Before anyone gets upset that they "missed" this one, you should know it was an "inside job."   My brother got it for a round figure bday.  
 
But wanted to put it in the line-up because it turned out pretty cool.  And some people (like me, ha!) just like to look at lever porn!
 
It was a bit of a basket case (for a Cremina) when we got it.  The pin holes in the lever yoke were ovaled out, and the previous owner actually tried to have the lever fork modified to compensate loss of "throw" by cutting and welding the fork.  Bizarre.  Ugly.  And wrong. 

The paintwork was pretty bad.
 
The frame had a little rust. 
 
And there was some scale completely blocking the lower end of the sight glass, from sitting around a few years.  
 
So we did a tear down and powder coated the frame and body, installed a new lever fork, and did the rest of our usual rehab thing (cleaning, descaling, new seals, etc.) and it came out kinda cool.   We even polished the stainless panels, which is a pain in the ass, and involves a lot of time with our 12" buffer wheels, but really transforms most machines (way better!) 
 
The paint is close to a "stock" color from a distance (Olympia sold this color orange in the 70s) but up close you can see a tiny bit of metal flake in the powder coating.  So it has a bit of a "custom" look, while still maintaining the "conservative" Cremina vibe.   These Swiss machines are nothing if not understated, so a little sex appeal goes a long way.  

The badge is still "missing," but since this Cremina, like most of them, will live with it's back against a kitchen wall, nobody will really notice.  
 
We will see if we actually ever get another one of these, since prices have skyrocketed in the last six months.  We may be approaching the days of, "They just aren't worth it," price points on Olympias.  There are a lot of other cool espresso machines out there.
 
But we can always look!