Since Eddie first contacted me almost a month ago to ask about the Convincible I have followed his quest to buy it with great interest. When the restoration of mine (the one on Classic Lightweights UK) was complete I took it back to where it was built at Barton to show it to two gentlemen who previously worked at the Hopper factory, one as a frame erector as they were called then, and the other in the toolroom where all the bottom bracket parts were made; apparently they never managed to put them into mass production. It was those gentlemen who told us that they thought that no more than six were made, and until Eddie's find we all believed that to be the case. However, there was other evidence which seemed to contradict that which now seems relevant. In the Hopper Company account ledgers lodged in the North East Lincolnshire Council Archives there is reference to the purchase of 2,000 convincible transfers at a total cost of five pounds ten shillings. In the 1956 stock take, made after Convincible production ceased, there were 1,900 still in stock, which seems to indicate that up to 50 were made. The frame number of mine was 002, but we know the history of that one and it was given to a track rider contracted to Hoppers to test. He didn't like it but never returned it. The frame number of Eddie's machine is C41. That number does not follow Hoppers normal numbering sequence, and I suspect that refers to Convincible No. 41. While the bottom bracket of Eddie's has the same purpose of keeping perfect chain alignment the method of achieving the movement was obviously developed from my early machine by making use of a Cyclo type return spring rather than the early twin cable arrangement.
Two more former toolmakers have now been contacted in Barton and we plan to get all four of the former employees together at the museum where mine is now displayed, and armed with the photographs of Eddie's machine we shall see if there are more memories to be prompted.
The speculation about how the name Elswick Vampire Convincible came about can only be added to by the name of the other badged version, the Hopper Avenger Convincible. There is obviously more to be learned in the coming weeks.
Peter Brown, Lincolnshire, England