For those of you who haven't seen it on tumblr, check out this amazing early 1960s Torpedo 18 advertising leaflet! Two important conclusions. I never new the Torpedo 18 was offered with a wide carriage (the 18/33, which I now must have!), and the (double--old and new!) list of colour combinations is exactly what I needed. If you haven't heard, a little goal of mine is to own one of each Torpedo 18 colour combination (in as many different typefaces as possible) before I die. Probably impossible, but worth trying for.
Some of the cream/colour ones were made with only ribbon cover in the colour, whereas some were made with the ribbon cover and the carriage in that colour. It appears that from reading this ad, the carriages were coloured first, and then later it was only the ribbon covers. My quest would disregard this fact. XD Now, my own humble array of Torpedo 18s. :)
Acute and single minded obsessive streak coming to the fore. I have been similarly tempted down a likewise route but with Olympias SM to SM 4. So far, sanity has got the better of me, more or less. But a chap can dream, right?
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not, I had originally wanted to pursue it with both Torpedoes *and* Olympia SMs. Yeah.
DeletePS: worth forwarding the link to Georg for his collection at typewriters.ch?
ReplyDeleteHe reads my blog. :D
DeleteCool ad. I have a wide-carriage Torpedo with decimal tab labeled "Eichner":
ReplyDeletehttp://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/eichner.jpg
Here's and albino Torpedo for you:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-COLLECTABLE-TORPEDO-NO-18-MANUAL-PORTABLE-TYPEWRITER-WITH-CASE-INSTRUCTIONS-/370902303600?hash=item565b800370
That would be the ivory + ivory colour combination. :D Wrong country for me though, but in my own country just a few days ago I won an auction for a Torpedo that you'll find out about in a week. ;)
DeleteDid I miss it? :) Accidentally - I've just managed to catch a Blue Bird...
DeleteI forgot I said in about a week haha. All in good time!
DeleteThat's a good catch. Be sure to properly care for it. ;)
It's finally here. As new condition + brushes, brochure and manual. I've scanned the brochure and manual to pdf - happy to send it to you if you haven't these already...
DeleteI'm glad this leaflet is getting some attention and exposure. It came in stuffed in the pocket of a typical gray vinyl/double zippered carrying case with a typical blue cover/gray frame Torpedo 18b (s.n. 1266038).
ReplyDeleteI sent a scan to Filipa Freitas of the TypewriterWshop in Berlin hoping she would post it. At the time she was offering a gorgeous Torpedo 18a for sale, with a blue (or gray)cover and white frame and I thought she might find it of interest. I'm glad you and followers did, too.
The original leaflet is pretty fragile at the folds. Note that the vendor who handed it out was J.K. Gill's/Lowman & Hanford, which in the early 60s had been a longtime fixture in the stationery business in Seattle.
Very grateful that you shared it, as Torpedo literature is of particular interest to me, as well as being rather difficult to come by. I didn't know they were from Seattle, practically local for me!
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