MW Escort 55 (Olivetti)

$275 (plus shipping if outside of the Detroit area)

Meet “Gwen,” a working yellow-orange Olivetti typewriter from 1972 branded for Montgomery Ward that a Galveston, Texas seafood maven used to order her restaurant’s weekly specials.

Made in Spain, this ultra-portable Escort 55 was made by the award-winning Italian typewriter company Olivetti specifically for the Montgomery Ward department stores of America. Stunningly gorgeous in its original bright yellow-orange ABS plastic and painted metal, this machine is a pop-art inspired fever dream housing the same mechanicals found inside tried-and-true Olivetti Lettera 32 machines from not long before.

This specific portable typewriter has a standard QWERTY keyboard and a classic serif typeface in pica, which is a comfortable 10 characters per inch. Please see the photos for a type sample. It features single-, double- and triple- line spacing options and the ability to use a single or two-color ribbon. The typewriter has a working black-and-red ribbon installed on original steel Olivetti spools. All of its keys strike and fall back well, the carriage moves smoothly, and the end-of-the-line bell dings clearly.

This innovative manual typewriter is under 10 pounds and measures only about 4 inches by 13 inches by 12 inches. While it was crafted with precision for serious tasks, it is also a typewriter made for fun – an antidote to boring office machines. You’ll also note the mod “Century 2” logo on the top, which is a nod to this typewriter having been a part of Montgomery Ward’s centennial offerings in 1972.

Cosmetically, this Escort 55 is in good condition for a more than 50-year-old machine. The chrome accents gleam and the orange plastic shines. Please look through the pictures to see more detail of the visual condition of this typewriter. Don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions.

Part of the fun design is in the complementary-colored pale yellow ABS slipcover, which makes the typewriter look like an ultra cool little briefcase as it protects the machine on the go. The case top has one cosmetic ding of note: one of the chromed latch buttons is missing, though this doesn’t affect functionality. See photos for a picture of the area.

With swooping lines, space-age plastic, and an Italian design pedigree, this Montgomery Ward Escort 55 typewriter will bring a bit of a time warp along wherever it goes — a technicolor time capsule from the Me Decade.