If you happen to live up in the north of England, the saying that I used as a title to this email, would be well known to you. It's in very common parlance an dis used by all and sundry to describe a person who has behaved in a manner that the speaker never would do..and furthermore whose motivation to act in that way the speaker cannot understand. I used the saying today when I noticed that an Ebay buyer had paid £420 for what the seller had described as a 1950s Hill Special. The photos on the auction site showed an all-chrome frame with hand-cut lugs built up with a single speed using some good English components such as Chater Lea. But..the £420 was just fro the frame..NOT the bike. The seller, in an announcement redolent with pictures of Adam Hill..a partial biography..and even a 40/50s black and white photo from Mitoire de Cyclisme, or the like, described the frame as an early 50s Hill Special - a marque very well known in the industrial towns of East Lancashire and west Yorkshire. And Adam, who liked to be addressed as "the Governor"..was equally well-known as a quaint character. One of the features for which the frames were renowned was the widely used all-chromeplate finish..jus like the one on Ebay However Hill Specials were not known for, handcut lugs..but for EKLA, and Nervex Pro and Serie Legere. I doubt very much whether this frame is a Hill Special..and it's pity that no frame No was given as Hills are easy to date. The frame quite attarctive and is of the early 50s period..but at £420..it seems expensive. I am trying to check the frame out with Robin Hatherall, of Clitheroe who is the UK's expert on Hills.
The other pity is that if it isn't a Hill Special, just what is it? And the answer might just make it worth every penny of those £420.
Norris "Doubting Thomas" Lockley..Settle, UK..about 12 miles away from the former Hill Special workshiops.