I'm with Macybaby. To many salvage candidates around, much more realistic than this one, at least the head. Besides the painted parts, the sliding plates and the faceplate are gone altogether, you'd have to slaughter a better machine to get those. Not sure about the cabinet, though.

Truly a labor of love if you decide to tackle it. The unfortunate reality is you might have more in materials invested by the time you buy the stripper, etc. than it will be worth when you're done. I also see peeling veneer under the paint on the top of the cabinet. It can be fixed but adds to the complexity of the job.
The plusses are it's one of Singer's more ornate designs and there's some beautiful oak hiding under the paint. It can be spectacular once it's brought back. I won't say it's not worth doing, just be aware of what you're getting into before you start. If you've had the urge to have a custom painted machine that one is a good candidate.
Rodney

The front of the drawers are very pretty. I'd try to fix it if I was younger.LOL

I agree with a lot of what has been mentioned here. For free I'd say go for it. I'm thinking that this would be a good piece to practice with all those things that they tell you "not to do" with old machines. Alcohol, Ammonia, 409, etc. It looks like the underside wood pieces are in decent condition. Unfortunate that those drawer fronts were painted. Here again something to practice on. I was thinking how many times/things that they tell you to practice on a sample. Quilters practice on a similar quilt sandwich, knitters make swatches, woodworkers test stain.

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

Looks like a good challenge!

Exactly, I'd love to get my hands on something like that. I'd be taking it apart as much as I could clean it up some and see if I could get it back together correctly. I would never try that on any of the machines I have now. But something like that you have nothing to lose, and a lot to learn.

I don't think I've seen anything quite as bad as that. Of course it can be done, but it's not for the money or the easy freebie machine, it looks like it requires a complete strip down entirely. The top layer veneer needs to be replaced too. I wonder what the initial idea of the black and pink paint job was? If you can make it look nice again it certainly will stand as an impressive job ever after.

I am going to start with the irons and cabinet and use the head for trying new methods of cleaning. The paint walked down the threads of the screws and may never come loose. I got lucky and found the face plate and slides in a drawer just in case it cleans up. If the head cleans up it would be a good one to repaint. One question that I do have is how is the wood Pittman arm cared for? By the way I am not younger either. It will be fun keeping all of you posted on the progress.

Looks like Barbie used it.

When one undertakes a project like this, one must consider it is not going to be a profit making job. So it's a project done because you want it done for personal reasons. What others think is really besides the point.

Joe