Charles,
Welcome to the select group of Carpenter owners. As I posted to the list the other night, these are considered to be in the same rank as the top lightweights of their time and don't come up for auction very often.
I am going to be using Mario Vaz (former manager of Holdsworth's paint-shop) to paint my 1948/9 Carpenter frameset - which is with Doug Smith at present. Doug had his 1947 Carpenter frame painted by Vaz and was very pleased with the result. Having done Doug's frame, Mario has the necessary transfers (as far as I know). His prices are also extremely good compared with the likes of Argos. He is in South London.
BTW it was the lugset on my frame which also caught my attention not to mention that funky art deco badge.
If I can help you with any more information please let me know (I have copies of various catalogues courtesy of Doug and others) - I also have an e-mail address for John Gill the VCC Carpenter specialist.
Cheers,
Paul.
Paul B. Williams, PhD (Queen's)
70 Viscount Ave.,
Ottawa, On, K1Z 7M9
ph: 613-761-3867
e-mail: castell5@sympatico.ca
>I am now the lucky owner of the aforementioned
> Carpenter f/f recently on ebay: http://tinyurl.com/
>
> My apologies to anyone I outbid. In the usual post-auction
> remorse I must say I had a moment of "what the hell am
> I doing."
>
> Nonetheless, now that I'm the caretaker, I'm mulling over
> a problem that we'll be talking about at the cirque during
> the Saturday presentations, to wit, restoration.
>
> I've paid for many restorations; but the problem never
> gets any easier to resolve.
>
> I'm very tempted to leave the frame as it is, have it shipped
> here, and, by and by, I'll put it together.
>
> However, the frame really does look pretty toasted, right on
> the edge of my personal line for a restoration.
>
> And...Argos in Bristol is very reasonable for restorations
> of frames like this, and would do an excellent job (although
> their pin-striping on the seat-stay caps is on the crude side).
>
> Argos could restore the frame to better-than-new...but then,
> of course, it wouldn't be original anymore. And the cost,
> while reasonable compared to prices here, will still be
> significant.
>
> So...what would you do?
>
> Please cc me in any post to the list.
>
> Thanks for your help.
>
> Charles Andrews
> SoCal