The Contessa & Kon-Tiki: Moana's Typewriter - An Exploration of the Adler Contessa Typewriter

Join us for a celebration of bold adventurers who lived life in bright vivid colors!
Learn about the Austronesian Expansion, Thor Heyerdahl, the Kon-Tiki expedition, & the Incan god Viracocha -- all in the context of exploration detailed so creatively in the movie Moana.
If Moana had a typewriter, I'd bet it would be an Adler Contessa in vibrant orange.
Wanna learn why?
Credits:
By Bahnfrend - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikime...
By Obsidian Soul - M. Benton M; D. Macartney-Coxson; D. Eccles; L. Griffiths; G. Chambers; R. Lea (13 April 2012). "Complete Mitochondrial Genome Sequencing Reveals Novel Haplotypes in a Polynesian Population". PLoS ONE 7 (4): e35026. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0035026., CC BY 4.0, commons.wikime...
Fair Use:
Reference/parody to motion picture Moana.

[@RogerHyam]

I just bought one from my local charity shop here in Edinburgh. Grey with the cubic typeface. Tiny crack in the plastic where you point out but otherwise appears hardly used and works like a charm, just needed a new ribbon. (It is made in The Netherlands)

[@donaldlampert331]

I have an Adler Contessa coming to me with italic type! Thanks for the nice review!

[@stardustprodigy777]

I was looking for one just like the one my mum had that I loved using as a child.. it was black but had the exact same keyboard. I was guided to this one in orange today and was like ooo Sacral chakra, Creativity & Life Energy!🧡 Perfect for writing! I think I'm going to buy it. & yay for the ping!😍

[@LazyDogTypewriters]

Great!

[@patrickmasterson3848]

Thanks for the terrific Adler background. I have a Tippa S in the mail right now, and can't wait to compare it to my Brother Young Elite -- especially their relative snappiness. And of course, the difference of carriage lift vs. segment/basket lift. Your son is getting a nice insight into the "interconnected-ness" of it all. Would love to find a concise explanation of the DIN Ribbon conventions. Do you have any tips for someone "coming back" to a typewriter vs. word processing? And also, does a typewriter usually say somewhere on the machine which typeface it has? Thx again.

[@toddpayne]

Thanks. Hope you love your machine. They will tell you if they are pica or elite by the numbers on the paper table 90+ is elite. Actual typeface is shown on the slugs with a forge code. You then Google Adler typeface and NOMDA will show up with Id of your typeface. Tips: don't sweat the typos ;)

[@anthonybrunotheodd]

I’d argue the switch to the crown was probably due to Adler’s ownership by Litton who owned Royal. But that’s just my interpretation. Hence why it’s called Contessa another version of a Royal get it? That’s just my thought I could be completely wrong.

[@sojourner57]

Nice video. I must mention that I have TWO Contessa Deluxe machines, one from 1973-74 and the other from 1976-77 (according to the TWDB). The difference in the older to newer machines: the earlier machine has a lever on the right that pulls forward to release the carriage and it's a carriage-shift machine in orange. The newer machine, is sand color, and is a segment shift machine like your orange one. Both of my machines have US keyboards and are labeled (in the back) T A Litton, made in Holland. (Triumph/Adler/Litton). Your example looks to be made in Germany for the international market. I will say that I was going to use the sand machine as a donor to fix a 1960's Tippa S that has a disconnected carriage, but after side-by-side tests, will be keeping BOTH of the Contessas, because they are solid, excellent machines. I'll add that the earlier example has a cast aluminum frame, whereas the later example the frame is bent sheet metal. Both machines are in Pica.

[@LazyDogTypewriters]

Neat! Excellent details

[@sojourner57]

Oh, and a curious thing. I weighed both machines and the older, with aluminum frame is 9lbs, 1 ounce. The newer machine with the steel frame is 10ths, 5 ounces. Looks like they traded weight for cost in the newer iteration.

[@tmunk]

came in blue too, I think. (:

[@LazyDogTypewriters]

That would make sense, since the Royal Sahara and Caravan came in Blue and Grey too. (But not orange to my knowledge)

[@Courage-to-BE]

Is it easy to find replacement ink?

[@TimeMachineTeacher]

How do you reverse the ribbon on this machine? I can’t find the button. Thanks in advance!

[@LazyDogTypewriters]

Ribbon reverse is automatic. But you can push linkage over if you life off ribbon cover

[@TimeMachineTeacher]

@@LazyDogTypewriters thanks! Maybe there is something else wrong with it then because the ribbon won’t advance. When I type, the mechanism that takes the ribbon up and down stays up and won’t go back down. And the ribbon doesn’t advance. It looks like it is near the end of the ribbon so I assumed that it was the end...but if it is automatic, that is probably not the case. Thanks so much for the response! I love the machine so much so I’m hoping I can figure it out!

[@drandallesq]

Great video and repair job! Could it be the £ and $ signs mean the typewriter was intended for the Canadian market?

[@LazyDogTypewriters]

Could be indeed!

[@M4GIC_BUBBEL]

In Germany you get them for 15€...

[@LazyDogTypewriters]

What a steal! Snatch up several

[@M4GIC_BUBBEL]

@@LazyDogTypewriters nah they are literally thrown after you in Germany ... almost everyone sells them on "eBay Kleinanzeigen" for 5 - 30 €

[@robertnussberger2028]

You should do the 1976 Sears achiever typewriter. I have that one.

[@LazyDogTypewriters]

They are Great machines! Marred only by a blah color scheme. We've fixed that by painting the ribbon covers in a vibrant colors. You can see them on our facebook page (lazy dog typewriters) AND you can watch our recent review of the JP-7 Model by Brother -- which the Achiever is!

[@robertnussberger2028]

@@LazyDogTypewriters I got one in beige. I like it though because it reminds me somewhat is a apple ll of the early 80's. Although it has black keys, I would like to buy sepparate keys to paint beige and remove the stock keys, if possible and swap them. Btw, is that possible?

[@robertnussberger2028]

@@LazyDogTypewriters and also, I will look into the brother typewriter the achiever was based off of. Thank you for replying.

[@LazyDogTypewriters]

@@robertnussberger2028 It's possible, just not a great idea. Paint won't hold up on keys used repeatedly. You'd have to buy an entire 2nd machine to get access to a new keyset.

[@robertnussberger2028]

@@LazyDogTypewriters Ok. Thank you. I therefore will not replace the keys. Those machines are kinda pricey and it would just be destroying the 2nd typewriter anyway.