>There was an article on all these early Campagnolo Gran Sport
>derailleurs in Vintage Bicycle Quarterly Vol. 2, No. 2."
>
>I believe an in-depth check will actually show the production of the
>Gran Sport Extra (the model up for sale by Rocvale) to be far rarer than
>the preceding model(s) without the horn.
How do you plan to do such an in-depth check? (I noted you wrote "will," not "would.") If you do, I'd love to publish the results in Bicycle Quarterly.
Considering that there were three versions in 1951, and that the version on e-bay appears to have been current for most of 1952, I figured that if you treat each version individually, the shorter-lived 1951 versions might be rarer. That also has been confirmed by Japanese collectors who are trying to complete their collections. Of course, this does not necessarily mean that fewer were made, but just that fewer have survived. So both your and my information may be correct.
It does appear that the very first version with the "extra adjustment
screw" for the spring tension appears to be the rarest. I have seen
very, very few of those for sale or in collections, and everybody
appears to be looking for one. Of course, my sample size is small,
and I may be wrong, or somebody might find a box of 10 NOS examples
and change the "known survivor" rate quite significantly.
>Furthermore, as has been
>explained to me by many old-timers in Italy, Campagnolo's production was
>not 'production-year' based and the Gran Sport Extra was almost
>assuredly produced for less than a full year as Campagnolo had not yet
>started what would today be considered 'industrial production'and the
>derailleur was a work in progress.
Indeed. That was explained in great detail in the VBQ article, which dates the derailleurs by when they first appear in Le Cycle. So these are "maximum dates" - the derailleurs may have been available before. However, they are older (and thus better) than previously known maximum dates, so they are the best we have. Considering that Le Cycle followed the development of the GS derailleur rather closely and reported every couple of months on a new version, I doubt they were off by more than a few months. Certainly, these derailleurs are better dated than most bicycle components.
For each year, the VBQ article noted several versions, clearly indicating that changes were made at random times, rather than with a new model year.
The article was written by a well-known Japanese collector (who has
been collecting these for years and done a lot of research) and me
(who has access to Le Cycle). It was sent to several people for
review. So far, I have not received any corrections. If you have any,
please send them in, as I'd like to publish them to get this story as
well-researched as possible.
>These same people have told me that
>many shops and mechanics put more Gran Sport derailleurs in stock when
>they first came out and did not sell them through too quickly so the
>short-lived Gran Sport Extra 'generation' was simply passed over in many
>shops.
Do you have an estimate of production numbers? Considering that relatively few have survived, there cannot have been too many. Alternatively, they all were used and worn out, then replaced with the mass-produced version, which may have been more durable. The cast brass plates may not have been very durable...
Certainly, there seem to be more Cambio Corsa systems around these days than these early GS derailleurs.
Regarding the Extra name: As you indicate, it was simply a new name for the second-year (roughly) model. It was not a model that was produced in parallel to the earlier (or later) "non-extra" derailleurs - as for example, Record derailleurs continued to be produced after Nuovo Records were available. (Or were there so many stocks of Record derailleurs that it took them years to run out?)
And finally, the article showed two Japanese photos of the very first "twin-cable" GS prototype. Does anybody know whether that is a real one, or a replica? Any other survivors of that prototype? -- Jan Heine Editor Bicycle Quarterly 140 Lakeside Ave #C Seattle WA 98122 http://www.bikequarterly.com