• Refurbished Typewriter - outstanding mechanical condition. It types as smooth as butter and looks amazing!
• Brand: Olympia
• Model: SM3 - Called "The Mercedes Benz of Typewriters"
• Both are Font: Std. Elite 12p
• Both come with original user manual
• 1st one ships with the brushes kit shown
• 2nd one ship w/o the brushes
• hand set tabs on back panel (NO - or + for tabs next to space bar)
• 1950's
•      Serial Number 659761 - I have one of these in stock
• Color: Grey
• Keys Color: Black
• Manual (Non-Electric)
• 9" carriage
• measures 13"w x 12"d x 6"h
• Includes hard shell case shown in silver (will be touched up and looking new)
• new ribbon installed
• ship weight 22 lbs

Olympia SMs were once considered the Mercedes Benz of typewriters. The Hermes 3000 and the SM3 & SM4 were the most expensive typewriters available at the time, so owners tended to care for them well.

The SM4 is beautifully engineered, down to the last detail. I’ve often opened one up and marveled at the polished metal finishes throughout. Most typewriter makers didn’t pay such fine attention to detail. Even the ‘De Lux’ inlay over the type bars in the SM 3 and the ‘S’ on the SM 4 are beautiful.

I’ve often marveled over one of these.

There are a few color combinations, most of the models being some variant of green. Sometimes, the keyboards vary in color, or the spacebar, or the platen knob. The rarer colors tend to cost more; black, burgundy, aquamarine.

You can tell an SM3 from an SM4 by the tab set and clear buttons on either side of the space bar, and a few other minor features. Other than that they are nearly identical. Some prefer the SM3 for the large spacebar, which facilitates fast (carefree) typing.

The cases are interesting; modernist inspired, ergonomic, and painted silver. Hewn of heavy plywood, they tend to hold together well. As with most typewriters, the bottom of the case detaches, so that you can type on it.

The late Olympia SM3s and Olympia SM4s are built with a spring beneath each key that keeps the key level during use… a brilliant concept that renders long typing sessions much more comfortable.

Because they are carriage-shift instead of basket shift, shifting to caps or alternate characters takes some learning after years of digital keyboards. If you prefer similar, robust engineering in a package that some consider less visually appealing, opt for an SM9. What you lose for in flash and chrome you gain in practicality for fast typing.

The other SMs (1,2,5,6,7,8) are less ideal for various reasons. Either they are more cheaply made or less practically designed.

SM3 and SM4 Recommended for:

• Poets

• Screenwriters (Woody Allen composed every screenplay he ever wrote on one of these)

• Writers who prefer an elegant aesthetic

• Thoughtful writers who prefer a deliberate, steady pace

• Writers who may travel with their machine occasionally or who leave it on their desk or in their studio (for daily travel there are better-suited portable models)

• Those who require a photogenic machine