Something else to watch out for is oil glue. I just got a White 77 and it sewed beautifully. Having three other White made machines I'm quite familiar with the way the thread goes through the top tension. But after I oiled up the machine I had no top tension at all.
I found the culprit fairly quickly, the new oil had partially dissolved the old oil surrounding the internal tension release lever, then it turned into a gummy glue and the tension release was stuck in the released position. Some denatured alcohol cleaned all of the oil and new oil out of the internal release parts and it now works just fine again.
Oh I forgot, the White 77s and the Domestic 153s are basically the same machine made by White, just with a Domestic badge on it.
Joe