Gonna put my 0.02 in..
My first radio I bought was a Cobra 18 with the 3 weather channels, figured that would be handy as I was doing college 3 hours away in Columbus OH, so traveling every weekend home, I wanted to have resources. Bought it in '94, ran it as my primary up thru around '97 when I lent it to a friend. I had mine "peaked and tweaked", which unfortunately meant clipped, but I had no idea at the time. It was a talker though, made my buddy with his "self tuned" RCI 2950 look bad a few times, barefoot on my Wilson 1000 mag mount. I only replaced it because I wanted SSB, so I got my DX88HL.
As for the RM Italy, Ever notice "Made in Hong Kong"? Maybe why some are blue, some black. I keep kicking around putting one of my Palomars in my Jeep, just for the added help if I ever need it. My Antron 1700 works pretty well without the assistance though, and if I ever make it to Summit Racing where DX Engineering is, I'll be picking up another 102". If I can ever find a 1/4"-5/16" Stainless ball bearing, I'll just braze it onto my old one though, I need the ball to tie it down for the parking garages...