I have 2 and hope to be acquiring the 3rd and final one for my collection. I prefer vintage machines for 2 reasons.
Firstly, sentimental. I inherited my mom's FW. I've never used her before and I inherited her before I started quilting. She needs a new bobbin case, but is otherwise in perfect condition. I hope to have granddaughters someday that would like to have it.
Secondly, it's economical. I am married and while hubby works FT, I only work PT. We have 3 young children, 2 with various abilities; so we don't have a lot of extra money or a way to save or anything. When I realized I couldn't quilt on my DSM because of it's TINY throat area, I started searching for a machine to accommodate FMQ or straight line quilting on a king size quilt.
Janome has a new one and the dealer here was willing to sell it to me for a grand. Babylock has a newer edition of their professional quilter and with a throat plate of the size I needed (at least a 9" x 6"), their cost was 1500.00. All the dealers around talked about their new machines and their computerized stuff. I am about as computer dumb as they come and I couldn't see spending 2 months rent on a machine. Hubby quickly shot down the idea too. I had given up entirely on my search for a large throat machine when I went into my machine shop to set up my Janome for her annual maintenance. I met my "new" machine there. I bought her with 2 boxes of accessories and a nice, original manual for $200.00. She is a 1954 Singer 66. Her throat measurements are 9 1/2" x 6, just a shade bigger than the new fangled machines.
She's a work horse and she goes FAST! I've already quilted a few tiny ones on her. I really love her and she is my go to machine for straight line quilting. She doesn't FMQ as good as I thought she would, but after a TON of research in the VMS we have on the board, I realized I'm going to need a 15 for FMQ. So, someday I'll have the FW up and running for piecing, my 66 for straight line quilting and the 15 for FMQ. All black beauties, all metal with no plastic or computers to damage. I don't have to be worried about my kids ruining a machine that's over a grand by spilling water or otherwise being themselves.
sorry to write a book.