PRODUCTION FIGURES

Hetchins production falls into the following periods:
Pre-War Tottenham, from 1934
Post-War Tottenham, until 1974
Southend-On-Sea, 1974 to ca.1986
Modern Period:
Bob Jackson (Leeds), ca.1986 to 1993
David Miller (Preston), 1993 to present

Hyman and then Alf Hetchin kept production and sales records; fairly complete records have survived from August 1935 to Dec. 1967, and from 24 March 1969, to twenty-something January 1973. There is patchy information about production levels from 1986 - 1993 (Jackson-period); records pick up again in detail from 1993 to the present. The following table showing yearly production and sales information was compiled by Hilary Stone. No searchable data base exists allowing exact tallies of individual model types.

year	production (sales)
1935	106
1936	400 (332)
1937	599 (571)
1938	666 (615)
1939	589 (511)
1940	140 (184)
1941	117 (123)
1942	92 (90)
1943	57 (61)
1944	38 (42)
1945	54 (60)
1946	198 (175)
1947	188 (194)
1948	145 (190)
1949	154 (157)
1950	229 (254)
1951	303 (207)
1952	434 (398)
1953	860? (431)
1954	540? (636?)
1955	486 (451)
1956	295? (399)
1957	454? (462)
1958	329? (396)
1959	475 (343)
1960	340 (303)
1961	190 (258)
1962	199 (226)
1963	166 (204)
1964	171 (151?)
1965	165 (176)
1966	136 (123)
1967	137? (108?)
1968- 1985	unknown
1986	(13)
1987	(63)
1988	(48)
1989	(38)
1990	(32)
1991	(17)
1992	(24)
1993	(3)

The sales records show a very auspicious increase from the winning of the World's and Olympic Championships in 1936. However, the war years took a terrible toll (metal rationing severely curtailed non-war-related manufacturing). Production and sales recovered in the 1950s, from the introduction of the Latin Series, but fell off considerably in the 1960s when the automobile finally replaced the bicycle as the preferred daily transport vehicle in the UK. The 1970s saw two important developments in the hand-made bicycle production market: 1) mail order houses arose, which put many hand-made frame builders in the UK out of business; 2) a number of Italian frame builders made great progress in the export market (including Masi, Cinelli, Pogliaghi, Colnago, Bianchi, and de Rosa). These factors undoubtedly put pressure on Hetchins, and, despite expanding into the USA market, Hetchin's sales never regained a level to match the promise of the late 1930s and 1950s.

The total accounted-for production from 1934 to 1967 comes to 9492. Total accounted-for sales for the same period comes to 8831. The reason for the discrepancy (661 frames) is not known; they may have been sold later (after the records broke off).

During the years in Southend-On-Sea, Hetchins made a number of fairly plain bikes, many of which were exported, as well as the older styles, such as the Magnum Opus, for an increasingly exclusive clientele. 'The customer got whatever he wanted,' was Alf's motto. For example, see the elaborately cut seat tube embellishment on this 1970s Magnum Opus. The 1970s were strong years for export to the USA, but exact production figures are unknown. In a 1967 article in Cycling Magazine (UK), Alf claimed he was exporting 100 frames per year to the USA and that (Jack Denny) could hardly produce them fast enough (see the final paragraph of the article reproduced below); again, in a 1970 article for Cycling Magazine (UK), Alf claimed that he was making 280 frames per year, 80% of which were exported.

1967 Hellenic article

Sales during the Bob Jackson period are listed in the table below. Descrepancies between the frame numbers and numbers of frames sold are due to some frame numbers having been skipped. 1993 was not a full production year.

year	frame nr. from - to	nr. of frames sold
1986	86003 - 86019	13
1987	87000 - 87064	63
1988	87065 to 87111	48
1989	87112 to 87150	38
1990	87154 to 87184	32
1991	87185 to 87203	17
1992	87204 to 87228	24
1993	87229 to 87231	3

David Miller says that he has overseen the production of roughly 12 frames per year since 1993 (with a slight blip upwards during and immediately after the UK's splendid showing at the Beijing Olympics).

10,000 frames can fairly definitely be attributed to the production periods from 1936 to 1967, and 1986 to the present. The gap in the middle must be estimated. Serial numbers for 1968 and 1969 (known from the Hetchins Register) suggest that production was running at about 130 to 140 frames per year. The 10xxx series, and 12325 to 13270 series serial numbers from the early 1970s to 1986 may account for another 1,600 or so frames, many exported to the USA. (13270 is the last known serial number from Southend, April 1986.) Another 111 frames with a different numbering series are also known from the 1980s. A conservative estimate would be an average of about 145 frames per year, based on known production figures up to 1967 and subsequent serial numbers up to April 1986. This comes to approx. 2250 frames from 1967 to 1986.

It is difficult to evaluate Alf's claim in 1970 to have been making 280 frames per year, as the last known annual figures from the late 1960s are only half that, and the known frame numbers which carry on from 1968 are not high enough to give evidence of such sustained output, the introduction of the Hellenic model nothwithstanding (75 were built over the next decade). On the other hand, the Italia (or sometimes "Italianate") model proved to be popular, especially in the USA export market, and quite a number have survived. There were both British-(Denny)-built and Italian-built (imported) Italia models.

One possible explanation for the difference between the above conservative estimate of 145, and Alf's claim of 280, is that Alf subcontracted an unknown number of frames to an Italian builder. They were finished and badged as Hetchins, but bore different serial numbers (not accounted for in the above conservative estimate). Perhaps Alf had both the local and the Italian production in mind. However, to date, only two Italo-Hetchins have been positively identified, and it is impossible, on the evidence available, to determine whether Alf was selling as many Italian produced frames as locally produced ones.

We therefore estimate that approximately 12,000 frames have been produced to date (not counting an unknown number of Italo-Hetchins). The Hetchins Register lists approximately 2,200, or roughly 16% survival rate.

For an overview of the different periods of design development, click here (pdf file).

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