Back in college...um, waaaay back in college...I traded my old mountain bike wheels (from a 1986 Specialized Rock Hopper) for a bike that the local bike shop owner had in the back of his shop.  He knew I was a "roadie" (a dying breed at the time) and might appreciate what he had.  It was an old road bike that had been coated with electrical tape and looked pretty ugly.  It didn't even have wheels.  I couldn't tell what it really was - all I could tell was that it had Campagnolo components on it.  I wasn't really sure what I was going to do with it, but having made the trade, I took it home...I guess I figured I could strip off the components and use them elsewhere, perhaps.  Once I started stripping off the tape, I found that the bike was actually in pretty good condition.  I decided to try and restore it back to rideable condition.  I had never done such a thing before, but decided it might be fun.  I replaced the cables, greased the headset and bottom bracket, used the wheels off my Schwinn, put on new handlebar tape, repaired the rear derailleur (thanks to Hallet's bike shop in Albuquerque - they actually had repair parts for a nearly 25 year old derailleur! and a whole lot more).  My girlfriend bought me a vintage saddle (also at Hallet's) and I eventually had to get a new french-threaded headset (the original had gotten pitted by a previous owner's overzealous wrench).  I changed out the original (I believe) Campagnolo bar-end shifters to put on a set of Simplex alloy downtube shifters (wow do these shift well!).  By the time I was finished, the bike rode like a dream, especially with its venerable Reynolds 531 tubeset.  What's the point of all this ranting about an old bike that I fixed up?  The bike manufacturer!  It's a Paul Egli.

Paul Egli was a professional racer from Switzerland who, born in 1911, had a cycling career that lasted from the early 1930's through the late 1940's and even won the 1933 world championship.

I've never seen another Paul Egli bicycle.  Ever.  Not even on the web, and I've looked quite a bit.  Paul Egli died the same year I graduated college - at the ripe old age of 85.