This is a Viking 6440 ca. 1978. I found it at the local gold mine with manuals and all accessories for 25 bux. It actually didn't have a price on it so they took my offer. Apparently people will pay upwards of 300 for these things in the right circumstances. I've never had a Viking before and this one was seized. After I got it moving, I discovered that the phenomenal number of plastic parts inside ALL needed replacing. And I thought 70s Singers were bad.
So after spending quite a lot of money for these absurdly expensive parts, I still couldn't make it work right and was really tired of dicking with it. It is unpleasant to work on and things don't seem to work the way the service manual says they will. I kept posting questions to the Viking yahoo group and finally a former Viking tech offered to fix it for me for a fee. I send it to him and got it back today. He did a great job!
Now that it's working, I must say, it is an excellent machine. It's simple to use and the stretch stitches are very precise; that is to say that when the stitch reverses and the needle is supposed to penetrate a hole that has already been punched, it goes precisely back into that hole, unlike my Singer 920 and even my computerized Pfaff. It also has a low gear for added punching power. I have seen them described as "able to punch through steel".
I think the best part about it is that it is a mechanical machine with a true 3-step zigzag. Most just give you a dotted wavy line which does not stretch. I've popped plenty of stitches on seams made of this supposed stretch stitch. Now I understand why Viking fans like them so much. Having said all that, with all this plastic, it will only be around a few more years. Parts are still available now, but that's not likely to be the case much longer. Future proofing is a big deal to me.
And check out that neat custom cabinet insert. I got it for 25 bux from a place called Shopjoya.com. It had a price sticker on it for something like $69. You can barely see it in the photo because it's completely clear and not scratched up yet.
