Can anyone give me advice on purchasing a Pfaff 145 H4 6/lc for $1000?

[FarCountryFarm]

Can anyone advise me on the value of this machine? According to the fellow who is selling it it works, however he doesn’t know how to run it. He’s selling it for his wife’s deceased grandfather. I can go to his place and try it, however the distance is a trek for me to go without having more info about it. Would it be reasonable to ask him to have it serviced/evaluated before going? Is a machine this old worth $1000? Many thanks for any advice.

Edited 5 hours ago by FarCountryFarm
Accidentally submitted before finishing

[kgg]

51 minutes ago, FarCountryFarm said:

Can anyone advise me on the value of this machine?

First off it really depends on what you want to sew. Which is ???

Keep in mind

i) the machine could date back to the mid 1930's and with all PFAFF machines parts can be expensive if available.

ii) Chances are it has a clutch motor which really needs to be replace with a servo motor and that will cost about an additional $200 USD.

Personally I would not consider paying a $1000 USD plus $200 for a motor for a machine that old. 

If you tell us what items you want to sew there are better options available.

kgg

 

[Northmount]

1 hour ago, FarCountryFarm said:

Can anyone advise me on the value of this machine?

I moved your post to Leather Sewing Machines

[FarCountryFarm]

 

4 hours ago, kgg said:

First off it really depends on what you want to sew. Which is ???

Keep in mind

i) the machine could date back to the mid 1930's and with all PFAFF machines parts can be expensive if available.

ii) Chances are it has a clutch motor which really needs to be replace with a servo motor and that will cost about an additional $200 USD.

Personally I would not consider paying a $1000 USD plus $200 for a motor for a machine that old. 

If you tell us what items you want to sew there are better options available.

kgg

 

Thank you kgg for your response. I want to sew through ballistic nylon and harness leather and it appears that this model will do the job. Because it was used by the grandfather of a 30 something year old I think it’s pretty old. I had not thought about replacement parts, so thanks for pointing that out. Again, I really appreciate your thoughts on this.

[friquant]

41 minutes ago, FarCountryFarm said:

I want to sew through ballistic nylon and harness leather

More specifically, what do you want to make out of the ballistic nylon and harness leather? What is the maximum total thickness (folds included) that you want to be able to stitch?

The Pfaff 145 is a flatbed machine which is fine for upholstery jobs. Cylinder bed machines are more versatile for making three-dimensional objects, like sewing gussets on bags.

Wiz' famous topic is worth a gander: