Over a year ago, I acquired a Remie Scout Model. that sports a front attachment protecting the typewriter’s exposed keys. Quite likely, this was an after-market modification; however, now that I’ve sighted a second machine with this feature (pictured above), I wonder if Remington itself didn’t add the enclosure. Certainly, exposed keys made the machine susceptible to damage. Even at a bargain price, the all-caps Remie Scout Model. may have been a hard sell. Remington may have sought to improve existing inventories.
Alan Seaver describes four versions of the Remie Scout Model. (yes, actually, the period is part of the model name), but perhaps we should consider a fifth: a modified all-caps Remie with front enclosure.
The Scout pictured in this post is still offered on eBay for a “buy-it-now” price of $65.95, sans case (as of this writing).
© 2016, Mark Adams. All rights reserved.
Looks like what I call type (a) of Remie Scout. There are four types.
http://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/rem-portables.htm#remie-scout
My take is that some enclosed Remies came off the factory line with one-piece frames; others came off the line sans enclosure, only to have an enclosure added subsequently, i.e. two-piece frames.
Rarities – low numbers sold then, even lower numbers survive now.
The front section is sheet-metal I think – how it’s shaped with the rolled-over edges is a professional stamping tool job. That does suggest factory.
Am wondering; is the all-caps Scout a different frame size from the regular RP? Think that the width of the frame might be different from the regular perhaps. At any rate, the ‘inner-frame’ on a Scout has fewer holes than the regular. When making new tooling, they might have economised everywhere so trim down in size.
(They even left off the knob of the ribbon-reversing-rod.)
As you say, may have been a hard sell – too much ‘dead-stock’ in warehouse. Can’t use a regular stamping ‘outer-frame’ to convert a type (c) into a type (d). With this front-frame stamping the types can be converted with drilling and tapping a few holes…
Looking at the original list-price, these did keep their value quite well 🙂