Went and re-looked at yon Mill, and I was fooled by the apparent size of the electrical conduits up to the head. Certainly not a 10000 pound mill like the Hurons or Cincinattis I had thought it on par with. Got some mass on the standard Bridgeport, for sure, I think, though.
Looking again at the bare tool and cutter grinder, and your comment about elbow grease, I am reminded of the hopefulness of the Newfy who when told to shovel out the barn, and was certain that there must be a pony around somewhere...
Did you actually see pictures of the Colchester? I did not see any.
I had a very well tooled up Tool and Cutter grinder almost for my exclusive use, as most of the folks that I worked with, were not willing to put as much thought, and trial and error, into learning to make it work for them. It had two, four foot high Vidmar cabinets of collets, chucks, arbors, tooling, tools, attachments, and other accessories, and it still took making parts to get it to do some jobs... It doesn't much matter how good it might look all cleaned up. You cannot get it to do even the most rudimentary of it's capabilities without at least some tooling, thus, I doubt I would care to walk across the street for it, unless it was VERY cheap! Or I was looking for a second one, should I already own one of the same type, so as to limit the need to break down set-ups.