Folks, This discussion on both winter projects and how one goes about a
resoration hit home with me. I have three projects in the pipeline for
the winter. Two are somewhat unproblematic. The firsts is a Malvern 5
Star track/path that is unrecognizable except for the stars. It must be
repainted and, luckily, some close to accurate decals were supplied.
The second, is a Sieber that was totally unrecognizable except for lug
configuration and "made in Swiss" on the bottome bracket. This track
iron also has no choice but to go for repainting and undenting of top
tube. Decals.....another story. But, the last one is a real problem
about which advice would be much appreciated. I tend to agree with
Pergolizzi about doing no harm and preserving rather than facelifting,
but I just got a Dick Power track from '59. It is, to put it mildly a
mess. Paint, where it remains, is all oxidized and scratched, bare
patches are rusty, etc. But, and here is the rub, two of the tube
decals remain almost intact, and the head tube decal is almost complete.
Clean it, polish the parts, and leave it or go the whole nine yards,
strip it, paint it, and hope decals can be made or found (not a likely
outcome and a very expensive on at that). And then the issue of "is the
bike worth it" to go this route. A 1930's Julia it is not. But the guy
did build for Dreisdale and it is an example of the mid century home
grown long island bike building industry. ???????????????????
Edward Albert
Chappaqua, NY