The magnitude and complexity makes it enormous task. The fact that some of the older manufacturers now only have groups of individuals collating and revising things, along with some producers who are still going having no records back past a certain time make it nearly impossible for accurate keeping of records. I think the fact that to start with to even come close to getting a useful database you would have to identify the makers you needed and then actively search out these records, the large proportion of seem to not exist anymore and rely on individuals on sites like these being able to place a number sequence in to a group of numbers that are owned on here and can place it somewhere in order. Example a poster has # 45 and has no idea but john has #41 which is a 1954 and Bob has #47 which is 1956 then along with opinion or the one person who helped in the shop joining in can confidently put it in 1955 region. This usually takes a whole thread and sometimes a very long time. Then there are the ones such as the recent restoration on here of a suspected 1970's Jim Soens and luckily Jim replied on another forum that it was a mid to late 60's model but couldn't be more accurate as the records are long gone. Then you have Jack Taylors who are fully catered for on the Bluebird site with lots of models registered so you can place and date most models but that site hasn't been updated for a very long time and it has so much information that if it went down tonight I am sure that most of that would be lost. It is also someone elses work so would need permission to use the info on mass. Then you have the situation with Eddy Merckx, whilst not being UK not included but have seen similar situations with UK frames, and one site that has great information on what has been registered with them and really helps to date but there are so many anomalies etc that people are constantly arguing about how the system works, usually as they want their numbers to mean something special. This one especially I have seen people bickering about and reinterpreting on various websites, facebook pages, forums from all corners of the world.
A lot of this information on marques is from private research and websites and quite often don't want it posted elsewhere on mass as someone has put a lot of work into it.
I think it's a good idea but think it would need to be on a website all it's own and have someone who would just work away at it forever as I think that's what it would take, it would forever be a work in progress which is not a necessarily a bad thing as long as it keeps moving forward and is needed.
It could also be easier for an already established site like Classic Lightweights to add a frame number page with registers to the marque pages as it is usually individual marque enthusiasts that have this information and research. Many ways to do it I suppose but the magnitude is huge.
One idea I thought of was a website like retrobike with just the classic road section and besides the general road sections we have now we would have a Marque section with individual marque with a sticky at the top with frame register with dates and models etc that members can add too. A sort of marque readers rides with a database at the top.
That might be the easieat way.
If only I could use a computer
Just a few random thoughts that are changing quicker than I can type
Jamie
A lot of this information on marques is from private research and websites and quite often don't want it posted elsewhere on mass as someone has put a lot of work into it.
I think it's a good idea but think it would need to be on a website all it's own and have someone who would just work away at it forever as I think that's what it would take, it would forever be a work in progress which is not a necessarily a bad thing as long as it keeps moving forward and is needed.
It could also be easier for an already established site like Classic Lightweights to add a frame number page with registers to the marque pages as it is usually individual marque enthusiasts that have this information and research. Many ways to do it I suppose but the magnitude is huge.
One idea I thought of was a website like retrobike with just the classic road section and besides the general road sections we have now we would have a Marque section with individual marque with a sticky at the top with frame register with dates and models etc that members can add too. A sort of marque readers rides with a database at the top.
That might be the easieat way.
If only I could use a computer
Just a few random thoughts that are changing quicker than I can type
Jamie