Re: [CR]HETCHINS HISTORY 2

(Example: Production Builders:Peugeot:PY-10)

Subject: Re: [CR]HETCHINS HISTORY 2
From: "Hilary Stone" <hilary.stone@blueyonder.co.uk>
To: Thomas Rawson <twrawson@worldnet.att.net>, <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
In-Reply-To: <001601c29704$f38f18a0$e247510c@gateway>
Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2002 18:05:35 +0000

There is no doubt that the business now managed by David Miller and owned by the ex-manager of Elvis Costello is the same business as made Hetchins in the 1930s and 1950s. As I understand it, both Hetchins and Bob Jackson were bought in around about 1985 by the same group of people but the businesses were kept as separate entities despite sharing the same premises (and same manager, David Miller) for a little while at the end of the 1980s/beginning of the 90s. It was only Bob Jackson that went into liquidation. So there is perfect continuity. The only connection Omega has with Hetchins frames is owning (or maybe not) some names which are similar. Neither Hyman Hetchins nor Alf Hetchins ever built frames themselves. Hyman was a very successful cycle entrepreneur who spotted that money could be made from Jack Denny's talents and ideas. Until the 1960s a number of framebuilders built Hetchins frames - no one builder could build the 800 frames that Hetchins made in 1951 by themselves and some of these framebuilders' names are known. Len could give you better chapter and verse on some of the individuals. Even Jack Denny did not work continuously at Hetchins. He went off for war work in 1940 but frames were still made albeit in small numbers all the way through WWII. He only came back in 1946 - there is some pretty reliable evidence to the effect that he built some of Thanet's early Silverthan frames (before the Silverlight) in early 1946 and he was also involved for a short time with Gillott's designing some of their early lugwork. In Britain both between the wars and post WWII framebuilders used to frequently move from one maker to another - for example there was a string of builders in South London who built for a variety of names. The one man builder was a rarity then just as it is today.

Hilary Stone, Bristol, England

Tom Rawson wrote:
>
> Actually Richard I believe thats not correct. Hetchins was not a
> one man show. They were/are a manufacturer and retailer of
> bicyles. The history as described by Flash reveals a direct
> personal and business contact from the founders to the present
> day. These people "touched" each other. They continue to operate
> the same business. The history is also documented by len Ingram,
> keeper of the Registry, who followed Hilary Stone in that task.
> The Rally - a dedicated weekend to the collecting of Hetchins in
> July every year is attended by people who have continuously been
> involved in one fashion or another. The current owner of the
> mark - the guy who bought the business from Alf displays bikes
> from his collection there. The key players have been mute through
> all of this - anybody wondering why?