I like the way KAS answered this query.
For me, a bike such as my De Rosa 35th Anniversary may just be "the" bike above all others. Haven't ever ridden the bike a foot yet, so I am basing this entirely on her good looks and rep.
Otherwise, my De Rosa SLX is my best fit and feel bike. Plus she goes like a bat out of h......
End game for me though will be a custom bike or two. I really like the Kirk Terraplane. Amazing bike. I'll have it built just the way I want it.
That bike, or a Curt Goodrich Sportif could easily carry me off into the next twenty years of riding bliss.