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Saturday, March 25, 2023

The Grants 727 Medalist typewriter: bleached and beautiful

Click on the top two images for more on the Grants 707 and 737.


The typewriter was a bit yellowed.


Painting it with hair-salon peroxide ...


Wrap it in plastic to slow down evaporation:


Let it sit in the sun for a couple of hours:


Peroxide also bleaches clothes and skin! (The skin effect doesn't last long.)


Looking good!


Let's dig into the machine a little. The white part of the shell can be removed if you take out two screws and gently pry it off the turquoise base.


Here's the underside...


... and a video of some functions (tab, space, automatic spacer, typing).



Nakajima serial numbers are datecoded so that the first numerical digit 
in the serial number is the last digit of the manufacture year.

That would make this a 1971 machine.


Since the Grants sticker was missing, I filled in the space with the Urban Legend Typewriters logo. This typewriter will probably be sold sooner or later to benefit WordPlay Cincy.








7 comments:

  1. Handsome! I see a 1977 Nakajima ALL 5020 that appears to be a match: https://typewriterdatabase.com/Nakajima+ALL.5020.630.bmys
    Here's a couple 520's with the lids still attached to compare. Same machine, short carriage.
    https://typewriterdatabase.com/Nakajima+ALL.520.630.bmys

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  2. I've always liked the styling of the Grant typewriters. I've never found one out and about or on line though.
    I like the peroxide application. I've heard of using peroxide to clean plastic. You're the first person I've seen use it. Great results.

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  3. Ah, name's finally appearing instead of anonymous.

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  4. Hello Richard, did you apply the peroxide on the key tops too? Can there be problems with the black plastic of the letters?

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  5. Whoa!! What a fancy typewriter! :D

    I'll take your advice, so I think I'll be finally able to bleach the yellowish keys of my Olivetti Studio 46 typewriter. xD

    ReplyDelete