I am currently entertaining 2 seperate purchases. One involves two 351 frames, one with good quality components is complete and rideable with the exception of tires. The other a bare frame. They may be half an inch tall for me, but dead cheap for two frames. Both need paint.

The second is perfectly sized and in beautiful, ornate condition, but the bare frame costs as much as the other two.

I will be buying in a foreign country without handling them. When I arrive, I will either have a rideable bike, not configured ideally and a project frame, or I will have a dream frame but bare, and nothing to ride.

My plan is to ultimately have One 351 bike set up with primarily Campy components as a upright tourer.

Buy two for one, not perfect but one rideable and one buildable, and cheap (like $300 for both)

Or one perfect frame I will have to build while there? ($300)

Buy the beautiful, perfectly sized frame. You will never regret it.

Second this.

Have the perfect, cool frame shipped to a bike shop and built up before you arrive?

i would want the right size frame as well. however, after 30 years of riding i switched to a larger frame and realized it was what i needed all along. just saying.

For touring? Or a light sport tourer? There are big differences. Does the perfectly fitting frame have all of the braze-ons and attachment points that you'll need for a touring bike? What frame is it?

351? You mean Reynolds 531?

Kinda hard to tell without knowing your intentions, outside of eventually having a upright touring bike. What foreign country are you dealing with? Are parts easy to find there? If you are touring, have you considered how much more available Shimano is than Campy? Are you looking for a bike to get on and go, i.e. is the point of this to do a tour, or are you moving to the country and need something now while eventually building up the touring?

Regardless, while I could probably ignore a slightly ill-fitting complete bike I got at a bargain, I wouldn't build something that didn't fit me to begin with.

I am curious about this as well.

is there a question here?

Yes, there was, but only if you can read. Thank you, those of you who responded to my inquiry.