I went to see this lathe today! (August 11, 2006)

It seemed to be in generally good condition. The ways have some parallel 
horizontal scores near the headstock, but they are not deep enough to catch 
a fingernail on. The scores do not cover the whole surface of the Vee. (I 
could not do the carriage lock trick to assess worn ways because I could not 
figure out how to lock the carrriage!) There was no obvious dip between the 
worn and unworn parts of the ways.

I heard it run in one fairly high speed. It wasn't silent, but it wasn't a 
"rock crusher" either, just a light gear noise.

It's S/N 24142. Above the S/N is what I think is a US Navy acceptance stamp: 
an anchor with "US".

It is indeed a 24" x 10'; this is cast in the bed

It has:

24" four-jaw chuck-faceplate. Removeable jaws.

16" three-jaw

Steady Rest. (There are two steadies on the floor behind this lathe, they 
were different from each other. Presumably one is the steady of this lathe, 
but I did not try either as they were too heavy.)

Lead Screw pitch is 4

Shift plate says 1-2-3 (See above, this is an id feature)

Taper attachment

On the back of the lathe was a power carriage traverse connected to the 
taper attachment arm. This had a telescoping square driveshaft and U-joints.

It has a Century open-frame electric motor with an enclosed chain drive to 
the headstock input shaft. (The illustration above shows a flat belt pulley 
on the input shaft.) The chain enclosure looked "factory".

It has well-crafted OSHA-style guards on the the exposed gears behind the 
QCGB. There's a hinged chuck guard. These show bright green in the photos.  
The former owner is a wizard with sheet metal - there were many interesting 
fabrications in the shop, both shop stuff and product.

It's overall dimensions are 140" long, 58" deep, over the taper attachment, 
and 80" high to the top of the motor lift ring. That last dimension is a 
little uncertain because I was trying to estimate something above my head 
with the tape not up close to the lift ring.

There's a 1-1/2" wide neatly done grind out of the rear (only) TAILSTOCK way 
right by the face of the chuck. It;s funny, the bed is designed so that the 
rear way had about 1/2" less swing than the front way. So, somebody ground 
out a neat place on the rear tailstock way to clear the chuck jaws at 
maximum extension.

I thought that it was in above-average condition for a collectible lathe. I 
believe it could continue to earn a living for many years. This is NOT a 
clunker as far as I can tell!

It seemed clean and well-cared-for, in a shop where the machines were 
generally clean and well-cared-for.