Hi Randy, nice thread and slow rebuild. I have a couple of questions: First, the bike is from Winnipeg, no? And were you able to get more information about Red Smith from the family or perhaps could contact them again? Were there other things of cycling history at his home? or perhaps any other early childhood pictures of Red Smith and his bike(s)? Where is the Pembina cloverleaf (presumably a relatively little used highway structure or road nearby or around Winnipeg, maybe near the South perimeter highway bridge across the Red River and Pembina highway/PTH 75 south? That was completed in 1958.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perime...way_(Winnipeg)
Some of these interchanges had right in, right out (RIRO) type access and looked like this:
One could see how this type of roundabout, properly closed, would make an excellent time trial lapping course.
Perhaps there is a cycling club there who may have historical records or old members who may remember or competed against Red Smith, including the two mentioned in the article/photo? Do you have dates of birth and death for Mr. Smith?
1) How does the left side of the bike look? All your pictures are drive side only (I know, we all prefer Drive side pics) and I'd like to see if the same top tube paint wear was on the left side - all due likely to Red's powerful legs pushing in turns, plus a lot of sweat.
2) Did you notice the apparent reach differences in the front and rear brakes as noted above and the different brake block holders - rears open backed, fronts closed back?
3) With your other Torpados' wheels and brakes, were any of them similar vintage and had other than 700C wheels? Did any have reach issues similar to this Pro's fronts? Given any thought to just accessing a longer reach pair of similar make and vintage, must be thousands out there.
4) As for dating, considering the earliest of Red's awards is dated 1965, and assuming the Torpado was his primary and only race bike, let's assume it was 1965 or before. (BTW, what if anything is inscribed in the bottom two awards pictured in your vintage wheel thread? they seem to either be blank or turned around). The other awards date from May 1968 at the earliest so I think it brackets the bike's age to probably late 1967-early 1968 at the latest. The 151bcd Campagnolo Record cranks and Gran Sport Derailleur also support this. Unknown if the GB stem or bars (or other taken off parts like the saddle)has a date code somewhere on them. I don't know if the hubs of that era had date codes on the cones (I know you don't have the original wheels).
IMO, There's maybe two or three ways to look at the ^29705 serial number and the way it was stamped. The first thing is to me it appears that the Triangle enclosed T trademark and the 29 were all stamped together - they are deep, clear and level. The next two or three digits were stamped at a different time and by a different person - the 7 and 0 are slanted and not level while the 5 appears to be level. The 7 and 0,5 may have been stamped at different times but by the same person - note how the 7 is mostly full but both the 0 and 5 are light on their tops. One might suggest that the ^29 were stamped first and the 7,0,5 were stamped later. It is not clear what each number represents, but a guess may be that either the 2, 7, or 5 is the year. Whether any other number is either month, or frame # is unknown. My sense is the 5 represents the year, the 29 is either a model number or beginning serial sequence, and the 70 is the frame number, or 2 and frame
#900 and the next two are the particular frame number. The above supposition would support a 1965 production date. I'm unaware as to how early this model dates back or when Red may have started riding as a junior or whether he took it up as an adult. You photo suggests he was riding for some time as it suggest he's in at least his later 20's to 30's.
Is there any other info about what Red Smith did in his life or career that could help define his age of competition? There's a Red Smith who was a horse trainer in Edmonton. Did he ever play baseball in the 20's? The internet seems to have may "Red" Smith's in the US and Canada.