This is a splendid and solidly-made Brother XL-500 ultra-portable typewriter that was manufactured in Japan in 1967 (serial no. K8142471). It comes with its original vinyl case, long strap & handle, and soft lining going around the zipper. This is a practical ultra-portable typewriter that you can take with you anywhere.

This typewriter weighs 7.8 lbs (9.2 lbs with the case) and measures 11.25 x 12 x 3.25 inches. It comes with a full 88-character American keyboard, white keys (single red tab button), with a robin egg blue, all-metal body.

The carriage return lever pushes down for a detent position for storage and pulls up for a usable position. At the back of the machine, there’s a small button release for the paper support and locks back neatly into place. It has the typical push-and-slide left and right margin settings. It also has a carriage lock on the right side, for easy storage or when the machine is not in use.

The paper table and paper bale come with a scale. It has 1, 1-1/2, and 2 line-space settings, plus the ‘R’ setting which releases the platen. The ‘R’ setting will adjust the line-spacing freely to type pre-printed forms, for example.

The ribbon cover pulls out very easily and locks into rubber grommets. There are break levers for each ribbon, which keeps it from spooling unnecessarily. This is a carriage-shift machine, not a basket or segment shift like other portables. The design of the type-bars is wide and well-made. It features a very crisp and legible Elite typeface at 12 characters per inch.

The Touch Selector goes from (L)ow to (H)igh. There is some subtle difference in typing, where the low setting feels lighter and more tactile.

The red tab key provides five spaces as a preset, which is very convenient for starting a new paragraph, for writing screenplays, or accounting ledger.

This machine is smooth, rounded, and shiny all around. There are very small nicks and chips in the back, otherwise, this is a splendidly beautiful machine all around.