Thanks for the "Gen" on Vaughans lugs, Mick. Harry Carrington told me that
just after the war when Gillotts were starting up and tubes and lugs were in
short supply, he would drive up from London to Birmingham to buy from
Vaughans. That drive of 150 odd miles was no mean feat in those days. He
drove a pre war Austin seven on low octane pool petrol. He would get every
lug he could and bring them back to his builders, Jim Collier, Bill
Philbrook, Len Hart, Len Truman and a very young Ron Cooper. The filers got
to them first and would curse as they tried to file them to shape despite
the hard carbon inclusions. I have a 1948 frame and part of the bottom
bracket must have looked a Swiss cheese before they filled the holes with
braze. Gillotts also did some mandrel work on these lugs to steepen the
angles. Harry was not impressed by the quality but stressed that that was
all there was until 1950 when Oscar Egg lugs became available. At this
point I notice that the many and delightfully varied fork crowns Gillott's
experimented with disappeared in favour of the uniform Oscar Egg type. I
actually collect pre 1950 Gillott's dependent on the fork crown alone. The
seat cluster group may vary slightly and the elegant Spear lugs will be as
crisp as ever.
I have a 1940 Flying Scot built with EKLA lugs. "EKLA Foreign" is firmly
stamped in the bracket shell so these must have been pre war stock. I know
that Ekla was available again in the early to mid 1950's. The other key
player was the Gargette Freres concern with their RGF logo in an oval seen
on many bottom bracket shells.
If anyone has a Vaughans catalogue - did they exist?- I would be keen to
have a scan.
Mark Stevens. Dingwall. Scotland.