Stephen Barner wrote:
>
> I was looking at some Regina freewheels this evening and noticed that they
> looked older than the ones I have seen from the '70s. The lockrings are
> stamped REGINA GRAN SPORT CORSE SOC. ITAL. CAT. CAL. MERATE--->. The
> bodies all had a 3 or 4 digit number stamped on the back, ending in 59, 60
> or 62. They looked like date codes--is that correct? I bet Chuck Schmidt
> knows. He was the one who outed the fact that Regina was the first name of
> the founder's mother and Merate was the town where the company started.
Yes, they have a last two digit of the year date code on the lock ring.
My Bianchi Folgorissima from 1950 (thank you Mr. Maasland) has the back of the Regina Gran Sport 4-speed freewheel stamped with a tiny "4 50" (April? 1950).
Chuck Schmidt South Pasadena, Southern California
.