It is funny how much we enjoy / how well we take care of things like this. . . The individual I purchased this from sent it from California with no padding in the box. . . the side panels / rear panel are all bent in a little now. Although I guess if they knew / cared about what they had in this espresso machine it also probably would not have cost what it did.
On a better note, the machine is extremely clean. It needs to wait in line, as there are a few machines in front of it, but it should really only need a bath in Citric Acid and maybe new gaskets / o-rings. Overall I would say it is a great find. I have not been able to find anything out about it on the net either. Just 2 mentions of the machine in CoffeeGeek, but no pictures or refurbs.
Does anyone know how rare these are? It was made in 1981 and says it was #11 of 84 they made that year. It looks very similar to most of the other levers I have, but the lever mechanism itself is unlike anything I have personally seen so far. On all of my other levers if you pulled the lever down when the machine was dry, the lever would fly up rather erratically, as there was no water resistance foe the piston inside the group. When this lever is pulled all the way down, it clicks and engages with another piece of metal which take the lever up at a constant speed whether water is present in the chamber or not.
I am interested to see what the shot quality is like in this Carimali vs my 70 San Marco vs the Prestina. Should be fun!
