Cyclesmakaron, I went to see the second Merckx from two brothers today. I think the visit further confuses me about dating the frames.
The bike today is marked “8 P” and “E 9943”.
He thinks he owned it a few months before his brothers purchase of Z 1701.
Beyond that he did think it was 1984 but when I asked if it could have been 1985 he said it was too long ago to know.
I did not buy the bike. It was in very nice shape except for an ugly touched up area plainly visible on the top of the left chainstay, in plain view. Really a shame.
So there you have it. E9943 bought by a guy who doesn’t recall much really and the one I bought last week Z1701 by his brother who is sure he raced it in 9/84 but has no dated proof beyond a photo of him on it in a race. A race he says is



one in 9/84 but that’s not a lot of info for you.
It’s all I know however so I’ll add the three pictures I did take today and then just look forward to others posting.