Gentlemen,

As always, a wealth of knowledge and you each clearly have nice workshops. I wish. Too many moves across too many continents.

Indeed, this bike has the old style Simplex that had no stop at all. And, yes, it was ground down by an idiot that this idiot trusted.

Moreover, the bike is off in middle USA. I just had the pleasure of putting a couple hundred miles on it, which gave me the resolve to figure out something to make it work better.

I DO have a weak-necked Rally in the box. I hadn't thought of that derailleur as a solution, but I'll pull it out to inspect.

I don't have the luxury nor access to it to do the major surgery. I also no longer own any torches or welding gear.

BUT, would it work to bolt a standard old-fashion dropout hanger right on top of the existing dropout?

Whatever I actually do will be on my next trip out to middle USA (the bike is in my mother's basement), and I'd rather be riding it than doing major surgery. BUT, whatever it takes is sorta what I have to do.

I do not wish to refinish it. I think it is glorious as it is -- presuming I can sort out this little mess!

Thank you, again, for the thoughts and suggestions.

:-)