Necchi Alco zz
 

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It isn't as old as I like, but sis didn't want it to go to the trash. ZZ and buttonholer, Japanese.
Model A-509B-2. Runs anyway. Time for a bit of cleaning and checking of stitches.

Wish it were Italian. J=A 38. Oh well. Not bad for free. And I have the manual and a few bits.
15 x1 needle and quick adjust on the belt tension.

Yes, these machines are one of the reasons Jolson lost his Necchi distributorship. It's not a Necchi at all, not even a Japanese made Necchi (those came later) it's a Japanese machine he put that badge on. Not sayin' it's not a good machine, just sayin' it aint what it says it is.

Cari

I thought I remembered something fishy about it. And a cheap sticker for the name? Even the manual didn't give a company name or addy. Not one of the best in my collection. Thanks, Cari.

Oh, I'm still impressed with this beauty. I mean look at the fin-shape on the front. And the bobbin winder with its helpful Push instructions for the operator. And the chrome. And metal. Sigh.

I think you are confusing Nelco with Alco. I'm not sure how Allyn International got away with importing machines and having both Necchi and Alco on the label. I have an Alco 1300SU that I bought new in 1972. It has the same label, but it also has an Alco badge on it.

I just ran across Jolson's obit (2009) and says that Nelco sold under private labels to Penney's and Wal-mart

Some other links
http://sewing-machines.blogspot.com/...i-or-alco.html where an employee of Allyn explains Alco and Necchi correlation - sort of
https://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f...t122211-3.html post #68 tells about the demise of Jolson being distributor for Necchi and Elna.
http://www.geocities.ws/lamx/History.html another for above

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

Leon by this time most manuals were generic like that without a name on them, there were so many badged identical machines that a separate printing for each name was out of the question. So many machines didn't even get a badge until they reached their destination country.

Cari

Maybe part of it. But Jolson was the one who started that combining names, he was taken to court over both the Necchi/Alco and Nelco names. All of the links you provided have some true and some not so true info in them. AFAIK Ed wasn't employed by Allyn, he's just a huge Necchi fan and I believe he started the Vintage Necchi group years ago. You should read the documents in the files of the Vintage Necchi Yahoo group, and there's one other group that has a document by an OSMG giving his remembrance of how things went down back then with Jolson and the distributorships he lost.
I guess the point is, people buy these machines thinking they're buying a Necchi and they aren't.

Cari

But on the link I gave, one of the comments was an employee of Allyn
see Old Man Bob "The Alco name was created by the owner of Allyn Int. to market machines made in Asia and distributed by Allyn.

https://www.vdta.com/HOF/Jolson.html is kind of fun reading especially the last couple of sentences.

I haven't found any definitive links between Jolson and Alco. Of course, I haven't searched the "whole internet" but I'm trying to :o I know I have done a lot of searching for both Necchi and Alco since I have that machine and they were/are {they aren't selling sewing machines any more and hard to get ahold of} located here in Denver. Yes, I thought there was some correlation when I bought the machine as my step-mother had an old Necchi for a long time and when she and my dad married she got a Lydia.

I actually tried to explain to the person running an estate sale about an Alco not being a Necchi, but she wouldn't hear of it, kept insisting it was a Necchi.

I'd also like to read the document about OSMG recollection.

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

Okay, got it. And the conversation/debate continued throughout the comments, wow. Still today some people can't be convinced. I'm admitting defeat here I think you're right about the Alco name, but somewhere in the back of my head I'm thinking there's still more to it I just can't remember what it is I'm trying to remember.

Cari

I had sewed on someone's Necchi and loved it, but I could not find one to buy. I'll never forget going to the biggest sewing machine store and coming home with something I did not intend to buy. I'll not go back. It was a new machine and had plastic gears. After using it for about a year it became a Boat Anchor.