Larry, for short

Photos by request of Bill M. Harsh sunlight not showing the rich tweedy green colour to its best. Very different to the dove grey/green SM3

Plenty of pitted and tarnished chrome but the badge is pristine. It is all about the badge.

Unsuccessful attempt to install Adobe CS... it is still a typewriter, no matter how close you put the mouse.

Lazarus? Larry? It'll do as a name (strictly one-off) until I make a note of the serial number. First look, its appearance is better on-screen than in the flesh (how often do you hear that in the green room).

Apart from blowing away some dust and hair and moth larva cases (and the laying on of hands), I haven't cleaned it. There's tarnish to the brightwork on the carriage, especially the control surfaces. This is just part of the machine's story, like wrinkles. But in comparison to an SM3 in far finer fettle, the key action is a tiny bit on the stiff side. The surface tarnish has affected the segment but it is easing with use. It is impossible to clean the slots and the pivot area of the type arms so I'm tempted to try a miniscule drop of WD40 (a "dry" lube) along the pivots to free them up further - any objections?

Notes

1. The shift and backspace are mossy green, the rest of the keys are black.
2. None of the character keys are sprung - unlike SMs 3 and 4 - though the shift keys are.
3. The return lever sticks up at the end, not down.
4. All sheet metal surfaces of the housing have black felt sound insulation. Therefore it stinks a bit.

There's a group of men in the street in hi-viz jackets digging a hole. They are either looking for Lazarus or fixing my broadband. Hard to tell. Hard hats conceal halos.