I'm a fan of Mixmasters. I've got four of them. I never intended to get so many; it just sort of happened. I bought a nice chrome one from the '70s on eBay a couple of years ago and the idiot seller packed it up with the mixer attached to the stand. The stand and the turntable were broken in shipping. He refunded my money and told me to dispose of the mixer as I saw fit. I kept it and replaced the broken stand and turntable with white ones for less than I had initially paid for the mixer itself.
Later on, I found a Mixmaster Vista with a built-in work light, chrome with a brown stand, complete except for the bowls, at a thrift store for $5.50. I couldn't pass that up; in fact, I rationalized it to my girlfriend by saying I could sell the mixer I already and keep the bowls for more than I was paying for that one. But a couple of days later, she came in from our church's annual rummage sale, saying she'd found me some bowls. What she'd actually found was another mixer, a white plastic Mixmaster from about 1989 according to the copyright date on the manual, complete with everything but the original box. It's not nearly as well made as the other two. It has a beater release button where the power takeoff should be, and thus no way to attach any accessories. I suggested just keeping the bowls to use with the Vista and selling the rest on eBay, but she wouldn't hear of it. Oddly enough, she wouldn't take it home with her, either.
I eventually found an all-chrome Mixmaster, slightly older than that white plastic one. While it first glance it looks just like the other the two chrome ones I have, it too has a beater release button in place of the power takeoff. But that doesn't matter since I really bought it for its base, so now my first Mixmaster is all chrome, just like it's supposed to be. One of these days, I'll get rid of the two newer mixers that I don't need. But right now, all four of them are taking up precious cabinet space. Truth be told, I could actually be quite content putting the Vista on the chrome stand and selling off everything else.
-Michelle
