I am currently hunting for a faema president after deciding not to get Bosco though I think I get good price from Ms.Roberta, I was interested in Bosco after watching this Bar De Ga, man! I wish I could sit there for a 5 minute to enjoy their espresso and the fact that it is made in "Napoli" the Mecca of the lever machine. Once I was thinking about Gaggia America, another beautiful looking machine but I've not heard anything about its shot. I was also interested in KvdW Idrocompresso, it's very strong with its design, and I think advance in its tech (for a lever) though I could be wrong. I think it this way, La marzocco would not have let KvdW in it's line production if this guy is just an average machine designer. Line up hundreds of espresso machine and KvdW will still catch your eye. For me, for now, not KvdW, but I let it be my dream machine for one reason; I will get faema because of its design, its simplicity, its ease of maintenance, much room to learn about espresso machine further, has been around even before I know how to crawl. Now, that I won't get KvdW, I started to have this crazy Idea to get 2 of them, maybe yes, maybe no, for what? I don't know! Maybe I'm a FaeMAnia! I start gathering NFO, pics of Faema President and to realize that it actually has quite a few different version. Start from the most obvious, its Grouphead to the smallest things such as its cosmetic appearance.

I do not find a book (I wish I have a copy of Maltoni's, won't bother to get one, just can't wait) or anything about the faema lever (president) on the net to help me find which model of president came first and which model follows. this are the pics I could find recently on the net and they are some are for sale right now, until I know if they're willing to ship to me, I could say I have some to chose from.

OK back to the point, help me find which one was the earliest to youngest model and which one consider more preferable. Thanks a lot!

Pic No. 1
The same grouphead and tap position as this but E61 body style

Just like this guy's Faema here




Pic No. 2
Like urania but No tap (knob) between the sight glass

Look at the skirt here:




Pic No. 3
Same as above but with knob between sight glass




Pic No. 4
Same housing, water & steam tap as the E61 with black lining, no skirt.




btw,
I found this one, for 550 no bid yet, is a good price I think. Too bad EUR1500 to ship to me.
http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...K:MEWAX:IT

The machines on the last pictures have Zodiaco groups. Almost all parts are still available. And they make great coffee. I don't know about the availability of the parts for the other (Velox?) group.

Cheers Niels

Thanks Niels!

They are all zodiaco group except the 1st pic and the vid right?
Pity, I like the velox group, it looks bigger and better to me.

I've contacted the guy who own some of those machines, he sent lots of pics of that urania (above) along with maybe dozens of other machines including this (Looks like faema group, what's this?):

hello,

gaskets for the piston should fit on the velox group as well. the problem with the velox group is, that the heating element is not available anymore. if it fails, can be custom made of course.
else u have to decide between the first generation (water-level-glass outside, internal valves like on the urania) and the second generation presidents (e61-style body, internal glass, e61 valves). with the 2nd generation presidents close to all parts are available. 1st generation u will find more or less all the gaskets (i only had to cut the boiler gasket for my machine which was no big deal) but u have to be carefull about the valves. gaskets are standard but there are no replacement parts available for the shafts which can wear out...

but i am happy with my first generation president, somehow i like the look a little bit more then with the second generation, but that are just details....my pres. hat all the technique from the uranias, even the plexi for the cups.

here is a pic from my president (not in my home, borrowed it for a short film), u can see some of the difference to the 2nd generation (feets, side-caps):

The velox group seems pretty cool despite the difficulties in finding replacements if the heater fails. The steam boiler (which is of course unrelated to the group, since its effectively a 'dual boiler') is around 1.8L, perfect size for home use. My understanding (from pictures) is that the same 1.8L steam boiler is used on the two group velox machines as well, which would really be a bit on the small side for a two group machine. Having said that, its got more grunt in its 1.8L than other 2.5L sized machines I've used.



External style water gauge looks very 'steampunk' cool, I'd definitely try for that, but there is so much variation from machine to machine, and not that huge a number of machines, that you will probably have to compromise on some of the particulars that you prefer to get the best overall.

The Zodiaco group machines have much larger HX style steam boilers.

Sweet!! They are beautiful machines!

13thfloorelevators, yours is the same as the pic.2! Except the group, I'm thinking of getting this, it's almost 2000EUR sent to me with that condition-needs a minor restoration I think). It's not cheap but the shipping alone costs almost 600. Btw the skirt and the plexi panel is not my taste, I prefer the E61 leg and panel style, but I could live with it, still cool!

There is this another one similar to pic.3 (the water gauge is the same as pic.2 though, no black knobs/taps between that glass tube, what's that for anyway??), the leg, the panel just as I wanted, from the pic I can tell the condition is more or less like yours. Still waiting for the shipping quote, but I'd assume it will be around EUR3000 include shipping.

Thanks gyro, I get it, I should forget president with Velox Group, not because of the heater, its smaller boiler I'm worrying about (I'll be getting the 2gr) and I'll be using gas more than electricity. This urania (the pic.1) is EUR2200 to my door, this very same guy also offering some other 2 or 3 president 2nd generation sold for about the same price (pic.4 is one of them). And yesterday he sent me another offer, it's another good looking machine gaggia america for 1500EUR to my door, looks like quite a bargain. I'm thinking now, i think I should be ready to have an argument with my wife someday.

novyan wrote:13thfloorelevators, yours is the same as the pic.2! Except the group, I'm thinking of getting this, it's almost 2000EUR sent to me with that condition-needs a minor restoration I think). It's not cheap but the shipping alone costs almost 600. Btw the skirt and the plexi panel is not my taste, I prefer the E61 leg and panel style, but I could live with it, still cool!

yes, it looks very similar to pic 2. but somehow i think the didnt build any identical machines at this time and just put together whatever they had! interesting on the machine in pic 2 is, that there are two different versions of the zodiaco group attached. u see the difference in the size of the aloy cylinders! mine has the short cylinder version as well (standard zodiaco spring didnt fit there, but thats not really a problem)...anyway a great machine

the americana looks fantastic as well, gaggia build a lot of great machines in the 50/60s! i am currently rebuilding a three group internazionale..cant wait to get it in operation....

cheers,
stefan

Man! I've been staring at that picture all this time, how the heck.. I didn't notice that!
No, this not cool, the lever height will not be the same. Something more to learn here, even the zodiaco group comes with different version. thanks for letting me know!

novyan wrote:Man! I've been staring at that picture all this time, how the heck.. I didn't notice that!
No, this not cool, the lever height will not be the same. Something more to learn here, even the zodiaco group comes with different version. thanks for letting me know!

no problem u are right: the height is not the same...technically it would be no problem, u just need different springs for the groups and probably the two groups would work with different pressure profiles in the end....

as far as i know there are three different lenghts of the cylinder on the zodiaco group....

I have the same Urania as in Pic #2. It took a bit of work to get going. It has been working daily since 2006. No maintenance. Basically just runs and runs..... and makes great espresso or Cap or whatever one likes. Parts were not a problem though I have been wanting to get a plastic screen for the top cup area but have not sourced it yet.

Great machine. I do not have experience with the other Presidents but they seem fairly similar. As far as the gaggia goes I have never used one either.

You can see the rebuild Faema Urania L'autovellotermica rebuild