Primed, Painted and Restored to its Former Glory

After some considerable sanding and flattening of the filled areas, Thursday dawned with the naked Holdsworth eagerly awaiting the zinc-chromate. For those of you who skipped chemistry (or like myself- there in body but mentally “out on a ride”); Zinc offers excellent defence against rust and oxidisation, explaining its widespread use in marine applications. Powder coating might provide an extremely thick, protective cocoon for metal but without the zinc, any pinholes, chipping or comparable imperfection invites moisture and ultimately corrosion to fester beneath.Bottom bracket and fork steerer threads were masked along with the seat and head tubes, leaving Graham free to work his magic. Moving seamlessly around the frame and forks in a cloud of grey powder, he took a matter of minutes to achieve the rich, blemish free undercoat before passing the Holdsworth along the conveyor for five minutes cooking at 150 degrees.
It was getting progressively harder to contain my excitement as Chris foraged in the paint store for Sharon’s chosen blue. A few anxious moments later and he emerged triumphant with the huge bag of polyester powder. Graham explained that 5012 was in fact a satin finish so they would be applying a lacquer topcoat to effect a really luxurious shine. Compressor running and several pumps of the trigger feed later, he set about bringing the rear triangle to life in a mist of pale blue before tackling the main tubes.In my experience, high volume “We’re doing black this week” finishers will usually apply a chromate but are often poor when it comes to finer detail. By contrast, Maldon Shot-blasting and Powder coating, rather like the Powder Coat Studio (who also supply this colour for those of you in the states) specialise in one-offs and Graham was as thorough as he was fast.
Satisfied of even coverage, frame and forks were passed through the tunnel of love for a further ten minutes at 200 degrees. Whilst I braved intense heat to photograph its passage, the boys were already loading the gun with clear coat. Emerging from the oven, some pinholes had formed around the frame's head tube but were deftly removed before the paint’s final curing and subsequent cooling. Some clear coats can be applied directly to hot surfaces but Chris and Graham opted for a brand that leaves the gun as a flat white to ensure consistent coverage. Two Pac colours could’ve been applied atop the blue akin to the motorcycle tank pictured- had I wanted something more flamboyant but in my opinion, frames of this era deserve "Classic and Timeless" over “Tart’s Handbag”.

I am delighted with the end result, which unlike powder finishes of old, hasn't obscured the intricate lugwork. Moreover, this has become my preferred colour scheme for a future VW project car. Sharon and I have talked about buying a mechanically sound 1600cc Beetle (Her father owning a succession when she was a small child) and having it refinished in what we’ve collectively dubbed “Ninja” blue. Being bolted, rather than welded in place, panels are easily removed, making them ideal candidates for this paint process. However, in the meantime I’ve to find a bargain wheelset and a suitable solo for Joshua.

Road Path to Restoration:Blasting back to happiness

The good folks at Maldon Shot Blasting and Powder Coating have been indulging in some highly skilled, constructive vandalism inside their big blue shot blast cabinet. We had initially hoped the frameset would fit in their vapour blast unit but this proved impractical, requiring a more traditional approach. Under Trevor's watchful eye and steady hand, it took less than three minutes to blast the forks and half the frameset free of the old livery and back to bare metal.

Closer inspection revealed some slight denting/pitting along the top tube- repaired using Thermabond 3 (a filler specifically designed for powder coating). However, this delayed the painting process by a day or so as the product needs oven curing and laborious filing with emery cloth before zinc chromate and powder coating are applied.

Contrary to popular belief, Holdsworth and their subsequent acquisitions of Freddy Grubb and Claud Butler (forming the Holdsworthy company at the close of the 1950s) weren’t bespoke builders but small-scale batch producers of high quality frames.

Claud Butler enjoyed a reputation for ostentatious and fancy lugwork but with the end of Petrol rationing in 1957, quickly fell into receivership. History repeated itself in 1986 where after prolonged financial difficulty, Holdsworthy was bought by the Elswick group, moving from Wandsworth in London to Humberside. Today, as with many other famous marques, all that remains is their reputation and decals placed on lower end frames mass-produced in the Far East.

Some critics, particularly those in the US rightly cite that to achieve smooth uniform welds on such production volumes requires extensive use of filler. We shouldn't lose sight of the fact that manufacturers turned to Taiwan for reasons of profit maximisation and twenty years ago, weld for weld, firms employing home grown craftsmen couldn’t compete with those contracting out to Asia.

Now, there's nothing wrong with Taiwanese built framesets-I own several and am generally pleased by the standards of manufacture. However, I also appreciate the skill and craftsmanship of traditional frame construction. Brazing on the Holdsworth is to a comparatively higher standard than a frame tailor made for me some seventeen years ago. I had toyed with the idea of having bottle mounts added to the seat and/or downtubes but the availability of seat post mounting brackets and intricate cage design allows me to preserve the period feel.

My other notable deviation from the concors script is my preference for 700C hoops. I’d a set of 27 inch, thirty-six hole Mavic Super Champions hanging up somewhere but tyre and hub choice are limited at best. Something along the lines of Mavic Open Pros laced two cross to a pair of colour coordinated, large flange, sealed bearing IRO hubs topped off with 25mm continental rubber would, forgive the pun, round things off nicely

On the component front, Arty the border collie and I have been stocktaking. We've uncovered a bevy of component beauties including a set of Nitto TT bars, high lustre stem, Ahead adaptor and there’s a choice of On-One Twelfty, Thompson or Campagnolo victory seat posts topped off with a twenty year old Brooks B17 saddle.

Elsewhere, rummaging has unearthed Ritchey copy SPDs, 170mm polished alloy crank set, a Tektro dual pivot brake calliper, choices of half-link or traditional Miche track chains and last but by no means least-an EAI superstar track sprocket. All that’s required now is a UN53 or similar sealed, square taper bottom bracket, a good quality one inch needle roller bearing headset, brake lever and chain tugs…Watch this Space…

Next Week: The Moment of Truth