I think of vintage machines as "real"....like antique furniture is real - real wood, real metal, real artistic, no noveau fabrications as in plastics, aluminum, etc.
I have 2 vintage Berninas and a 1990s rendition of one of them; it too is 'almost' all metal and wonderful to use. I don't even want a 2011 computerized, digitized, embroidery machine!
Jan in VA