from. I almost had to keep myself from jumping up and down and doing happy dance. But I am now that she is home. This one came directly into the house.
Last but not least on the way back south stopped in orange and picked up a White Rotary, serial FR 2601467, in a Twig cabinet. The wood needs some moisturizing and the girl needs some cleaning. Anyone have the letter "I" to go on the front panel? I will have to take some pictures of this one tomarrow.
All in all a wonderful day. I'm so excited about The Free.... not sure why but it is my favorite that I have found so far. :D :D :D :D
Hand crank
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The Free No 5
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back side with serial plate on this side
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The Free cabinet irons not a spot of rust
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