In reference to Bridgeport vs clone, I've heard it said that many of the competitors had to make their machines better to get a foot inside the door. I think most of the ones the OP is considering fall into this category if I am not mistaken.
What are they asking for the Wells-Index?
3-phase, variable speed lathe... He mentioned that because of the variable speed, not a good candidate to try and install a VFD... so I did not take additional photos nor asked any more questions... so I did not get the model number for that one, sorry...The Clausing looks like a 5914 ?