It's funny how addicting these machines are. I never dreamed I would want old machines, much less that I'd be excited about buying some old rusty thing that doesn't really work, but somehow I've started picking up old Singers and playing with them. I'm not nearly to the point some of you are (I don't have enough SPACE to get to that point!) but it's gotten to where my guests now make it a game to see how many sewing machines they can spot in the house.
I'm still not really any good at fixing them, but I'm slowly learning things and getting braver.
I try not to LOOK for machines too hard, but then when I come across one "in the wild" at a thrift shop or garage sale, I'm totally fixated on it. Even if it's a machine I don't want, I have to play with it a little bit and see what I can learn about it. I've bonded with several people, playing with old machines at thrift shops. Guaranteed, if there's a machine in a cabinet and I pull the head up, SOMEONE is going to come see what's going on and start sharing stories about how Great Aunt Edna had one "just like it"...
It's just a lot of fun, even if I don't take the machine home.