As an aside, is it possible to run the steam lever machines (e.g. La Pavoni or Elektra) at regular boiling temperature, for temp. stability, like the Caravel? Or does the temp drop for the first few shots screw everything up?

And I'm definitely comfortable with tinkering, so it sounds like eBay Italy is the way to go. With the prices there being fairly reasonable, I can always buy another one at worst case.

Most steam lever machines require pressure to drive the water into the coffee and fill the piston. This means a temperature above 100C when pressurized. The group head often acts as a heat sink to try to get the water to the right temperature (or commercial class machines might use thermosyphons to keep a group temp stable).

If you don't require steam then the Caravel is quite a bargain.

What's a reasonable price range for a working Caravel on eBay Italy? The most recent one sold for 190 Euro, and the only one I can see in the history sold for 140 Euro.

I was bidding for 150 Euro on the most recent one (based on the previous sale), but the bidding blew right past that at the end - just curious if people are familiar with general ranges for what I should expect.

Don't know about Italy. When Orphan Espresso has had them they have been $350 refurbished - but it has been a little while.

newmanium wrote:What's a reasonable price range for a working Caravel on eBay Italy? The most recent one sold for 190 Euro, and the only one I can see in the history sold for 140 Euro.

I was bidding for 150 Euro on the most recent one (based on the previous sale), but the bidding blew right past that at the end - just curious if people are familiar with general ranges for what I should expect.

I am looking as well, and yes around 200+ euros seems to be the current prevailing rate for a standard, reasonably maintained machine. And they dont appear to be dropping in a hurry. Brunella's seem to be around the same mark, and Peppinas a little cheaper and more available. It is fun just browsing though.

I remember 100-120 being the standard. They must be getting more popular. The biggest problem with ebay.it is that you don't really know for sure a whole lot. Of course, as long as everything is there and the element works most things can be fixed up and new seals put on. But it's not quite the same as a refurbished one.

Drip trays, baskets, portafilters, are all often missing but for the most part sellers are honest and you just have to look at the pictures and you should be able to tell everything.

It's really too bad that there aren't new ones of these being made, but I have a feeling that for now supply is still higher than demand.

Droshi wrote:It's really too bad that there aren't new ones of these being made, but I have a feeling that for now supply is still higher than demand.

Largely a combination of potential safety issues and lack of steam I suspect. A contemporary version that addressed safety, had steam and temp control, and sold for under $1,000 would be a pretty sweet package.

Thanks for the help - I just got one from eBay.it for 186 Euro ($250) incl. shipping. Seems reasonable, hope it works! Amazing how many other people are out there bidding on these appliances from 50 years ago.

Can't wait to start pulling some shots. This will be my first espresso machine (my Nespresso doesn't count!).

Only thing I realized, was that the pics don't show the handle - hope I get lucky, otherwise beginner's mistake:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi...0553025767

As peacecup writes, it looks like everything there, with the only mystery being (as it always is with Caravels) how many baskets you will be getting.

Give us a shout if you need any help with the Italian.

And.... enjoy! They're great little machines

Cheers

Mike