Oh, dear. I think I'm going to have to find me a clone in some jazzy paint. I just love the look of these teal ones. They remind me of Christmas ornaments.
Meanwhile, I'm please to announce that the Mercury does make some pretty good stitches by my just putting the needle in flat side to the right and threading from left to right (only using the hand wheel so far because of the bad wiring). The fact that she sews is amazing to me because I've had little experience with taking tension thingies apart. I had to take it off because someone had trapped the little side thread guide spring under the L shaped guide. It may have been that way, with the spring under stress, for more than 10 years. There are no numbers on the tension, so I just turned it until it looked and felt about right, another bit of serendipity because these discs are rusty as all get out. (New ones are on the way.) Anyway, here are some pictures as she looks newly acquired. I think she looks a little better in person than she does with the flash, but I may be biased. The last picture shows the cover with the flap open, revealing the funky little drawer.