I just acquired a new-in-box Deezil which seems to be one of the better ones. It has a well-made one-piece counterbalanced crank and turns freely withpretty good compression - plenty for a start, I'd say. I'm in the process of cleaning it up, and we'll know more after I've done so.

More and more I'm coming to the conclusion that the original Deezils released in early 1948 at $12.95 (of which this may be one)were been far better made than the later junk examples. George Aldrich's reported comment that many of the early Deezils "ran like a Mills" may not be too wide of the mark. I suspect that despite their claims to the contrary,Gotham Hobby had nothing to do with the design and development of the Deezil - most likely they took over an existing design by others and trashed it down to the $1.95 paperweight that it became. That's exactly what AHC did in the 1930's with the Loutrel, junking it down to the G.H.Q. And Gotham Hobby was operated by members of the same family - the Winstons.

Stay tuned ..........................