The Imperial Good Companion Typewriter

For a very long time, I've thought about getting a typewriter. Not the electric one, nor the plastic ones from the 60's or 70's, but the honest-to-god-all-made-of-metal-could-kill-someone-if-you-threw-it typewriters.

A recent correspondence between my latest IGGPPC-assigned pen-friend and I got me scouring eBay and Googling for any possible candidates in my area.

My criteria were as follows (in no particular order):

1. Portable [^it's all relative, of course] not desktop version
2. Either has local pick-up or real cheap shipping
3. Is not plastic
4. Looks pretty (not too banged up)
5. Not going to burn a hole in my pocket
6. IN WORKING ORDER (I don't know enough about typewriters to be able to fix one up)

Of course, some of my criteria conflicted with each other:

1. Pretty ones were not cheap
2. Cheap ones that look pretty may not work - and getting them fixed was probably going to cost a pretty penny
3. Pretty and cheap ones were all overseas - and the shipping would make them UN-cheap
4. My definition of pretty is pretty subjective and expensive. Apparently, I really like the look of the Underwoods - especially their Noiseless 77, but again, not cheap

After a week of eBay deep-diving - which included a lot of frustration-born hair-pulling - as all the pretty machines were selling at ridiculous prices overseas, whereas all the Australia-based sellers were posting falling apart machines for 10x the price - I managed to snap this little beauty for $80AUD.



It's an Imperial The Good Companion typewriter and according to the internet, it's a 1943 model. I've still to find where the serial number is on this thing, so if any of you out there know where I should look, please leave a comment.



I am hoping to type my future correspondences with my pen-friend on this typewriter. And may, I would even try a hand at typecasting!