The “girls” in the typing pool on Mad Men sure look to be typing away on Hon desks. This longtime company, which services mostly offices, has great retro styled desks. Unfortunately, they also had a bona fide ‘tanker’ desk, which they discontinued last year.
You can look for these desks at your local office furniture store – where they may also have some tankers in the back room – it’s worth a try. Link to the Metro: click here.
Office remodel, Step 1: Heavy lifting 
Home office design — adding space for crafts in my 9′ x 14′ basement computer cave 
Pecky Cypress in Jenn Ski’s office 
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I see Tanker Desks all the time on Craig’s list, usually very reasonably priced. Plus I’ve seen matching closed cabinets, bookshelves, file cabinets, tables, drafting tables and credenzas. I’ve also seen the desks powder-coated in wild colors and selling for mucho bucks. I bet you could do it yourself cheaply using the car painting method you recommend for kitchen steel cabinets.
I bet you are right about the painting, Puddletown. And those vintage tanker desks are built like – tanks, of course.
Did you notice the little typing table on wheels next to the third desk from the front? I work in a university building that was built in the late 50s and much of the furniture from that era is still around. I have one of the typing tables with the straight legs and half-ball feet, and have always had secret thoughts about taking it home with me.
Actually, our university (Indiana University, BTW, go Hoosiers!) has a warehouse filled with old stuff that offices get rid of. They used to have occasional auctions, but for the past few years, it’s more like a store, where everything is priced and you can find great old desks, desk chairs, file cabinets…and lots of other weird stuff like lab equipment that looks like it came from a 50s science fiction movie. I’ve gotten some great formica dorm furniture from the 50s and 60s there–little occasional tables, and also some of those wired-in steep gooseneck lamps.