Starting from scratch?

Guess what a nice 2CV sells for in The States these days?

About $8,000 to $10,000. That would be for a *really* good one. Near perfect condition. Restored or garaged since new.

$5,000 will get a fairly good one -- a "runner" which has not too many dents, not too much rust, or any other serious mechanical problems.

Either way, they are difficult to come by.

While mowing my back lawn yesterday, I realised that what you need for your stable, in addition to the Skoda, is a black,

A friend of mine used to "date" a girl whose father had one of those. Most every evening, she would bring her little stool over to his bedroom window.

The father offered to give my friend the Renault if he would marry her.

Trish, here's a photo of one, on the Nancy's Notions site:

Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

Singer and Schmetz needles are slightly different lengths. I understand it's possible to "retime" a machine so you can use the other brand. But in general, it's Singer needles for Singer machines

Aack! I hate automatic shutoff irons! They're always going off when I need them most.

For a lot of purposes, finger pressing and then using a bamboo point turner or similar bit of wood does well enough for light construction pressing (like turning over the edge on a facing before stitching)... I have a profound cheapatarian streak in me, so I do the point turner/finger pressing thing a lot, and also do all the sewing I can (even if it's on several different parts of the garment), then do all the pressing I can at one swell foop, turn off the iron, then back to the sewing machine for more construction.

If you've got a naked incandescent bulb around, you can also use the heat of that for small pressing jobs while you're sewing.

Kay