At 6:31 PM -0700 10/4/07, brad stockwell wrote:
>
> After joining thia list circa March of 2000, I was told this story
>about Zeus history:
>
> Campy built a factory for themselves in Spain in the 30's; in '36
>General Franco took over the country and also commandeered this
>factory which was subsequently inhabited by Zeus -- and out of this
>the similarity of Zeus parts and Campy parts was born.
That seems highly unlikely to me. Franco was most heavily backed by Mussolini, so I really doubt that he would have nationalized an Italian-owned factory.
Actually, I'm not sure that Campagnolo actually even had any owned
production facilities before WW2. Weren't their original hubs and
skewers made by FB?
>The 100%-Spanish-stem-to-stern orientation of Zeus also derived from
>the nationalistic enthusiasm of the new government -- and this lead
>to copying of foreign designs for local production.
>
> I like the story; I can't remember who told it to me, and I don't
>know how to verify it -- but I can spread an unsubstantiated rumor
>as well as the next fellow.
>
I've always maintained that if a story is good enough, it doesn't actually need to be _true_. ;-)
Sheldon "I'm Guessing Too" Brown
--
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