Hello Jay. Too big and the wrong side of the Atlantic. I have long admired
this machine. I do wonder at the accuracy of your heading though. The first
frame builder was not Len Davis but Jim Collier. Jim built fancy lugged
frames for Hobbs of Barbican before the war. There was not a Davis there to
my knowledge but a Len Hart and a Len Truman. Jim was 'rescued' by manager
Harry Carrington from war work at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich. They
gathered his tools at Southampton Way and began building frames the day war
ended. So Harry told me. Arthur Gillott was never very enthusiastic about
this side of the business but Harry held 49% so it went ahead. I think
Arthur felt that it stole some of his thunder. He spent most of his time at
the smaller shop in Atlantic Avenue Brixton.
Ron Cooper was the only builder at Southampton Way by 1958. He carried on
building at the old workshops until approx 1968-9. I have a genuine Gillott
Fleur de lis frame with the number 706179 which is the latest known so far.
The number means that it was built in 1970 and is the 6,179th frame built
since May 1946. I guess this frame was made at his new shop in Honor Oak.
This also means that any Gillott built after 1958 was built by Ron. Apart
from the fakes.
Perhaps you could let me know the name of the new owner so that I can
amend the records.
Mark Stevens Gillott Collector extraordinaire Evanton Scotland