Harry Quinn Dilema

I went over to see a lovely 75 year old guy last night who has 2 Harry Quinn mid 70's racing bikes. Both bikes were built specifically for him by Harry Quinn. Over a cup of tea he recounted his numerous racing victories through the 60's and 70's, and still races tandems with his wife.

The 2 Harry Quinns have Campagnolo record group sets, Mavic tubs and are minus saddles, handlebars and pedals. Unfortunately, he had them both resprayed white a few years ago by a company called Venom. They are possibly the worst resprays I've seen, and to add to the insult they are fitted with Venom cut vinyl gold graphics.

I know to do these bikes justice, they need a Bob Jackson, Mercian or Brian Rourke strip and respray, plus new decals. That will run to around the £120 - £140 mark.

I think there's a deal to be done at £150 for both bikes. My idea was to restore them both and sell one of them to finance the other. With the missing bits that's going to bring them in around £350 each.

From a search around Harry Quinn prices seen to be all over the place from £200 to £800.

The question is, do I go for it or not?

Absolutely. As long as they are genuine, which it sounds like they are (check the Q numbers on the BB shells to make sure), £150 is a steal.
Harry Quinn was quite possibly the finest framebuilder this country ever produced.
If he has history with them (original receipts or order details) that would increase the value.

But if you are going to sell one, just sell it as a frameset.

One thing I have found: whilst the Harry Quinn lettering that Lloyds sell is a perfect reproduction, their repro head badge looks nothing like an original head badge. Not much you can do about that, but it's annoying.

Oh, and HQ put his decals under the clearcoat, not on top of it.

Thanks BlueQuinn, great name :)

Thanks for the advice, I'm 99% certain they are genuine. I meant to check the frame numbers but we got so deep in conversation I completely forgot! I'm doubtful there's going to be any paperwork but I'm sure the owners name will known in racing circles.

One bike is about 1975 and the other 77/78 the newer one has Harry Quinn pantographed on the fork crown.

I was thinking Lloyds for the decals, I noticed he says its a simplified version on his price list. I know he list two types, one for 'Liverpool' and one for 'Great Britain', for originality's sake, I assume a mid 70's bike would have the 'Liverpool' headbadge, Great Britain being for the Pembrokeshire built bikes?

Yep. Anything pre 1980s will have the Liverpool address.

From a search around Harry Quinn prices seen to be all over the place from £200 to £800.

Or 10x more...

Or 10x more...

lol I deliberately didn't mention that one!

Still no bids either!