A decent, random find.....Paris Tour de France. 1948 (ish)

I'm not sure about the post....it's almost like it's meant to be a bit bent.....it doesn't show any obvious signs of deformation. The lugs are actually bi-laminates, which involves getting a thin sheet of steel, cutting the pattern into that, then brazing it around the joint...apparently, it improves strength, as well as aesthetics. The collector was not that hot though, I agree! :0)
I have taken it all apart (the crank is off too now) and had a little go at the hand painted crud with some very fine wet and dry.....it seems the guy primed it too, or I've gone right back through the original paint, which I don't think I have. There was no sign of the original 'Paris' decals on the downtube either.
I'm going to be changing the wheels, as they were a miss-matched pair...the front a very nice FB Brevette hub on a 26" Weinmann rim, probably original, while the rear was a double fixed Maillard, on a wolber Gentleman, in 27" flavour... I have a very nice old set of Maillard large flange hubs, with mavic red label GP 40's in 700c, that I've offered up, and while not period correct, they look good.
I think that's also an original 'Rensch' front mounted bottle cage....which is a definate result!
I'm thinking that I'll give the whole frame, bar the headtube and seat tube panels, a light rubbing down with fine wet and dry, and see what that looks like......if that looks pants, I'll respray the main tubes in as close to the original brown as I can get, and leave the blue panes as they are......I hate repro decals, and love the patina of these originals. It's only original once, even though I'll be having a go at the other bits, I want to keep the decals. I know what I mean.

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