I love old three-speeds, but when you said "Philadelphia" I did some mental math and thought something like 'what kind of a nut drives seven hours to pick up a Hercules?'
But then I looked at the pictures. Oh, I understand now. That's quite a find! Probably the nicest one I've seen. Fabulous color scheme. I'm not sure about repairing the paint, unless you can match it really well. Is it tough enough for wax?
Yes it was a little bit further than I'd have liked, but my wife was going to visit her mother in Northern Harford County MD up on the PA state line, so I figured what the heck. It afforded opportunity to mostly duck being with my mother-in-law and to go the Philly Bike Expo.
As far as being a find: yep, that it is! The red and cream colour combination really makes this bike special, to say the least. Almost all the English bikes have the white painted section on the rear fenders, but I don't ever recall them being cream coloured and I don't recall seeing the leading edge of the tip painted like this either. Of course, that doesn't mean there aren't examples existing in the wild similar to this, just that I haven't seen them.
BTW, do you know where I can get some appropriate hand grips for this thing? They aren't white, but are a cream colour similar to the painted tips and the seat. As you can see in the picture below, the grips are pretty well shot.
Hercules Lion - 29 by
Sallad Rialb, on Flickr