In the 1970s and 1980s  a Leica M4 rangefinder   with a 1970s 35mm Summicron lens  was my carry around  film  camera. It worked extremely well and I was very comfortable wandering the streets using the camera without a light meter.  Some say that  this was a classic M -- the apex of the minimal  analog, hand-crafted design. But it  was on the cusp of fading into oblivion in the face of a newer technology of the 35mm SLR from Japan (Nikon F) from the  early sixties. The latter was  a steady trend which increased even more during  the 1970s  and 1980s.    

I used  the M4 extensively for the Bowden Archives and Industrial Modernity project, especially  for the black and white photos in the Snapshots and Bowden sections. 

 I dropped the Leica M4 onto a concrete floor in the Queensland  Art Gallery in Brisbane's South Bank in the 1990s.  The rangefinder mechanism broke and  it could not be repaired in Australia. The camera body  was misplaced and then lost  for approximately  25 years.  The 35mm Summicron lens, which had sat in a cupboard  was eventually  used on a  digital Sony NEX-7  in  2014.  I bought  the Sony E mount so that  I could use the lens. 

Then the Leica M4 body was found around 2018. Unfortunately,   the rangefinder mechanism still could not be repaired in Australia  as there were no  second hand  rangefinder mechanisms.  Over the next couple of years I saved up some  money and I  sent the body  back to Leica Camera in Wetzlar, Germany in 202 to be repaired.  They put in a new rangefinder mechanism  and refurbished  the body. They did an excellent job --- the 1970s camera is like new.  

Leica no longer make analog M rangefinder  cameras -- the electronic M7, the last of the line,  was introduced in 2002 and  discontinued in 2018.  I doubt that  anybody is making  35mm film cameras these days. There is no market for them. People renovate old film cameras if they want to use this kind of film. The prices of second hand  M film Leica's keep rising.  

I had a body and no lens as  the old 35mm Summicron lens was on a Sony mirrorless,   digital camera.  I swallowed hard and bought a secondhand  modern Summicron 35mm asph lens for the  M4  --- at great expense. That was all my camera savings gone. Bank account empty.  Broke. But I had an operational old tech  film camera  that is  50  years old.  Does this make me a hipster? 

I bought some  Kodak Tri-X black and white film and a small handheld  light meter and  started to use the M4  again. I'm struggling as I  no longer think in terms of black and white whilst using a hand held walk around camera.   A  full frame Sony digital  camera (A7 R111) with a Leica lens is  my walk around camera.  So I have  to relearn the old skills including processing the film.--its back to the craft days.  

25 years is a long journey.  I have  ended up in space where I am not sure  what kind of work I am going to do with this camera. Can I pick up from where I left off in the 1980s? 

I understand that film is making a resurgence, or so they say.   Whether this is the final gasp of air or a new breath of life has yet to be determined.  Kodak and Fuji are cutting production of once iconic films, and labs across the country are closing their doors or eliminating film processing altogether. However,  it appears that an indie movement of mini-labs and film companies is emerging  out of the ashes. 

Update

David Hume has informed me that Leica continues to make film rangefinders, namely the  MA (without a meter) and the MP (with a meter). Both bodies retail for around $7.5K. The lens is extra.  I am grateful I bought my M4 second hand in the 1970s.