1960 W. F. Holdsworth Hurricane

[fiveSixteenths]

Time for a build thread again
Picked this up last Wednesday, not sure the seller was the first owner but quite possibly was; given he's in his '90's!
Came with a 'repaint' - part rattle-can, part brushwork, no decals and a the headbadge had been painted in, in gold. Plus a modern-ish triple group and Kalloy post.
But the GB stem, nice shape but no-name bars, Weinmann redspot levers, 500 calipers, BB, headset, Dunlop Special Lightweight / Airlite hub front and the five speed block on the back are all in pretty good condition... so am going for restore with period groupset.
First job was to try and work out what I'd bought, so strip out and see if there was any frame stamps. Bingo. Matching steerer tube and BB stamp, five digits, confirmed by @dwscrimshaw on the Holdsworth thread here as 1960. Also, inside the tubes the original gold finish.
So, gold, 1960, Agrati rear dropouts, top-tube pump pegs - so possibly a Golden Hurricane. And if so, that'll need some Campagnolo then. Gulp.
Have now started hand-sanding. More news presently on plans for paint and parts.

 

[fiveSixteenths]

Re:

Hand sanding... phew. Hard work (I have time, less money Still, making progress and on the BB shell is a oval stamped mark with the letters 'RGF' or 'RGP' - anyone know anything about the maker? Also looks like it was drilled for another (cable?) fitting?

 

[fiveSixteenths]

Re:

Ha!
""Raccords Gargatte Frères", or Gargatte Brothers Fittings. Bulge-formed. Highly regarded by many top artisanal builders until the investment cast revolution"

 

[Tel]

I was almost sick when I saw that crank fitted, thank God that was not a progress pic!

I have some old alloy bullet seatposts in the shed think they're 27.2mm but not 100% if you're interested.

Nice find btw!

 

[fiveSixteenths]

Re:

cheers @Tel
Chainset was, erm, well wrong.
The seat post stem is c.26.2mm...
...me neither for R531 (the likely material given the date for the model and build), but apparently the tubesets around then were of 'variable' quality. Might have been over-tightened - am going to take it to a very trustworthy LBS for a ream testing, to see what's the proper dims are.
Looking for something fluted as well if you have likewise?

 

[Tel]

No mine are not fluted. Could well have been over tightened, fairly sure that early single butted (?) 531 should be 26.4mm

 

[fiveSixteenths]

ah, now that's also useful (size-wise) as am pretty sure it's SB, cheers

 

[fiveSixteenths]

Re:

Got a new battery in the verniers, turns out it is indeed 26.4 so that’s sorted. Time to hunt down a seat post.

 

[Tel]

I have an old Campag rear mech (don’t recall which, think it maybe a gran sport) and a nos campag rip off single gear lever. If you’re interested, oh and some Mafac Racer or GB Coureur centre pull brakes too

 

[fiveSixteenths]

Re:

Ah, really? Got some pictures and roughly what prices you’d be looking for?