Olivetti Lexikon 80 Production Lines

I ran across some images of the various production lines for the Lexikon 80 and thought I should share them with the Typosphere. Go to the host website for the Ivrea plant image below and you can zoom for detail.

Source (in Italian):
http://imprese.san.beniculturali.it/web/imprese/gallery/dettaglio-oggetto-digitale?pid=san.dl.SAN:IMG-00002450&titolo_origine=Galleria%20multimediale&css_tit=gallery-result-tit

And some Lexikon 80s running down conveyors in various degrees of completion:

 This image came from the same website. Find what looks like a search window and plug in "Lexikon" for more gems!

With the right Italian search phrase, more results start coming in through a Google search. This appears to be a final quality control and adjustment step in Brazil.

Source: http://www.storiaolivetti.it/upload/sanpaolo_10.jpg
Flip through the Fotogallerie for more images from this production facility. They were very proud of the architectural details. I wonder if this building still exists?

Did you know Olivettis could fly? I suppose it would help if I read Italian. This production line image comes from a wonderful group showing the diversity of Olivetti's range of products being manufactured.

Source: http://www.storiaolivetti.it/fotogallery.asp?idPercorso=633&idOrd=4#viewfotogallery



And here is a low resolution image of the body shells being mated with the rest of the machine:
http://www.imprese.san.beniculturali.it/web/imprese/gallery/dettaglio-oggetto-digitale?pid=san.dl.SAN:IMG-00001817&titolo_origine=Galleria%20multimediale&css_tit=gallery-result-tit

Thank goodness for the Internet! I didn't expect to find much about making these fine machines, but the search turned up all kinds of interesting tidbits. For example, here is the beast itself from another great collection of product images. Sure looks like Kodachrome to me.

Source: http://www.storiaolivetti.it/fotogallery.asp?idPercorso=632&idOrd=1

Also, I have a semi-rhetorical question for the Typosphere. Let's say one were to acquire a grubby Lexikon 80 in the least appealing shade of light gray. While it would be possible to strip off layers of nicotine and polish and wax the machine, would it be a Cardinal Typeratti Sin to consider painting it in another Olivetti shade or strip it to bare aluminum and polish it?

Feel free to post your opinions or throw rocks at me in the comments. They are moderated, but other than spam it all gets through.