Transforming an old Elna

Elna Transforma with manual
Originally uploaded by scrapsandstrings

For a mere $15, this little beauty followed me home recently. Actually, I was at a large furniture thrift shop shopping for something else entirely, when I spotted this lovely green lady sitting in a cabinet that would fit my 40-year-old Elna SP. The cabinet is identical to the one that my mom's Elna Supermatic lives in, so I knew what I was getting.
This machine dates back to the mid-50s and is an early free-arm Elna (the Grasshopper was the first, I think.) It is very sleek and minimalist and modern,  and on closer inspection, has no reverse or zigzag stitch. That's because it is an Elna Transforma, which could be transformed into a Supermatic by swapping out that bit on the top where the screws are.
The sad part of this green lady is how abused she is. She lived in a smoker's house for many decades. I scrubbed most of the nicotine grime off , but you can see the rusty brown in the cracks and crevices. And she runs very loudly and needs a bit of help. I'm assuming she needs a visit to the sewing machine doctor, but I'm not paying for it. Doesn't that sound harsh? Instead, I'm donating her back to a thrift shop where volunteers fiddle and fix items like this.
And about that cabinet? Yesterday, I washed it inside and out FIVE times (after three previous washes), tryiing to scrub out that smell. And then I applied some Seek and Destroy odour spray. It smells a bit less offensive now, but I'm still airing it in my front porch. The plywood inside the cabinet has absorbed lots of cigarette smoke over the decades, and I'm hoping more airing out time combined with that spray will help.