On 14 Jul 2003 at 20:13, Mike Waite wrote:
> Scott,
>
> I think this is the wrong Merlin Cycles in the UK.
> The advertiser is a modern business, whereas the old family owned Merlin
> that was around until about the 70's was a builder of bespoke 531 frames,
> for at least 30 years.
>
> As you say, no relation to the US company, and much smaller.
Thanks to many responders I've found that the bike in question is probably a Bob Jackson built Merlin. According to the history page on the Bob Jackson web site, JRJ acquired Merlin in 1955 and manufactured bikes using the Merlin name for many, many years. They may still be manufacturing them for all I know. I found references to BJ built Merlins in Google Groups from the late '90s.
jeverett3@earthlink.net (John V. Everett)