Originally Posted by
Janis
Those of you that have some of the newer Singer Featherweights and others, can get a certificate from Singer with your name, the serial number of your machine and the year it was made by going to mysingerstory.com and putting in the info requested. It is a neat certificate that you can then print off.
I wasn't aware that the 221's were made after 1964. That is the date most sites on the net have as the last they were made. Is that just in the US? Does any one know why this is? Also there were some made in the 1940's that aren't listed under the 221's groups in the serial numbers. Why? I know, I'm filled with questions......
Interesting Janis isn't it? I have 5 FW's the oldest is 1935, and two made in 1964. In reading the book "The Perfect Portable" Nancy Johnson-Srebro has the FW dates from 1933, when they were introduced to 1970-72. The book is really interesting reading if you are interested in the FW. There is one section that talks about the black FW being phased out in 1962. There were new models sold after 1962, but they were no longer produced at the Clydebank factory - they couldn't give the black ones away. That is when Singer started production of the beige FW's which only lasted a couple years, then the whitish one which lasted until they were phased out completely by 1970-72. Does anyone on here have a white FW dated later than mine - 1964. There is a quote in her book from a Singer salesman who started working for Singer in 1967 and found he couldn't give a black 221 away. He said he took over a shop in Vermont and when he went down to the cellar, it was full of black 221's - 25 to 30 machines. He could sell the white ones for $129.50, but was always trying to sell the black ones for $59!