This Imperial 66 typewriter manufactured in the late 1950s arrived here having been rescued from the rubbish dump and was in poor cosmetic condition. I thought it would make a parts machine at best. However, with a considerable amount of cleaning and other work, I managed not only to get it to work again, but to work well.

The Imperial 66 is a standard (desktop) typewriter with detachable carriage and removable type unit. It was manufactured in Leicester, England. It is a heavy beast, but its quality of manufacture means that it was able to withstand the ravages of time.

I flushed the segment and the type bars, cleaned the type slugs, wiped the key tops clean, restored the carriage to the body, reattached the drawband hook, rewound the mainspring, straightened the paper support, cleaned the body and the rubber feet and polished some of the chrome parts.

Now, the typewriter is working brilliantly, and I am thrilled because although I collect typewriters, I would never have considered myself a restorer. It's a wonderful thing to be able to use a typewriter again that seemed beyond recovery. Yes, it has seen better days, but now perhaps it can produce its best work - not bad for a machine that's over 60 years old.