Sun Birmingham ID

[Illaveago]

As toyah so eloquently put it in the eighties.. Iths a mithtery..

It does look shiny beneath that paint especially where the badge was.

 

[Illaveago]

I wonder how they operated in the factory, whether they had different production lines for each make or made frames to customers orders. What it looks like though is that it has gone through the plating and then painting process before ending up with the Sun badge. If they were short of a frame for an order they left it a bit late.

 

[Daddybus]

& if it looks like a carlton frame made in the carlton factory (worksop) all be it on the sun line...why a Birmingham badge... My brain hurts now, I'm going for a lie down...

 

[Illaveago]

& if it looks like a carlton frame made in the carlton factory (worksop) all be it on the sun line...why a Birmingham badge... My brain hurts now, I'm going for a lie down...

If you do buy it you could try washing that horrible green paint off with cellulose thinners. It may be that whoever put the paint on might not have rubbed the old paintwork down but simply painted over it.In which case there may be some of the original paint and transfers underneath.

 

[Daddybus]

Cheers all... Fingers crossed pick it up at the weekend & give that paint a bit of a seeing to .... Encouraging that It pretty much chips off with a finger nail tho!...

 

[Spokesmann]

The frame numbering would suggest a Worksop (Carlton) built machine.

 

[Daddybus]

He gave it me ...for free ...Nada ...zilch...buck shee ..

 

[Illaveago]

View attachment 111779 He gave it me ...for free ...Nada ...zilch...buck shee ..

You lucky, lucky *******! As Monty Python would put it.

 

[Illaveago]

You could try some cellulose on a rag on the seat tube and if you are lucky there may be some transfers left hiding underneath that paint.

 

[Daddybus]

says something on the top tube can't make it out tho...

 

[Illaveago]

It's not Amarillo is it? Should keep us guessing for a while.

 

[Illaveago]

Does it say Carlton?

 

[Daddybus]

Ooh ...it might do... well spotted!! Carlton con(tinental?)(stellation?) Yet there is no evidence of old rivet holes to suggest the sun badge is a replacement unless it had a Carlton headbadge STICKER originally ....hmmmm

 

[Illaveago]

Ooh ...it might do... well spotted!! Carlton con(tinental?)(stellation?) Yet there is no evidence of old rivet holes to suggest the sun badge is a replacement unless it had a Carlton headbadge STICKER originally ....hmmmm

It looks like it begins with a W , unless that is a mistake. I can also see a group of 3 other letters, is that the con bit. Does that type of font match that used by Carlton for the period that the frame number suggests.

 

[Illaveago]

I was about to throw a spanner in the works but then I found a picture of a70s Carlton Criterium which had the pump fixings on the seat tube. A lot of the other Carlton's seem to have them on the crossbar or on the down tube. If your bike originally had a Carlton headbadge I would have thought that there would be some indication of the previous holes in the horizontal position.