Ben, the old black Singer sewing machines are like tanks. They almost never wear out. The straight stitch is superb, they are easy to maintain and absolutely everyone copied the Singer design when Singer was the leading manufacturer. I have a Singer 15-91, a 201 and a 221 (Featherweight) and wouldn't part with any of them. There is also plenty of on-line help for those doing their own maintenance and because Singer was so copied, plenty of original and after-market parts. A lot of Singers had interchangeable parts as in bobbins, belts, motors, tension disks and so on. Don't pay too much though, there are thousands still around.