Friday, March 1, 2013

Remington 8 Number 8,000,000 80th Birthday!


On March 1, 1933, Remington manufactured its eight-millionth machine. Unlike most typewriters, we know exactly when this one was made since they affixed an engraved nameplate.


A proper birthday celebration might have featured party hats, party favors, a Deco style layer cake, lots of sugared up portable typewriters, a bouncy castle, dancing bears, mimes, jugglers, fire-eaters and a Polka band. However, it's Friday and we are just getting over the latest blizzard and the school/work week. MEK of the House Full of Nerds baked banana bread today. I'll take fresh banana bread over a store bought cake any day!

As I was taking these photos, my Spousal Unit, MEK, commented that "This has to be the Nerdiest thing we've ever done!" Well, I beg to differ. We went one step further and sang "Happy Birthday" to the typewriter. Extreme Nerds have no limits!

You can read about this lovely machine in excruciating/loving detail at ITAM Special Report: The Eight Millionth Remington

If you dare, read all about this machine's acting debut at "Last Stand at the Remington"  Godzilla loves the attention!

This was all Teeritz's fault. That and an impulse control issue on my part.

Happy Birthday, Remington!

The Dread Copyright Notice: All words and images are copyright Dwayne F. of vintagetechobsessions. Beyond penalties allowed under law, we have a legion of barely controlled robots and giant monsters at our command. You don't really want to meet them in the middle of the night. Share the love and link back to this site. I'm good with non-commercial use with attribution. See, I can be totally reasonable.



13 comments:

  1. My fault!? Oh, actually, yeah. I should have put a few more locks on Godzilla's cage. Who'd have guessed?!
    Happy 80th BD to your Remington. Man that's an enviable machine. And, King Kong was climbing up the Empire State Building when that typewriter was made. Nice!

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    1. Yeah, you did an offhanded comment on the first ITAM entry about how it looked like an Art Deco building. I might have gotten a little carried away. It was winter and I was cabin fevered.

      Hmmm, now you have me thinking about Faye Wray being dragged up the side of the Empire State building...

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    2. Yes, I followed your link back to that ITAM post. You're thinking about Faye Wray, huh? It's funny, but these 1930s typewriters always make me think of Myrna Loy or Sylvia Sydney. My God, there's years of psychotherapy in that sentence!

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  2. "Extreme Nerds have no limits!" OMG, I LUV KS Nerdhaus!

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  3. Yay -- happy birthday, Remie! Hope I look half as good if I make it to eighty.

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  4. That incredible typewriter deserves a birthday celebration.
    I never got a chance to ask you this last year when you first posted about it but did you just happen to acquire Remington 8,000,000 by chance or was it advertised as such and you targeted it?

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  5. Ledeaux: We learn from some of the best!

    Richard: Agreed. I'm feeling the wear and tear of the years more than these machines.

    Ton: The acquisition was totally random. It was an ebay classic: shaky photos and perhaps a sketchy seller. He obviously had no experience shipping typewriters and I ended up paying a lot for shipping in getting him to properly pad the beast and its case. He used old medium density foam instead of light peanuts. No matter; it arrived safely and has a great story. I'd suffer the same kind of risks to get hold of a Graphika!

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    Replies
    1. Random? Wow, the universe really aligned for you that day.

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  6. Congratulations! Funny that it should have its 80th just after a quiet ITAM. Love that Pokemon birthday card too! I was a kid when that first became popular, and spent many hours playing the Pokemon Game Boy and trading card games.

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  7. It's a wise man who prefers his wife's banana bread over store-bought cake!

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  8. That's a really cool machine for sure.

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  9. Thanks, all, for your comments! Vikram: The Pokemon card was a little bit of random I found at a thrift store. I'm from the Dungeons and Dragons era, but am glad that you enjoyed the card. It is eye catching!

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