OK, let me take the concept of "period correct" from a slightly different angle.

I am (actually 'was' is probably a better definition, as I haven't mustered out in the last three years) a re-enactor (those guys doing American Civil War, English Civil War, American Revolution, etc.). The concept of "period correct" is absolute God to us - which means we do not use something documentable to 1750 at the oldest if the impression we're doing that weekend is 1680. It just wouldn't have existed at that time.

I've taken that concept for any bikes that I've rebuilt: I don't necessarily go for specific year, or week of production. That's an impossibility, as the bicycle industry is nowhere near as anal as the motor vehicle - to start, they don't have to worry about serial numbers having legal status for licensing. I just try to get close.

Assuming I've got a year for the frame (or at least a 2-3 year window), if I'm going for showroom accuracy (something I'm planning on putting into a vintage show) as opposed to my concept builds (the daily riders that start off with a certain idea - say, my TT Bike for the Homeless) I will try to rebuild the bike to what would have been used in that year/window . . . . . and as I'm usually not that interested in rebuilding something exactly to the catalog, I'll allow myself two to three years newer than the frame year. My 'rule' is to treat the bike as if I'd bought it new, then allow for the usual upgrades/changes I would have done while riding it.

From my memories of the shop during the Bike Boom, only Schwinn and Raleigh seemed to have the ability to spec out a bike at the beginning of the model year, list it in the catalog, and still be producing the exact same bike at the end of that model year - and even Raleigh surprised us by suddenly fitting Altenburger sidepulls to the Record in place of the Weinmann centerpulls we had been used to getting. Schwinn, of course, had the fudge of 'Schwinn Approved' which meant that they weren't about to paint themselves into a corner by specifying Weinmann brakes instead of DiaCompe.

As to the French bikes - you took what they shipped, and were bloody grateful you were getting something since the Schwinn and Raleigh orders were already sold out before they arrived at the shop. And specs there constantly changed - about the only things you could count on with those was Simplex Prestige and lousy paint jobs.

I can understand rebuilding a bike to the catalog - if shows and competition are important to you. After all, the judges have to have something to base their decisions on. While I've never judged a bicycle concours, I've done a lot of vintage British motorcycle shows. While I hate to be so nitpicky as to start looking for proper fuel tank taps, you've got to do something when there's five virtually perfect pre-unit Triumphs in the class, and only three trophies to hand out. Trust me, I've figured out my fudges in these instances (mileage, which ones were actually ridden, not trailered, to the show) to handle the invariably pissed off competitor(s).

Trophy hunting doesn't seem to be a big deal to most of us here, but it is to some people. And I won't put them down for their obsession - after all, what it takes to have fun is different for each person.