Vintage machines may be good, but stay away from the models made in the 1970s. That was when Singer sold out or was bought out by another company (can't remember who) but I remember our hs had just gotten several new ones and when I asked the home ec. teacher about it, she adamantly told me, "they are junk!" During the same era, Harley-Davidson motorcycles did the same thing and they were also known as junk. The former owner of HD bought it back and Harleys are super popular again.