Lever Espresso Machine Gallery - Page 164

#1631: Post by **pootoogoo** » October 4th, 2013, 10:42 am

peacecup wrote:Not mine, but nice - a Regina:

I crawled all over the internet and found no other mention of this 'Regina' machine anywhere else

(the Italcrem looks similar in the conception but it's not the same group)... is this the brand or the name ? Is this a Conti group ?
Any other information about the origin/story of this machine will be helpful in order to identify the origin of the Vassal machine. Thanks.

(Sorry, it's my first post and I write here after trying to contact the author... but MP doesn't seem to work).

#1632: Post by **Rikinwa** » October 5th, 2013, 12:18 pm

Really, really bummed that I missed the Famina look alike.

Glad it went to an H-Ber.

Still scratching my head and asking, "How did I miss that?"

#1633: Post by **pootoogoo** » October 8th, 2013, 10:26 pm

Found this post by peacecup on Sep 24, 2009, 7:54 am on another thread

The Regina was a machine I saw on Ebay.fr once. Never saw another one.

I guess that's his answer to my question.

Then it seems to be another french espresso mystery machine

Any other information are welcome...

#1634: Post by **angman** » October 9th, 2013, 6:29 pm

Rikinwa wrote:Really, really bummed that I missed the Famina look alike.

Glad it went to an H-Ber.

Still scratching my head and asking, "How did I miss that?"

I am sad that I never saw it either. I also considered that Lusso but the leaking boiler kind of turned me off as I didn't want to bother fixing it. We should really do a HB craigslist lever swap between Vancouver - Portland. I travel all the time but not when something pops up of course.

BTW where did you find that 2 group san marco? I wish i saw this thread earlier as I would be all over that one.

#1635: Post by **jasonb** » October 16th, 2013, 11:34 pm

So, I randomly went on Craigslist not too long ago here in Vegas expecting nothing too interesting on the espresso machine search as usual and low and behold, there was a vintage lever machine posted. I nearly fell off my chair when it turned out to be this... A 2-group Riviera Eagle. I didn't even know a 2 group existed. Turns out, it sat in a country club basement for years and years unused. The guy had no idea what he won at the employees only auction. I got a killer deal on it, did a thorough cleaning, got some seals and filter baskets (thank you Cara), adjusted the pstat and voila! A shiny gem of a machine that I will cherish for many years to come.

#1636: Post by **drgary** » October 17th, 2013, 12:11 am

Jason:

Thank you for showing us that two-headed Riviera. It is "the craziest %#*$ing thing I've seen all day..."! Did Christopher Cara tell you how rare it is?

#1637: Post by **Chert** » October 17th, 2013, 12:12 am

Really? No mirror trick photograph here? Great find. How rare is that thing?

#1638: Post by **drgary** » October 17th, 2013, 10:24 am

I just got an answer from Tomaso Tarini at Zacconi workshop. Of that two-group Riviera, he writes, "this is a special production made in the 1990's produced in about twenty specimens and only for the U.S. market." In other words you have found one of the rarest home lever espresso machines ever. Congratulations!

Since this is only one most people will ever see, could you show us more photos? Is that a water inlet valve in the back right, for instance?

October 17th, 2013, 10:36 am

Only in America! Where if one is good, two must be better!

#1640: Post by **jasonb** » October 18th, 2013, 12:13 am

Wow even I didn't realise that it was that special. Thank you for that response/info Gary. I will try to one-up a pic and post a video sometime soon. Pulling both together is great fun. I almost feel bad now that I cut the bottoms off the portafilters knowing how rare it is. There is a direct connect water line there but I don't have a plumb-in setup at home.