Thank you all for the history lesson! That Paramount is a beauty!
The Nishiki NFS were the ones that really caught my eye, and are my favorite of the 650c frames I've seen.

The reason I'm interested in 650c is I'm thinking of converting one of those frames into a "Ritchey break-away" style design travel bike. With smaller wheels the disassembled dimensions would conform to the airlines' 62cm rules better than 700c wheels. The tire selection is pretty sad though. I see Conti makes Gatorskins in 26"x28c size, but finding lightweight 26" wheelsets is just as hard as finding good 650c road tires