Miriam I loved this posting! My mom stopped sewing when I was in grammer school (so about 50+ years ago) and she didn't keep any of her older sewing machines. Pity. In the 1960s she started buying plastic throw away machines that only lasted a few years, and never kept any of those either. Anyway, I got my 1956 FW last year and spent some time cleaning it up, although it wasn't as dirty as your mom's. Mine also has a lot of battle scars, and some that look inflicted by a naughty child, as in bad words scratched into the paint! :-( I'll probably cover those up. Thanks for the post. It was so fun to read.