I keep flicking back to the pictures of Bob Freeman's mystery French frame, but find it very dificult to put a name to it, and I reckon that unless another one turns up with the same lugs,,Bob will never find out.
I have a very extensive collection of French frames from the 30s onwards, but nothing quite matches this one. Usually with any frame there are clues such as the top-eyes, drop-outs etc.
Here we have top-eyes very similar indeed to some on my Anquetil Speciale Course, but the lugs on that frame are very definitely ...yes.. Nervex Pro, and the drop-outs Simplex as Maitre Jacques rode a lot of Simplex 543s in his glory days. The mystery frame has Huret drop-outs , far less common in France than you would expect, but used by companies such Stella - due to Louison Bobet having a predelection for that brand.. or a good contract. There again Stella used fairly simple "Italian" style lugs. Motobecane also used Huret drop-outs quite often, and also had lugs that were different from their compeitors. They also used the same type of wrap-over seat cluster on top models. It doesn't look like any Gitane or Mercier I ever saw.
The lugs on Bob's frame are a mystery too. Definitely not Nervex, not Prugnat for that matter (according to the catalogues I have), but very much like Oscar Egg Super Champion both in the pipes along the tubes and in part of the head design. But I haven't come across an Oscar Egg with those two little central prongs.. not on Eggs, but ,yes, on early Nervex Pro, but there again much finer than Bob's. I wondered if the headlug design had been filed from a different design, but I don't recall any builders doing that.
Probably it is the product of a largish manufacturer who was able to order a "special" from one of the lug makers, and my money is on Oscar Egg for the lug. Bob could have an Oscar Egg frame of course...t here are a few still about.. but very rare it seems....but did he use Huret drop-outs?
it's probably too late for an Egg...
Norris Lockley... from a very dire and wet Settle, UK