Seamless transition?
Jim McCaw, a photojournalist who’s written for The New York Times and many other publications, is downsizing. He sent me two machines from his home in Michigan… one of them this Coronamatic 8000. I just found the Warranty & Owners’ Manual that Jim included. This baby was produced in 1977. Hmmm– that makes it a sexy 38.
The only problem with my new find is that Ermanno, my long-time typewriter mechanic, wasn’t at his office anymore to ooh & aah over it. He closed his doors last week after .. 38 years.
So I took this new piece to Rees Electronics, where Ermanno had assured me they too would know about all things keyboard. I packed up a few errant ribbons and brought the whole noisy mess up into a new space on Westwood Boulevard.
Everyone was very kind, and the owner turns out to have been friends with Ermanno and given him the business he had for so long on Santa Monica Boulevard. They double-dated, he told me. He’s from Hamburg. I didn’t catch his name, but I trusted him enough to leave my new Coronomatic 8000, order some ribbons, and call it a day. I hope he can fix the buzzing in the carriage. It sounds like wild horses right now..but I suspect it’s because of its long cross-country journey, where the shippers casually and inappropriately wrapped it in brown newspaper. Didn’t they realize a 38-year-old typewriter needs more care than that?
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