Originally Posted by
FBinNY
The push box derailleur was a Gran Sport, and later offered in lower groups such as Valentino, but there was also the pantograph Record derailleur produced with a cable stop and compatible with the older 626 clip. The 626 clip had a noodle for the RD and a fulcrum (housing stop) for the FD.
The FDs and clips had cable stops and used a housing flex from through 1969, when Record became Nuovo (new) Record, and the stop was eliminated when the 626/a clip and braze-on guides were introduced.
Yeah, I don't know where my head was at when I wrote that as I own an original Record FD with a housing stop (I think I meant after 1968). Anyway, as far as I can figure, the pill box derailleur goes back to the 50's and the original Gran Sport. When Nuovo Record came along, Campy continued to make the same derailleur (cage bolt was moved from top to the front) as Valentino. Then sometime around 1973 the pill box derailleur became part of the re-introduced Gran Sport gruppo, which was a cheaper version of their Nuovo Record gruppo and came to be called Nuovo Gran Sport; a couple of years later it was dropped from the catalogs. So when you think about it the pill box front derailleur had about the same run (time wise) as the Nuovo Record rear derailleur.