It’s a 70’s Thing

I tend to dig much of the industrial design that came out of the 1970’s. This is the primary reason that my Panasonic “Toot-A~Loop” AM radio is still with me after all of these years (50 years by my estimation). It seems that even as e child I recognized the brilliance behind Panasonic ‘s model R-72. I no doubt obsessed over the Toot-A-Loop from the moment that I first sew one. It should be noted that I wasn’t the only one drawn to the design of the R-72 — an example can even be found in New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

My blue example that I’ve owned since my childhood remains in excellent condition, no doubt a sign of the respect that I’ve always had for this funky radio. As a kid I used this radio mainly to listen to WLS broadcasts out of Chicago. (Complete with “boogie checks“, ah the 70’s!) While I very rarely use the Toot-A-Loop these days, I still treasure my example. Therefore it only seems natural that my blue R-72 sits in a place of honor atop my desk.

Not far from the Panasonic sits another classic from the 70’s, my prized 1972 Olympia SG3. While the original SG3 design was released in 60’s, this particular iteration did not come along until the 4970’s. In my mind the SG3 looks its best as seen in my example, though everyone else is of course entitled to their own opinion. As for me, there is not another standard-sized typewriter that I would trade my SG3 for. This 70’s era Olympia just works for me in every sense, be it functionally, visually, or however else one might go about sizing up typewriters. In the case of my SG3, it doesn’t hurt that Portland’s own Ace Typewriter had their hands on this machine before I came to acquire it.

In addition to the SG3, I also own two other 70’s era Olympia’s that I am also quite fond of including the 1972 SM9 that I am using for this typecast. The final 70’s Olympia machine that I enjoy using is a 1977 Traveller Deluxe, which is a great ultraportable.

Obviously I think quite highly of these 70’s era Olympia typewriters, enough so to blog about them anyway. In my case it helps that they aren’t all that hard to come by here in Portland where I am located. My preferences aside, I wanted to shine some light on these “70’s Oly’s” as they do not deserve to be lumped in with so many other 70’s era machines with a reputation for poor build quality and inferior performance.

Not only do the 70’s era Oly’s that I own perform wonderfully, but I feel very confident that they will easily continue to serve me well for the rest of the time that I’ll spend in life typing. They are every bit as good for this purpose as the older Olympia’s I own are. I should note that I spend more time typing with Olympia SM9 typewriters of various vintages than any other brands/models that I own. So he sure to take anything that I am sharing with you here with the appropriate sized grain of salt. (A skeptical attitude is both healthy and appropriate whenever reading others’ opinions about typewriters . )

To wrap things up, if like me you happen to find the look of dark charcoal colored keys against the bright off-white background of the upper body shell (complete with the bright orange Olympia International logo) to be a good look then I’m not sure that you will manage to find a better typewriter for the price. (oh sure you can, but I am speaking in very general terms and it makes for an entertaining read in the opinion of some — thanks Mom! )