I asked about some unusual MAFAC brakes at ebay auction number: 330086337470
and Jerry Moos responded:
Those look to me like later Competitions. The early ones were engraved "Competition", but later ones had a foil sticker which may have come off these.
Jerry,
The subject caliper arms do not appear to be as rounded or as well finished
as the later Competition models, although the straddle cable-end receivers
(which were changed to this type in the later models) are similar to the auction
brakes. Model 2000 and Model S also had this type of receiver (see Robert
Broderick's scans of MAFAC posters at Wooljersey, and as previously noted,
similar to the Weinmann and Universal calipers). Additionally, none of the
Competition models with the stickers that I have seen have had the MAFAC name
stamped into the caliper arm, too. And to pursue that line of thought a step
further -- I can't think of any of the MAFAC center pull models (other than
the original Dural Forge) that had the name MAFAC stamped in the middle of the
caliper arm. Summing up my dismay: the stamping looks like pre "RACER"
Racers, the straddle cable receivers look like late Competition (or 2000, and the
levers are remeniscent of 2000s, too), and the black plastic bushings and the
overall finish seem like "S" model quality. So I was quite confused. Thank
you for noting the foil stickers, but even those were bedded in an
indentation in the arm which is not present on these brakes (Jan Heine speculated that
it would be easy to file down the arm to eliminate the remnants of the foil
sticker bed, but that still doesn't explain the presence of the stamping).
Tom Donahue
Melbourne, FL