Oh, such nice stories about your machines.
I learned to sew on my mother's 1950 Kenmore and then my parents gave me a Kenmore that actually had a zig-zag stitch for my 16th bday in 1971 - I felt as if I'd hit the big time!!!!
I made most of my clothes and prom dresses after that. I remember lugging (literally!) her back from my hometown in a cardboard box on the train to Boston, then carrying her on the subway to my little room in the boarding house. That was in 1977 - I needed new clothes for my new job with a bank!
She started spitting oil and I replaced her with a Kenmore free-arm in 1986 which was a plasticy model that had little power. What a disappointment. I finally sold my first machine after I got a used Viking 1+ in 1999. I just didn't have room for an extra machine.