Some of you will have seen this on you-know-where in Spain. Curiosity got the better of me so I low balled it and here it is on the bench a week later. It was listed as a new, never used display machine and missing some bits like the end plate, elements, dipper tubes and gauge assembly.
Calling it brand new after 70 years was a bit of a stretch but indeed, it has never been used so 'new old stock' maybe and seeing as I have all the bits to make it complete again I thought, why not give it a go.
My first thoughts were to replace the missing bits and fire it up keeping it as original as possible but on reflection a unique machine like this deserves more so I'll strip it down, powder coat the frame, sand blast the boiler and do a general go-over on the valves and seals etc.
The groups I'll just give the floppy seals a squiz and maybe firm them up a bit but I'll probably replace with rubber gaskets and shims. I'm rather excited about pulling the tops off the groups because at the moment they feel like brand new so it will be interesting to see the condition. All the valves look like they were assembled yesterday but the rubber components are a little firm.
I really like playing with these early Gaggias because apart from installing a modern pressure-stat there is virtually no plumbing. The steam, hot water and sight glass architecture bolt straight to the boiler. The worst thing I've found is a plastic-like protective film on the chrome which is rather difficult to remove.
Here are some pics. The first are from the original listing, the last are on the bench.
Calling it brand new after 70 years was a bit of a stretch but indeed, it has never been used so 'new old stock' maybe and seeing as I have all the bits to make it complete again I thought, why not give it a go.
My first thoughts were to replace the missing bits and fire it up keeping it as original as possible but on reflection a unique machine like this deserves more so I'll strip it down, powder coat the frame, sand blast the boiler and do a general go-over on the valves and seals etc.
The groups I'll just give the floppy seals a squiz and maybe firm them up a bit but I'll probably replace with rubber gaskets and shims. I'm rather excited about pulling the tops off the groups because at the moment they feel like brand new so it will be interesting to see the condition. All the valves look like they were assembled yesterday but the rubber components are a little firm.
I really like playing with these early Gaggias because apart from installing a modern pressure-stat there is virtually no plumbing. The steam, hot water and sight glass architecture bolt straight to the boiler. The worst thing I've found is a plastic-like protective film on the chrome which is rather difficult to remove.
Here are some pics. The first are from the original listing, the last are on the bench.

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