My grandparents taught me to sew when I was eight or nine years old - on my grandmother's relatively new Singer 401. They would often tell me, "This will be yours, someday." It was one of their possessions of which they were most proud.
My sister ended up with it and I bought another one a few years ago. I refurbished it and gave it an identical desk cabinet and all the accessories and notions that I can find that my grandmother had in her desk - wooden darning eggs, even a pair of Wiss pinking shears in the exact same box in which she kept hers. :)
I bought my own first machine when I was about 25 - it was from Fingerhut, because they had really low monthly payments. I don't remember what brand it was, but I think it was a Brother. A few years later, I got my mother's Singer Golden Touch & Sew 750 which had only about ten hours of sewing time on it. I still have that one, along with 23 or 24 others. :oops: That 401 turned me into a collector.