Singer 15-91 ? or 15-88 Nickle Plate 1932 Sewing Machine RARE??

Yesterday, Along with the 2 5808c sewing machines, I also picked up a Singer in a cabinet from the same sale for $20.00.  Thinking it was a 15-88 , I thought that it may make me some money in our Store on Ebay.

I started working on this one today, because I may not have a
chance to once my spouse and son come back from a visit in California tonight.  I brought the cabinet in. It did not look like it had any termite problems. Yay!   The Cabinet itself I don't know if I am savy enough to refinish, but It could be very nice. And it is still very sturdy.

I took the machine out of the cabinet, it was held in by wires to the box inside the cabinet, so I disassembled it, and took it out, marking all the wires with the right color.  I unscrewed the metal holders and took the machine out.   At first glance, I had never seen a sewing machine with the motor held like this one and the weird contraption that went with it.

I set up my work space and got to cleaning. I have been warned by any websites not to use ammonia.   Ammonia is my favorite cleaner. I have been told soap and water and 3in1 oil or kerosene. Well , I don't know about you guys, but I don't have kerosene just lying around , and I think most places will look at you funny if you say purchase a gallon or 2.  Where would you find that anyway?   I did buy some Liquid Wrench, Off which I was told was almost pure kerosene. None of these things really do all that good of a job.  But I scrubbed anyway.  The overcoat on the machine is in ok condition, but is coming off. Apparently The Singers have a coat of some sort over the paint. The paint is pretty and shiny, but you cant get to it because of the stupid overcoat... unless... you use things like Ammonia.  I did that already on my 15-88 and although it is shiny, I took a lot of the gold off the decals. And , you really want to preserve those as much as possible. The replacements are not what you would expect and if you mess up, that is 70 dollars down the toilet.  I have a Red Eye that is stripped and I was going to purchase the replacement stickers.. but not for that price.

So I used soap and water and oil, and got the machine pretty clean. It has a very strange system in the back for the motor.  I will post pics of it. My first idea was since the wires were so bad, I would just take the motor off and buy a hand crank.. Voila !  Not so easy, sister. Not with this baby.  Plus, The way it is set up, I would think someone may want to keep it just for the mechanics .  It has no belt. It is gear driven. I wish all new machines were.  No replacement belts, Ever! and Metal rarely breaks or Corrodes .

I Took the wheel apart, and cleaned everything. It still needs some rust removed.  Most of the gold decals are still gold. It will need a bobbin tire, and new felt, plus a good polish.  I am wondering if I should sell it without rewire. Let someone else do that restoration.  I do not have the foot pedal anyway.

I did look this up on the Singer website, which is one of the best websites for products I have ever came across. It does have a serial number look up, and according to the number, this one was made in 1932.  I looked up 1932 15-88 machines, but none looked like mine, except for one person who had a 15-91 that had a silver singer plate. They called it Nickle.  I thought mine was discolored. But It could very well be nickle.  Theirs was a Rare Find. It is a 1932 15-91 that has a nickle plate and a number dial in nickle. Mine has the same plate and dial.  I have to call the singer hotline on Monday to find out if mine is actually a 15-91.  If it is, it is extremely rare. Made only in 1932, and only 5,000 were ever produced.   I will let you know what I find out on Monday, and I will post the clean up pics then also!

This is the sewing cabinet. Pretty bad shape.

Here is the Pic of the Machine inside the cabinet as found. 

This is what the cabinet looks like when opened.

Here is the Machine getting taken out of the cabinet. I had
to dismantle the plug to get the machine out. 

Here is the Plug and wiring that screams Fire Hazard

Here is the Machine, Finally Out of the cabinet

The Backside Of the Machine Head

I did flip these before Adding..
Here is the Image of the Motor case.  

Again... I did Flip these and they unflipped when I added them
Here is the Pic of the Number Dial and the Nickle Plate

The back end of the machine 

This is the Inside of the Cabinet 

Very Crumbly Bobbin Tire! 

I wish this picture was flipped. I may try this one again.
Front of machine.