What an interesting piece of American depression history this thread is.
I learned to sew on a treadle not sure of model either Singer or White in the early 50s, used it for years. I made most of my wardrobe on it including prom dresses. We were very poor so this was very necessary. Then mom upgraded to a used electric machine, probably a Singer. Sometime later in traded it in for a used Singer 301, which I now use to quilt my large quilts on. Works like new. Never herard of a FW till I started quilting and joined thid board. I have purchased a FWfrom ebay about 1 yr ago. I haVE Become a vintage machine collector. My daily piecing& seweing machine is a Singer 778 (36 yrs old) that I purchased when i was pregnant with our last child to make her layette.
My first machine was a Riccar-bivadar(wrong spelling) thast I won art the county fair. Horrible machine couldn't wait to trade it in for my Singer.
I have found that thses oldies will work for me as long as they are kept clean and well oiled and in some cases greased.
I have also purchased a couple of vintage machine Singers that need some TLC.