The totally amazing SAMA Club!
Before the Ponte Vecchio Lusso, or the Bezzera "Family," there was the SAMA Club.
Frame up rebuild, with new seals throughout, otherwise all original except a new adjustable Mater pressurestat (original SOPAC pressurestat, which didn't want to switch off, included) sight glass, and power plug.
(Currently cycles from about .8 BAR to 1.2.)
This is like a professional one group lever machine that was hit by an atomic shrink ray to make it wife friendly.
(About 13 1/4 wide x 12 deep.)
The heavy boxed in steel frame is coated in a sort of flat black almost rubbery coating. The thick steel body panels are the "they don't make stuff like this anymore" quality, and heavy gauge stainless steel tray/grids may be the heaviest duty ever used on a "domestic" espresso machine.
(Check out the Orphan Espresso video about this model on our "Video" page, and watch for a video demonstartion of this one on our Youtube channel.)
The lever group is an Elektra, which means it has a heavy duty spring driven piston, and is easily disassembled for cleaning and maintenance. (No special tools, or compressing the spring to get the piston out!)
The BIG boiler is isolated from the group, which eliminates the problems so many "domestic" levers have with groups mounted on boilers causing overheated group heads, and high brew temps. And aside from the temperture stability it adds, the large boiler means you can easily pull multiple shots before having to fool with the water level. (Nice sight glass for watching the water, btw.)
The unique on/off "lever" steam and hot water valves, which can be hard to use on a bigger professional machine, are actually perfect on this smaller machine, where full power steam is fine for making microfoam, not blowing the contents out of your pitcher!
The Ferrari Red paint is missing on some edges (some, unfortunately, caused by us using citric cleaner instead of something milder while cleaning the vintage paint) but still captures that 60s/70s Italian color that is pretty difficult to duplicate today. Brand new painted bodies are still available at reasonable prices if you'd like to go with the "like new" look.
Even though SAMA bit the dust by the 1980s, Ponte Vecchio's Lusso uses most of the original design (no lever valves though!) so virtually all the parts are still available, and the legendary "MCAL" group from Eleketra, means seals and parts will stay easy to get.
This super rare 110 volt American market model, is a beautiful vintage Italian machine, working flawlessly, with no leaks or issues, and ready to start life again in a new kitchen.
This is one we will hate to let go of, knowing we will probably never see one again!