Jennings red skin

[just frank slots]

Hi, On eBay right now there is a Jennings Red Skin for sale, I think it was made in 1948... The back door is missing but the problem is it looks like it's been dropped bad... I am not sure what happened but the very top of the casting is cracked... The starting bid is a good price $500.00 and shipping is $299.00 not including tax... I did talk to the guy, and he said it's frozen and does not work... I can't afford anything right now but is this a rare machine? Or is this too much of a headache to fix?

[nvmos2]

Jennings made a lot of variations in the Chief machines. The Red Skin was introduced in 1938.
According to Bueschel:
It was a "private label Chief, special models made for major route buyers .........models modified mechanically or graphically, or both, to meet the needs of special customers."
Although you may not see this variant often, IMO it is not rare; there are guys on this forum fully capable of fixing it up like new. Unless you have the skills to do the work yourself and would enjoy the process, I'd stay away; you'll end up paying others more than the machine is worth.

Some may consider the name politically incorrect these days, but it probably merely refers to the paint job.

[just frank slots]

Thank you for the information, what bothered me was top was cracked badly... I used to have a welding business long time ago... Only steel and iron, never aluminum. Some told me the metal from that time was purer and too soft to weld. Others said it was better and easer to weld... I do know it can be tricky... But either way it looked like it was dropped hard maybe from shipping, I'm not sure what happened.
I did talk to the owner he said he was going to ship it on a pallet he felt it was safer that way... I'm not sure about that, maybe... I will keep an eye on it...