Another Poor Beat Down Goodwill Machine - Singer 27-3

 I was trolling through Shopgoodwill a few weeks ago and saw this guy a few times with no bids.  Normally I would pass as well but eventually I checked the serial number they had a picture of.  Turns out it's an 1897 machine.

But the thing was pretty beat.  I put the minimum bid in just because shipping was so cheap on it as well.  I was mildly surprised that I won it at the opening bid of $8.99.  I thought for sure someone would come in and bid at least $15 on it.  I paid and unlike the 500A that stunned me with how fast it arrived, this one took it's sweet time getting into shipping channels. I think it was almost two weeks before I got notified it was shipped.

So I guess the moral of the story between this and the 500A is: If  it shows up fast it's because they basically tossed it in an empty box.  If it takes forever to get to you it's because they wrapped it like it matters.  

Not much in the way of surprises here.  A 120+ year old machine that's seen a lot of miles.

And no, they didn't magically find the front side plate before shipping.  I went to visit my friend Norm and picked up one from him along with a bunch of treadle parts before it arrived.

I've seen confusion about what constitutes a 27 versus a VS2.  The simple steps are this.  If it is newer than 1891 you have a 27, end of story, no debate.  If you have a machine that's older than 1891 you have a VS2 (possibly a VS1 but that's a whole other story).  If you have an 1891 then you have to check more.  You can't be absolutely certain by the bed design or by the side cover design.  The VS2 could come with a square bed on special orders and the 27-1 had a fiddle bed.  Also both will have the kidney shaped side cover where the later 27s have the round cover.  The only definitive way to tell is by part numbers.  The 27 and VS2 used different numbering schemes.  So you have to look at both parts lists and see which part numbers your machine is using and that will be your answer.  Again that's only for the 1891 machines.  Either side of that line and you have one or the other.

No such confusion on this guy.  Squarely a 27-3.  Not a 27-4 because the notch at the front base of the bed goes all the way through on the 27-3 machines, on the 27-4 it's a divot that doesn't go all the way through.  That's really the only permanent part difference between 27-3 and 27-4, all the other differences (feed dogs, presser foot, slide plates) can be swapped between them.  Actually the slide plate I got from Norm is a 27-4 plate.  It was just too shiney so I pulled the plate off the disassembled 27 for the photos.

I'm trying to work up some DIY graphics for the 27s and the 127.  All of them are in various states of horrid.  We'll see how that goes.  Overall repainting should be less of a torment that the 500A was.  Strip them and paint them black seams pretty simple.  We'll see.