The Typewriter You Probably Don’t Want to Buy

Caveat Emptor

One of the biggest of the very few companies still manufacturing typewriters in the new millennium is the Shanghai Weilv Mechanism Company.  Sadly, for the hobbyist space looking to get into typewriters, while these are easy to find online, they are notorious for dreadful quality control, lots of plastic, and poor type  alignment. As a result, they make a terrible investment compared to the far more robust vintage and antique typewriters which were manufactured from the late 1800s into the 1980s.

If you know nothing about typewriters, but are looking to purchase one (either for occasional/regular typing or even as a display piece), I couldn’t recommend them given the fact that there are so many far better machines in the secondary market which are more robust and will last for centuries compared to these poor, plastic machines.

Prior to purchase, you should be aware that many reputable typewriter repair shops will often refuse to work on or repair them, and most probably wouldn’t even accept them as donations to be parts machines. Most collectors and typewriter enthusiasts I’ve encountered will almost universally recommend against purchasing these.

Will Davis has determined that they’re based on the Olympia Carina design.

Shanghai Weilv Mechanism Company has licensed the names of some older manufacturers and are making typewriters variously rebadged and sold under the following names:  

• the Rover typewriter
• the Royal Epoch typewriter (Amazon)
• We R Memory Keepers typewriter (Michaels, Walmart, previously at Home Depot)
• Royal Classic typewriter (Amazon, Home Depot, Walmart, Target)
• Maplefield typewriter (Amazon, Target, and previously Walmart, Michaels)
• The Oliver Typewriter Company typewriter (Home Depot, Target, Walmart)

Generally, the internals of all these machines are identical with the biggest differences being the external shell styling and the colors in which they’re offered. Typically they sell in the range of $200-300 and given the ubiquity of the number $259, I would guess this is the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.

Reviews

In case you don’t want to trust my individual opinion recommending against these, you might appreciate some specific reviews from others: 

Dr. Richard Polt, long time typewriter collector, former editor of ETCetera, the Journal of the Typewriter Collector’s Association, maintainer of The Classic Typewriter Page, and author of The Typewriter Revolution (Countryman Press, 2015): Typewriter review: Royal Epoch

Lucas Dul, a typewriter repairman from Typewriter Chicago, reviewed a 2023 Rover:

I’ve also collected some links which talk about some of the models: 

• Royal Classic: https://www.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1i5tgpz/royal_classic/
• Royal Classic: https://www.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1hnsfhn/i_bought_some_trash_off_amazon/
• Quality control problems: https://www.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1hmh1qx/casual_observer_first_time_owner/
• Quality control problems with typebars: https://www.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1k9ia5b/keys_falling_out/
• Royal Classic regret: https://www.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1ktm3fk/typewriter_regret/ 
• Royal Epoch roast: https://www.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/ol6x3o/in_todays_episode_of_roasting_typewriters_this/

If you really must…

Hopefully some of the data here has helped your decision for a well-informed purchase. You might notice that in online reviews, most of the people who purchase these machines and give them high marks seem to value them as decor and for their aesthetic. While this may be great, you could still get older vintage machines in a broader variety of looks for a fraction of the price.

Naturally, some will still want to buy one or more of these machines anyway. If you must do it, I would recommend that you can find gently used versions of these machines, often in their original boxes, at auction sites like ShopGoodwill.com for $5-15 several times a week.