if you visit the singer site you can enter the serial # for your machine and find out exactly when it was made- and where- also you can download a manual for it. i love my 99k- it has such a nice even straight stitch- and is a little work horse.
mine was (born) on my sons birthday --- many years earlier---its' a 1956-
and no- 99k's are not featherweights-
totally different machine.