Just as there are Coke people and Pepsi people, Ford people and Chevy people, there are Smith-Corona people and Olympia people. Each feels very passionately about their brand of choice and would probably give up their favorite hunting dog before relinquishing their S-C Silent-Super or Olympia SM.

People sometimes wonder what the model designations SG, SM, and SF stand for. For the record, they are:

SG = Schreibmaschine Groß ("Big Typewriter")
SM = Schreibmaschine Mittelgroß ("Medium-size Typewriter")
SF = Schreibmaschine Flach ("Flat Typewriter")

Olympia SM3. 1955. Serial # 608175. Emeritus Collection. A fine machine to write on, and popular among writers. The SM3 and SM4 have a clever leveling device built into the keys. Underneath each is a stiff spring, and the vertical portion of the bar is slotted into the horizontal, allowing the key to remain parallel to the tabletop when depressed.

Olympia SM5. 1962. Serial # 2149471. The SM5 was the last Olympia of this style before it was superceded by the SM7. The main way to tell a SM5 from a SM3 is the glossy paint. On closer inspection, one would also notice that the margin sets have been tucked down behind the paper feed just above the manual tab sets. Under the hood, there is also no touch selector or soundproofing material. Less obvious is the lack of the individual spring levelers underneath the keys that made the SM3 and SM4 so finger-friendly.

Olympia SG-1. 1963. Serial # 7-928332. Just completely massive. This typer means business! If I were to walk into a 1960s office building and see a room full of these, I would probably fear that they would revolt and enslave mankind. It is probably best that not more than one of these be in anyone's collection, lest they conspire.

Olympia SM9. 1964. Serial # 2512069. Larger than its predecessors, and not really a portable any longer. The SM9 is another Olympia popular with writers. One might be surprised to learn that there were four different versions of the SM9 over the years. Collector Kurt McCullum has put together an excellent page detailing the variances among the SM9's production phases.

Olympia Socialite. c. 1965. Serial # 95 7010160.

Olympia SM9 "DeLuxe". 1966. Serial # 3078884.