Bad condition 1966 Claud Butler Velo Valentino - Advice

Please see below the pictures of my recently acquired from the bay 1966 Claud Butler Velo Valentino, catalogue link included. It's in not the greatest condition with mainly surface rust and the biggest issue a stuck seatpost. I plan to turn the bike into my 'can lock outside in London' runaround/banger for which the 5 speed is perfect. A few questions I have are.

1) Any advice for getting the seatpost out? I'm finding it difficult with the pipe type seatpost to get much leverage as the seperate saddle clamp doesn't get much purchase, have sprayed some wd40 down there for the moment

2) Would you do a home respray? Paintwise the frame is in terrible condition with the decals gone on the whole and lots of surface rust.

3) What Reynolds tubing sticker would originally have been there? There should be a picture of the remaining bits, the same with the Claud Butler decals.

4) From the catalogue I'm presuming only the three tubes would be made from 531 rather than those whole bike, correct?

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/nkilgariff ... entino.jpg

1. I've just removed a stuck steel seat post myself, it all depends on how stuck it is. Mine was well jammed and I sacrificed the post as I was changing for an ally one anyway. If you want it out, take off the saddle and clamp, drill a hole straight through, easiest to start will a 3mm bit then go bigger. I then put a bolt through and used a stilson wrench to twist the post. Once they move they will come out. The steel post was No6 for me this year

2. By the time you've bought paint stripper, undercoat and paint you'll be getting close to what it would cost to get powdercoated. Also home resprays aren't very durable and will mark and scrape easily. You should be able to find someone to powdercoat for around £50.

3. Not sure which deacl but http://www.hlloydcycles.com/ should have all the decals you need.

Do not wish to be bad news bearer, but methinks that has had a front end bump. The gap twixt frame and wheel is the give away, never get a mudguard in there and the toe overlap must be terrible.

(edit) You beat me to it, but I may as well post this now i've written it!

There's a few 'issues' there which the OP hasn't mentioned...that driveside rear dropout is distorted, and it looks like the forks are bent backwards above the crown. If that's the case, then it may be impossible to have a smooth turning headset. You might want to check for 'ripples' on the underside of the toptube and downtube, which would indicate that the frame has also absorbed some of the force of whatever impact bent the forks. So, all that is potentially dangerous.. Your call as to whether you can trust it or not!

Given your intended purpose for the bike, it's difficult to say whether it makes economic sense to get the frame repaired. Also would be a shame to completely strip original paint, (some of ) which has survived 46 years so far. You could perhaps clean up any rust, and then 'patch up' the paint in any colour you choose, leaving the original paint where it survives intact. For me that would be a brush job rather than a spray job. That would both prevent further corrosion, and have the advantage of making the bike look tatty and not worth nicking. Functional paint!

Looks like the original tubing decal could have been either one of these:

Ah yes I see this, maybe a rethink needed.

Re:

Here is my Claud Butler Valentino I am restoring. It is a 1965 model. Here are some photos of the transfers and the top tube/ front forks fit.

Frames had a hit & TBH is junk