I'm going to tell you all a dirty little secret... drum roll. I've bought out a couple old sewing machine shops. The machines in the dirty messed up cases held up much better than the machines in good tables. Now this might not be the same if you have it in the house and are using it. LOL. Joe does ROCK. You can't buy an new wooden case. (wink) but a plastic case would be better than no case. Using a machine is the very best way to take care of a machine. There is lots of info on here about how to clean and get the smell out of a case.