The machine that started it all...Singer 401

Five years ago my mom needed a sewing machine and my sister offered her an old Singer slant needle she picked up at a garage sale for 5 bucks.  
 
Dad said, "We don't want it!"  

A former sewing machine repairman, Dad had a lot of experience with "plastic junk" sewing machines.  His reaction to Marilyn's offer was due to working on a much later, mostly plastic Singer slant needle machine.  

Mom needed a machine for a project, so Marilyn brought over her garage sale find.  One look inside and Dad was hooked.  NO PLASTIC!

That's the beauty of the Singer Slant-o-Matic sewing machines.  They are nearly 100% metal.  The spool pins are nylon and the foot control housing is bakelite, but the rotary hook, gears, and needle drive are steel.  The motor is direct drive, which means there are no belts to break or slip.   All of this adds up to a heavy duty machine that is nearly indestructible.   

Next thing we knew Dad was buying up vintage sewing machines right and left just to fix them up.  Mom quickly became alarmed because a fixed income doesn't support a non-paying hobby.  So I listed that first machine on eBay and we sold it for $125.  Thus was born Dad's post-retirement hobby/business. He fixes them and I sell them.  

And along the way I've fallen in love with these old machines and have learned an awful lot about them.  

And it all started with a machine that "we don't want!"  Boy has Dad had to eat those words...again...and again...and again!

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