The Conti linkage group is probably the commercial group I lust most after. I wish La Peppina wasn't so brilliantly suited for my use, which leaves me without any good reason to search a Prestina to upgrade to.

rick_bond wrote:In a recent fit of caffeine-induced madness, I found and acquired one of my favourite machines, the Conti Prestina. It was residing in the home of a Sydney accountant for the last 15 years, and before that had been the pride and joy of a small restaurant.

Congratulations, Rick. Yours appears to be in great shape!

thanks Gary,

yes I'm very lucky - this machine has been really well looked after, and serviced by the local Conti agent. Apart from a small leak from the sight glass, there's really no reason to pull it apart.

But, I really want to make sure everything is OK so I think a full rebuild is in order, plus a new pressurestat and wiring, boiler insulation, safety and anti-vac valve, powdercoated chassis and stainless/brass hardware where needed.

I also have to make up a drip tray, as this was the only part missing. I've already cut a naked portafilter from a new one that I got through Conti.

Can't wait 'till it's done

I love Craigslist!

Almost as if it were fate. I was sitting here, relaxing on my first Saturday off in quite a while, reading the Caravel thread where folks were talking about prices and picking up gems secondhand without getting sucked in to the ridiculous high pricing these can command at auction. That reminded me to do my daily Craigslist check to see if anything new and interesting happened to pop up in the bay area....

Lo and behold, I find at the very top of the listings a minty fresh well cared for 67 Cremina, with all its components, for sell nearby.The listing had been up for about 20 minutes. One email and a phone call later, and I am now the proud owner of my own Cremina in amazing condition, rust free throughout. Now, I'm off to read up more from OE and others on the use and maintenance of these.





The owner bought it originally from Thomas Cara, in SF, best guess was just over 10 years ago. He used it once or twice but basically it has sat unused since he bought it. A month ago, he had the O-rings replaced in the group. Originally he took the outer shell to an auto painter and had it painted to match his kitchen decor. I will likely do the same and either return it to its original black, or maybe go with something custom. I can't imagine ever wanting to sell it.

I need to double check on the type of insulation here on the boiler. It doesn't look like asbestos like I've seen before, but I want to be absolutely sure.



The serial number plate shows that it was a 67 that was rewired for the US market from 220 to 110/ 50 Hz to 60Hz. (?) There's no way this was sitting on the shelf of Cara's shop for 30 years. So, I suppose it was normal for him to source units and rebuild them for the US market?

davestd wrote:Hi folks,
my last acquire: a very scarce home lever machine named "Antares" by Carimali (founder of Carimali was Mr. Athos Carimali, thus brand is his last name!). The cream body is enameled iron, very heavy to counteract the spring force. Very happy to have found such little jewel!!

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Hi all

yes, it's a very lovely machine. very small, very nice and heavy...
here some more Antares-information by pictures - english is a difficult language for me!
I've found mine 2007 in Italy, and i'm very happy. Missing part is only the manometre - i replaced it by a femoka-manometre, because it's exactly the same size.
I could send an eps-file (vector graphic) from the acryl-glass drawing if you want/need it for restoring yours - here i only could put a jpg of my drawing, that's not helpful












have a nice day and a lot of fun with your machine
Nils

TomC wrote:Almost as if it were fate.

I am now the proud owner of my own Cremina in amazing condition, rust free throughout.

I need to double check on the type of insulation here on the boiler. It doesn't look like asbestos like I've seen before, but I want to be absolutely sure.

Tom,

Congratulations! The espresso gods are smiling on you and it looks like it's in wonderful condition. And I can't imagine that's anything but asbestos. I've seen threads where people carefully soak it off. I look forward to seeing it up close one of these days.

Tom:
what a great find! The steam wand seems like it's different than most I've seen. Does it swivel? I'd be interested to know if someone modified it in some way. The tip looks original but in the picture it seems to be off to the side as opposed to over the drip tray and with two bends as opposed to the usual one. You are in the City so I'd bet that Cara himself might be able to shed light.

Enjoy!!!

rick_bond wrote:In a recent fit of caffeine-induced madness, I found and acquired one of my favourite machines, the Conti Prestina. It was residing in the home of a Sydney accountant for the last 15 years, and before that had been the pride and joy of a small restaurant.
I've wanted one of these since watching Doug pulling apart a Prestina that he had restored.

You are a fortunate man! They are a wonderful and very stable machine. I, unfortunately, sold mine to get more room in my very small kitchen. I have carried it to "doings" and done some catering with it. It never let me down!!
It runs on almost no electricity. A bulletproof keeper! That was the machine in Doug's Video. It also had no drip tray!! A simple plastic tray on the counter below was sufficient! If you plumb it in, you can run a drain line from the tray to a large plastic water bottle. I used a FloJet pump to keep it full of water when i used the fill lever on the front. Your mains' water pressure should be sufficient. I have a pump supplied well water system and it had too much iron to be a good filler for this machine.
Congratulations!!
~Richard

benhogan wrote:Tom:
what a great find! The steam wand seems like it's different than most I've seen. Does it swivel? I'd be interested to know if someone modified it in some way. The tip looks original but in the picture it seems to be off to the side as opposed to over the drip tray and with two bends as opposed to the usual one. You are in the City so I'd bet that Cara himself might be able to shed light.

Enjoy!!!

Some of the old Creminas had a steam valve like the one on the machine that protrudes straight out rather than angled up. On these straight valves they used a steam wand similar to the Maximatics that had a bend like the one you see and can swing side to side. I am not sure if this is a date specific feature of the creminas like a later model or something or a special batch or what. I am sure someone else that knows more about the Creminas would know.

Hmmm. It certainly has my curiousity piqued. The steam valve doesn't move, it's fixed in it's position. I was able to stretch some nice microfoam last night, for a quick trial, on the 4 hole tip.

I'm already about half way thru Doug/Barb's Cremina rebuild video series. Very helpful so far. I'll get the Pavoni's finished up, sell one of them, then get started on rebuilding the Cremina.