New to me...
 

My youngest daughter's mother-in-law just passed away and she had a mocha 301-A in a cabinet, that my daughter got...she doesn't sew, so she's passing it on to me...I'm so excited...I only want to know what is the difference between a 301 and a 301-A...?? lots of sewing things in the cabinet..can't wait for her to bring it out to me...I have the black and white featherweights, black one was my Mom's, and the white one I got at a garage sale several years ago for $25...that was a steal...now I'm looking for a 1950 Singer in cabinet...electric...one day soon maybe...
Hope everyone is staying cool in this heat wave all over the country...I'm in Texas, and we are use to it... a good time to stay in and sew, quilt or whatever with the AC turned down....

The A signifies the plant where it was made, in your case USA (Anderson). Letter A or not, it's the same machine. It might be the best portable straight stitcher around because of the weight. There's lots of info to be found on this page.

Thank you Mickey2...appreciate your answer...but the link didn't work...but that's ok...I don't need to know anything else...just excited to get the machine...

I must have messed up the web address some how. Here is another attempt at it, but you can just as easily search it up your self. This model gets a lot of appraisal by owners, clothes makers as well as quilters. The only issue some mention is the size of the bobbin, and apparently some replacement bobbin cases are better than others so it's worth getting it from someone who knows the difference.

I think you will like the 301. Nice that it is in a cabinet. Hopefully, it has the cradle and not altered like the one I got. It was in a Kenmore cabinet and to make it work, they took a hacksaw to the cradle, and I don't remember what to the cabinet. Fortunately, I have a card table that it fits in, if need be.

The difference between the 301 and the 301A is when they were made. Two of the pages on the site Mickey2 pointed to are http://www.singer301.com/about/default.html and http://www.singer301.com/dating/default.html The first is a rather long read, but fun information. The second is rather long, too. It tells why in 1953 they started putting the A on machines. From my understanding the Anderson plant was specifically for the new line of slant shank machines.

I really like the slant shank machines, except for sewing buttons on. I'm not sure why as I have been sewing buttons on by machine most of my adult life. But when I tried (yes, with the correct foot) it just didn't look as nice nor was it as easy as with a low shank machine.

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

Congrats on the 301A! I have a mocha one that was my mother's. It's also the machine I learned to sew on. Mine is a long bed. No cabinet. I still like to sew on that machine. I even took it to the quilting bee the other day because I wanted to use a foot that I didn't have for my Featherweight.

You can easily drop the feed dogs on the 301A. Use mine for piecing and free motion quilting. Honey of a machine. Sews though layers of denim too. I make rag quilts too, and my 301A powers right through multiple layers of pretty much anything. You will love her! Congrats. BTW you can get 1/4 quilting foot, walking foot, and all kinds of different accessories, just remember she is a Slant needle machine. Enjoy. Singeronline.com