I don't think this is true. The bodies and cogs of these freewheels were heat treated and most of the imperfections that I have seen in these looked like they might be a result of that heat treatment or would not be noticeable until after assembly, like noisy or loose bodies. You can't really tell if a freewheel spins straight by spinning it in your hand, and I doubt Regina took the time to mount each freewheel and measure runout. Since the bodies before about 1980 had the model name stamped into the outer cone, and this was done before heat treatment, I can't see how Regina would have picked the model it would belong to anywhere but at the beginning of the manufacturing process.
I don't think there was any real difference between the Oro freewheels and the Extras or G.S. Course models, though it did seem that the Extras more often had a personality that expressed itself when coasting. Some were true Italian tenors. As a mechanic, these rejects from the sales floor often found their way to my bike, back in the day. I have noticed that the bodies and cogs made before the late '60s appear to have a bit higher precision than the later freewheels, though things improved a bit with the changes made around 1980.
Steve Barner, Bolton, Vermont
> Date: Fri, 26 Nov 2004 22:39:49 -0800
> From: "ternst" <ternst1@cox.net>
> To: <chuckschmidt@earthlink.net>, <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> Subject: Re: [CR]Regina Corse, Extra, and Oro Freewheels
>
> During the production years, it was claimed that the oros were the select
> percentage of quality control and the plated to be the dx model at a
higher
> price of course. In typical Italian fashion, if true, this was probably
good
> for several years, and then sort of blended in to some production
> difference. It did seem that the oros were somewhat smoother and
straighter
> than the corsas.
> Ted Ernst