Another time warp Europiccola.  Very lightly used, with one of the better rubber sub-bases we've seen lately.  This one is from the "crossover" year, 1974, when Pavoni was about to change the group to the bolt-on, "second generation" style.  
 
What's cool about this machine is that it has the screw on group, but the piston/bore is the later style that slides out (after removing a lever pin, of course!) for easy servicing, without any need for a special tool to extract the earlier brass "insert."  
 
A lot of Pavoni lovers seem to think this was the best year of the first generation Europiccolas.
 
We've completely rebuilt the group, with new piston seals, a new shaft seal/washer, and a new portafilter gasket and screen.   
 
And best of all, we installed a brand new custom 120 volt copper and brass dual heating element.  (Yes, the "unobtainable" kind.) 
 
The "three way" rocker switch (the chrome surround was used only in'74, as far as we know) is the Europiccola's "control room" for hands on espresso making.  This means users need to "become one with the switch" to change boiler temps.   Once you switch on one of these pre-pressurestat Europiccolas, they stayed on until you switch them off!  (Obviously could end up leading to  potential "melt downs" if people space out and run them dry.) 
 
The three switch positions are "off" (the middle) "high" (the "=" symbol) for intial heat up, or steaming, and "low" (the "-" symbol) for maintaining brew temperature once the boiler heats up and you're done steaming.  The original tabs are bad on the back of this switch, but it's been "fixed" so that it's pretty solidly in place.
 
Europiccolas have no pressure gauge (unlike the later Professional models.)  Instead, Pavoni designed the pre-pressurestat machines to constantly release steam through the pressure relief valve once they're up to about 100 C.  So embrass the hiss! 
 
One undeniable plus of the "first generation" models, is the gorgeous chrome plating (and build quality in general.)  Pavoni machines may have gotten more "sophisticated" as years went by, but like almost everything else in the Western manufactured world, the materials quality went down. 
 
You can see and feel the difference once you get one in your hands.  They have an overall "heft," and a depth to the chrome plating, that's not there on the mid nineties and above years.  The chrome parts just look "wetter."   
 
The base color is the "hammered bronze" finish the Italians loved in the 70s, and probably the most popular Pavoni finish until the all chrome, and primary color craze took over in the 80s. 
 
This model was also the last year before the plastic drip tray insert appeared, and it has the original chrome plated grid.  There are a few small chips in the drip tray area, and some paint loss around the bottom perimeter (under the rubber base, so hard to see in the pics) but otherwise the paintwork is very nice.  These first generation painted bases also don't have the problems with rust that the later chrome bases often had.  
 
The new heating element, means we're having to price this a little higher than a "normal" first gen Europiccola.  But it also means it will be hard to find a nicer "transition" Europiccola than this.  At any price.