The best of the Pre-Millennium Pavoni with a new base, and the updated electronics of the Post Millennium La Pavoni.
 
Could we eliminate the "plastic" group guts and rust prone "screw hole" base of the "later" models, while keeping the build quality and "charm" of the early Pavoni home levers?  In theory, it's possible.  And we pretty much did it here.
 
Is it "worth it?"  Who knows!  It's the classic "time and money" problem.  But in this instance, we had just enough stock on hand to give it a whirl.  In the future we would probably only do this on a "custom order" basis.
 
And no, the next ones probably won't be this cheap. 
 
We had a nice Europiccola boiler sitting around so we built this Frankenstein with it, but in the future we'd probably concentrate on doing this kind of rebuild with the larger Professionals.
 
So here we have a custom Europiccola with a brand new chrome base (no screw hole!) new drip tray/grid, new portafilter WITH the locking snap ring machined groove (so you don't have to worry about tossing your basket in the compost with your spent grounds) new sight glass cover, new ADJUSTIBLE pressurestat (we set it where we like it, but you can remove the sub base and adjust it however you want) a new stainless steel heating element with the re-settable fuse, and the new style switch.  
 
Of course it has all new gaskets and seals, the boiler has been descaled, and the lever lubed and adjusted.  

Another contender for "better than new."  Especially since La Pavoni really "doesn't make 'em like they used to."
 
There is a small discolored spot on the shoulder of the group (see pic) the lever has a couple nicks near the pins, and the chrome has been "wiped" off the end of the old style fixed steam wand, but those are pretty much the only obvious clues of "vintage" on this Europiccola,.  Otherwise, it's pretty much "new."
 
It's hard to price something like this realistically because of the labor involved, so look at this one like my wife does, a "loss leader," ha!  Get it while you can...