I just got back to this fascinating thread. Thank you all for your contributions.

And if you think the old singer sewing machines are getting expensive!
https://www.rockislandauction.com/de...ol-price-80500

Very interesting article. I was born in 1937 and remember WWII very well. I had many relatives in the armed services and I remember taking fat renderings to school for collection, newspaper collections. ration stamps and air raid drills. My mom was a bullet inspector for Remington. So, I appreciated your article and comment. I have a Singer 66 that is in mint condition except for a small amount of sun damage on one side of the cabinet. It is a special treasure.

I haven’t had time to read the article yet but I’m sure it will be another amazing part of American history that I will be glad to learn.

It makes sense, you need a lot of precision to make sewing machines.

Precision and repeatability are two different things. Singer was producing atleast 200k machines a year. A contract for 500 units super over sight and the very best available

A friend of mine says that out of the 500 Singer pistols produced, at least 2,000 of them are still floating around lol.

Here's a great video that should give you a perspective of Singers operations way back when. It's long, but very interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIMxwy8CLkw