Yeah yeah ok - bit of a roughy I know. It was on ebay and I thought I might have a crack at it but I missed by this much. Still would've liked to restore it though.

These came out late 40's no? I wonder if a Rocket will look like this after however many years - I suspect stainless might fare a bit better (edit - come to think of it, it looks like it's already been used as a rocket!). And no I don't think it's a 5yo Elektra but the way some of the HB's I know treat their machines I wouldn't be surprised .

The poor baby!

I'm glad it's found a good home and bet it polishes up a treat!

Cheers

Mike

I had ideas of turning it into something like this (apologies to malachi)

DrDregs wrote:Yeah yeah ok - bit of a roughy I know. It was on ebay and I thought I might have a crack at it but I missed by this much. Still would've liked to restore it though.

Slight OT comment...
No offense, but you haven't a clue how far off the winning bid you were.

True story...I bought a motorcycle years back and it came with 3 helmets, all of which I sold on eBay. One was a Shoei with bold graphics on the side. I would have been happy to give it away but didn't know anyone that wanted it, so I listed it on eBay; it went for $285! I contacted the buyer to let him know that I thought the price of the winning auction was too high as I really just wanted it to go to someone who'd use it. So that I would feel better about the sale I threw in a new shield, shipping and handling, and refunded part of the purchase price. The winner told me how he had been looking for one for well over a year with no luck, so when he saw it he dropped a $500 bid right from the start. When the bidding hit $200 he increased his bid to $750 to ensure he wouldn't get beat.

Morale of the story - the next to highest bidder probably thought he missed winning by $5...if only he knew he had another $465 to go to even tie the bid... Although the Elektra went for $308 the winner's highest bid may have been much higher, so don't feel like you just missed out.

Now, more on topic, I really hope the winner is a member of this site and posts pictures of their restoration for all of us to enjoy.

Happy Holidays!

uscfroadie wrote:Slight OT comment...
No offense, but you haven't a clue how far off the winning bid you were.

I was being facetious. But you're right - I probably wouldn't have even got close at $500. And with my wife looking over my shoulder I chickened out at the last minute .

Being a hopeless collector/dealer I see this sort of stuff a lot - at garage sales, auctions, house calls etc but have never really paid much attention. My recently aquired passion for all things coffee machine related has changed my focus somewhat. I picked up a lovely little Pavono euro the other day for very little - something I wouldn't have bothered about not so long ago.

Look and you shall find. Merry xmas

These deals are out there. My recent ebay purchase vintage '81 Faema/Elektra Micro Casa was a "Buy it Now" for $300. plus ship.

It was me. It should be on it's way to it's new home in Melbourne right now. Lots of polishing, new seals from Doug & Barb, replace the knob on the steam valve and various other bits and it should be as good as new.

John

Congratulations on the purchase. So, inquiring minds want to know.. How much would you have gone up to before letting it go?

jmc wrote:It was me. It should be on it's way to it's new home in Melbourne right now. Lots of polishing, new seals from Doug & Barb, replace the knob on the steam valve and various other bits and it should be as good as new.

John

Who's Doug and Barb? I might need their services if they have Elektra stuff. Well done by the way.

DrDregs wrote:Who's Doug and Barb?

Owners of Orphan Espresso (and HB sponsors).

rawman wrote:Congratulations on the purchase. So, inquiring minds want to know.. How much would you have gone up to before letting it go?

Thanks, But inquiring minds will have to remain unsatisfied.
Next, maybe a Caravel.

John

jmc wrote:It was me. It should be on it's way to it's new home in Melbourne right now. Lots of polishing, new seals from Doug & Barb, replace the knob on the steam valve and various other bits and it should be as good as new.

John

Be aware when cleaning that the base is plated steel and the boiler outside layer is plate too. Your other concern may be the p-stat if it's the older style one, see this thread vintage p-stat

uscfroadie wrote:Slight OT comment...

Although the Elektra went for $308 the winner's highest bid may have been much higher, so don't feel like you just missed out.

Happy Holidays!

OT for a moment please:
I'm not sure you're correct here, Merle.
Based upon the verbiage in ebay's bidding instructions, no matter how high you bid, if you bid by proxy, if you win, you only pay whatever the next required "raise" (bump) would be over the previous high bid.
Besides, unless I'm seeing things, the winning bid is always shown.

Both of you are correct - a 'proxy' bid on ebay will only go one increment above the current bid, up to your maximum bid. But, when one is the 2nd bidder, one has no way to know how high the top bidder's bid was.

Example - assume a $1.00 bid increment (on ebay it does change as the price goes up). Opening bid is $10.00. First bid (by proxy) is $20.00 entered by Bidder #1. The ebay page will show $10.00. It will remain $10.00 until bidder #2 comes along. Bidder #2 bids $15.00. Bidder #1's proxy bid kicks in, the ebay page will show $16.00 (one increment more than Bidder #2's bid, but still less than Bidder #1's maximum). Bidder #2 comes back, bids $500.00. The proxy bid of Bidder #1 will go only as high as his maximum, $20.00. The ebay page will show $21.00 (one increment more than Bidder #1's last bid of $20.00). If no other bidder becomes involved, and there is no reserve, the item will sell for $21.00 even though Bidder #2 actually placed a bid for $500.00. Bidder #1 will not know what the other guys bid was, neither will the seller - only ebay & Bidder #2 know! It works exactly the same way with sniping programs, but it happens in the last seconds of the auction.

Ah, there you are, Doug!
Answer your email!
From last week.

Back on topic, I guess there is always that risk when purchasing a "used" machine of problems.
It was shame to see the machine in question so obviously neglected.
Must have brought some tears to your eyes, Doug?

The machine arrived 2 days ago. It is as described and well packed so no shipping damage. As the original photos showed, a very rough exterior. But no dents, chips or scratches.



Unfortunately, some idiot has cleaned the base and part of the boiler with a scouring pad so a replate is needed.



I'm currently thinking that I'll change the plating to the same as the machine from this post as I'm not a fan of shiny copper.
Getting started with the elektra microcasa a leva

Looking at the lugs on the portafilter I would say it has had very little use. The group head will be easy to clean.



Once the base is off all is clean and tidy.



Not much scale in the boiler.



It was advertised with no electric plug so I half expected the element to be blown, but it tested ok. When I filled it with water and fired it up it heated fine until it began to build pressure. Then steam started to hiss out of the bottom sight gauge seal. No problem as I had always intended to replace all the seals anyway.
Unfortunately I'm having no luck at all in getting the sight gauge tube out, so I think I'll have to break it to be able to chip out the old seals.

The pressure gauge has a broken glass and I'm also having a hard time getting that apart. I hope I can as I'd like to retain the Elektra gauge.

Overall a simple renovation.

Does anyone know where I can get the Elektra badge which should be on the front of the base ?

John

You could get a new circle of glass cut by a stained glass person, easiest if you know someone.

If you figure out where to get a new badge, I'd like one too.

Mark

HEY John, so glad the machine is respectable. A nice way to start the new year.
I wonder if Stefano might have a source?

jmc wrote:...I'm having no luck at all in getting the sight gauge tube out, so I think I'll have to break it to be able to chip out the old seals.

The pressure gauge has a broken glass and I'm also having a hard time getting that apart. I hope I can as I'd like to retain the Elektra gauge.
...
Does anyone know where I can get the Elektra badge which should be on the front of the base ?

John,
I had a sight glass replaced recently (after 25 years) and it had to be broken and the seals dug out.
The pressure gauges are apparently still available.
The badge on the front of that generation machine is a sticker. If you find a source I'd like to know, mine looks MUCH worse than yours).

Greg

Elektra is a great machine. I have been using the same model at home for the last year. You have to be a bit more careful with the grind though. Grind to far or tamp to hard and your machine just sits there and refuses to give you coffee. And on top of that, if you remove the portafilter in the coffee refusal position
(lever down) it will sneeze grounds all over your kitchen. lol. Usually happens to people only once though.

Just picked up the chrome Elektra. Also a nice machine and does not need to be polished. nice thing about the chrome type. I see you have the old type pressure stat in yours, Hope the membrane inside is working well, I like the old pressurestats, a bit more easy to understand than the new ones.

Hope you enjoy

Mitch