My girlfriend has a sweet Raleigh Marathon mixte bike that i've been riding while my other bike is getting finished. Her brother found the bike on the side of the rode and besides the 27" wheels, the bike is good. They have some flat spots and dings that no amount of truing or even hammering will get out. I've called around and done some limited internet searching to find some new cheapish wheels for the bike. I can't seem to find any and i figured someone on here would know. Any ideas?

They're still out there. You can try something from here:
https://www.niagaracycle.com/index.php?cPath=135_198
or check ebay. I'm sure others will have many useful suggestions as well.

www.bikepartsusa.com .. pay attention to the dif. ones... steel, aluminum etc... listed as 125mm, a misprint.. You need 126(same thing). Weinman rims are fine & low priced, watch which ones are sold in pairs. I've used these, a handier option than e-bay, especially since you don't require new sprockets. No surprise you haven't found them. I'd noticed an invoice at my LBS then found them.

https://sheldonbrown.com/harris/rims/630.html

They have some for sale. They are around, you have a much wider selection with 700C If you run bigger tires on a 700C wheel you will end up with about the same roll. And most breaks will reach the small amount of differance. But you can still buy 27" rims.

get a garage sale bike for a few bucks and use the wheels

On the other end of the 27" spectrum, does anyone know of some really nice 27 inchers available?

Yes, find a really nice donor bike and do a swap. For less than the cost of a higher grade set of 27 inch wheels, you should be able to find a nice complete bike.

I have some narrow red label Araya's rims, not wheels, with double eyelets.

EDIT: To be clear. They are available. I have more then I can use.

I have a garage full, they are easy to find. Good alloy are tougher to find. I sent my last set of really decent ones to caterham.

Nashbar sells decent 27" rims, often for $15. If your hubs and spokes are good you could just swap out the rims with Nashbar ones.

I have a set that came off an older Schwinn if your interested. They're alloy and in decent shape.

While there have been several offers of 'decent' 27 wheels (thank you, you're very kind), I'm taking about 'really nice' 27 inch wheels. Are those anywhere to be found?

Velocity has some nice 27" rims. They run a bit wider than their high performance 700c rims. The Sun CR18 rims are nice, too. The Sun M13II rims are a narrower rim that would go great with 1" wide tires.

eBay usually has a good assortment of 27" tubular rims.

I suppose if the price is right, I could sell the 27" wheels off my bike, as I wouldn't mind switching my bike to 700c. They're very nice, with a 6-speed freewheel on the rear.

I have a set of alloy 27" Wienmanns laced to Maillot hubs, rear is 6-sp Heliomatic, front is Maillot, also, plus skewers. Any decent trade offer + shipping ($25) and they'd be out of here.

Harris Cyclery also sells prebuilt 27" wheelsets at prices ranging from $99-159. I bought a set of of the $99 Weinmanns 2 years ago and they've held up fine (and I'm a clyde). I'd like to check out the $159 Sun wheelsets, but would probably move to 700c before spending that much.

Well, yeah, if the price is right, I'd unload my Mavic Module-E wheels with 6-speed freewheel, too.

I always have great difficulty figuring out the right price...

I needed some last year and this spring- first LBS I called stocked chrome wheels, could order alloy. Second LBS I called stocked alloy, could order chrome. Chrome was around $30 each, alloy $50 each.
So I think they're not hard to find - depends by what you mean by by 'real nice'. These were new and true. If you want something weighing no more than 50 grams with aero spokes and exotic bearings then you're gonna be better off with 700c wheels and have a much better tire selection as well.

I just want them gone at no cost, but should get at least bar wrap in trade.

I got mine from Performance, not the best, but I'm sure they'll do the job, alloy, like $36.00 each.

thanx i was wondering the same question...
im not to sure what to do with he ones that came off the fuji i had...

i ended up taking the headset and cleaning that up... its a tange levin.
and im not to sure of what to do with the wheels are these a decent set of wheels?

just wondering, sorry to hijack the thread...

they are 27x1 1/4 San Remo "Varedo" made in italy...

As has been pointed out, 27" wheels and tires are still readily available. But if your girlfriend will be using the bike for a long time still then it might be better to see if the brakes can be adjusted down a little to take 700c wheels instead. That way she'd have a wider range of tires available. You only have to be able to move the brake pads down by 4mm (about 1/6 of an inch) to fit the 700c size instead of 27".

lets be realistic, its hardly ever that easy.

It sure was that easy on my old bike. ....but the 520 Trek is not that easy. It has 27's and the calipers do not have enough adjustment so either a drop bolt or longer calipers will be needed.