“I’m catering to people who are willing to pay $125 for a machine that was obsolete fifty years ago”: Bob Montgomery, who will be ninety-three in January, is a typewriter repairman.
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Friday, November 28, 2014
Bob Montgomery, typewriter repairman
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comments: 5
Serendipity strikes again. A few days ago, while cleaning my room, I lifted the cover on my nearly 75-year-old Remington and wondered if I could find anyone near here to clean it (and my Olivetti), and recondition the platen. I've a hankering for the clack-clack-clackety-clack report of typewriter keys striking the loosely rolled paper. The Remington weighs a ton: cast iron body, large keys on heavy arms; the bowl of the keys the perfect fit to the pads of my fingertips.
The reason I quit using my old manuals is I'm not a good or accurate typist and I hated having to use the correction paper on all my typos. I've kept the old beauties for sentimental reasons.
Would Mr. Montgomery make a house-call, do you suppose?
In cleaning out my parents' stuff before their move, I took 5 manual typewriters (with a bunch of other stuff) to an antiques/collectible dealer. He was pretty interested in the oldest typewriters and bought them all. One had belonged to the NY State Troopers, used for typing reports, I imagine. My dad bought it in the 1960s.
Martha, he might know someone in your neck of the woods.
Pat, one detail I especially enjoy in The Wire is the use of typewriters, still common in police work.
I have a single typewriter, an Olympia portable. I lug it to class in its case when I teach modern American poetry — helpful for thinking about, say, William Carlos Williams.
Tee hee. I just ran across my copy of _Archie and Mehitabel.'
I, too, was Cleopatra once!
We have a knowledgeable repair guy for our model T. Pleased to know the ardent, informed fans are out there, even if few and far between. Old typewriting machines, cameras, tape recorders, yippee. Besides, tube amps are actually coming back for the audiophile. And every year I drive by the dulcimer company, small but staying in business. Ain't life grand?
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