I bought this lathe from a company who is a friend of my company. It
is a Birmingham DLC-16120 lathe.

http://www.machinerymoverschicago.co...C-16120-Lathe/

It seems to be really nice and loaded. It is 16x120. It has a 4 1/8"
bore (HUGE), power everything, DRO, and even a taper attachment. It
came with traveling and steady rests. It can also do imperial and
metric threads and goes up to 1600 RPM. It also seems, in every way,
to have seen very little use.

I have a business, but I am not a machine shop, I am a machine mover
and buy and sell industrial items on ebay. Nevertheless, we have a
machine shop with Monarch AA lathe and we use it at least twice a
week.

The Monarch AA, against all expectations, is in like new condition
(believe it or not). However, it is slow, and does not do metric
threads and has a much smaller bore.

My question is should I keep the Monarch, or upgrade to this one.

I think YES but my guy, who also uses the lathe, says no. I need some
arguments here.

I told my guy that this Birmingham is the "lottery" lathe, like "what
lathe should I buy if I win the lottery".

He says, forget it, it is too big, worth too much money, and such.

I reminded him that he himself needed metric threading a few months
ago.

Overall, my question, is THIS Birmingham a quality machine. I believe
that it is better made than the smaller 13x40s and so on, this is an
industrial grade lathe with a big bore, power oil lubrication,
etc. But, perhaps, I am mistaken?