Originally Posted by
michalmox
Hello, I asked the seller about the serial number of the frame. He sent this photograph follow. Not much, but if I can see 0 20739? Which it somehow does not fit with the original markings capo years 60s ...
True -- ca. 1960 Capo frames had 5-digit serial numbers starting with a 4 (see my signature). Production run rate, according to Harald Cap, Otto's son and one of my contemporaries, was about 5K units/year.
This leads to another sheer speculation on my part -- I wonder if Otto Cap ever built frames under relabel contract to other companies. All of us have seen numerous examples of similar cross-labeling of marques among other framebuilders.
Given the top tube loops and the change in seat tube clamp, I also wonder whether this is simply a late 1960s, even 1970 (hence, the leading 0 in the S/N) model. (Otto Cap would have been running out of 5-digit serial numbers by then, and the new decade would have been a logical time to switch to a new numbering system.) The head lugs and the trim pieces on the seat stay caps, the fork crown, the rear dropouts, and the placement of the serial number shout "Capo."
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"Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing." --Theodore Roosevelt
Capo: 1959 Modell Campagnolo, S/N 40324; 1960 Sieger (2), S/N 42624, 42597
Carlton: 1962 Franco Suisse, S/N K7911
Peugeot: 1970 UO-8, S/N 0010468
Bianchi: 1982 Campione d'Italia, S/N 1.M9914
Schwinn: 1988 Project KOM-10, S/N F804069
Last edited by John E; 03-28-17 at 06:37 AM.