Well I finally took the plunge and got a 2 group lever. Was it a good deal? yeah. Did I really need this? no. Am I psyched? YEAH! Will my SO appreciate this monster in the kitchen? Maybe, but only if I do the kitchen remodel I promised. So was this a good idea?... Well see how good the coffee is.
I'll try posting some pics here well see if it works.





Also

ANY AND ALL INFO RE THIS MACHINE APPRECIATED.

It seems to be in really good hardly used shape, no rust and it seems it has a double heating element. The only date I found was '93 re: electrical licensing from Canada/Ontario. The PO says it was run on 20 Amp 110V....Everything inside/outside the box says 220 so maybe a little sleuthing is in order. Possible they have been running it on 110 and getting poor results. I'll probably hook up the gas and see how she goes. Speaking of which, there was a lot of soot on the bottom of the boiler, I'm guessing it was set up for gas and the PO used propane. If the jetting is wrong would that cause soot? I don't really associate soot with either gas but know next to nothing about appliances run on NG/LPG. So far so good. I took it apart a bit to get to know it, but as everything seemed in order I resisted the desire to pull everything apart as then new gaskets etc will be needed.
Here is a link to the site with all the pics I took

http://s392.photobucket.com/albums/pp3/...g%20lever/

Looks a bit like a Gaggia but the heads have thrown me. Nice pick up anyways .

I have seen a machine here baked somewhere from memory with that same enamel finish on the steel work. Found it Antonella espresso machines

LPG and NG each require a different orifice. maybe the PO used LPG and the machine is set up for NG or vice-versa and this caused the soot? Neat machine.

The other bit of info the PO had was that it was made be Brasilia, but there are no markings anywhere to indicate such.

looks a lot like a brasilia. the groups look like the standard cma/astoria groups, so spare parts should be no problem.
else it looks fine, a little cleanup and ready-to go....just remove this milk frotheneer and add a standar steam wand!

cheers,
stefan

A seller on craigslist here in Ontario, Canada had 4 of these. I started a thread HERE. I couldn't really get any info on it either, and wish I would have picked one up - oh well.

13thfloorelevators wrote:looks a lot like a brasilia. the groups look like the standard cma/astoria groups, so spare parts should be no problem.
else it looks fine, a little cleanup and ready-to go....just remove this milk frotheneer and add a standar steam wand!

cheers,
stefan

Yeah I looked around online and the group is standard so that is good news. Now I just need to learn how to take it apart without busting it/me.
THe frother is attached to one of the two steam wands, so maybe I'll keep it for undiscerning guests at large dinner parties.

Hooked this up at the shop and all systems are go. The autofill, pressure stat, low water light, everything 100%. Working on the grind/tamp so far only 50/50 on success but getting there. The machine is kind of like a huge Pavoni with the dipper tube and all, but over heating is not a problem, the groups just suck it up. I'm thinking of insulating the boiler to save a little on electricity, but don't want to mess with a good thing. Anyhow a "no tinkering required" straight out of the box twin lever, nice surprise! Guess I'll just have to concentrate on the bus.