Paramounts overrated? In a word, no. I picked up a 1967 touring model (frame, fork and headset only) on eBay a year and a half or so back with the idea of making it a commute bike. It's pretty much all I ride now. Very comfortable ride, very forgiving, very stable, and it corners on downhills like a BMW. Simply a great frame, even after 38+ years.

Re: Peugeots - Eddy Merckx (at that point a former Peugeot team member) once talked about attacking Roger Pingeon (then a current Peugeot team member) on a descent. According to Merckx, one of the reasons he did it was because he knew from experience that Peugeots did not descent well. (THe fact that King Eddy was a brilliant descender didn't hurt, either.) PX-10's and PY-10's were pretty decent production bikes - good enough to get Pingeon a TdF win and Bernard Thevenet 2 of them - and they were a good bargain, but let's not go overboard. Paramounts were and remain better frames.