40 year old racing bike

Back on home pc so can load photos & extra details as promised:

There is a guy in USA called Robert Freeman at Elliott Bay Cycles, who is the only official supplier of Taylor decals & quite an expert on the bikes - he has lots of useful info, a huge gallery of photos & can advise on authentic colour schemes, etc. A full set of transfers is about $75. He can be contacted on the following:
rdf1249@aol.com
Other useful info at: http://www.blackbirdsf.org/taylor

OK - so I contacted him when I was looking at buying bike & he was doubtful initially that it it was a Jack Taylor - Unusual details are: drilled lugs, fancy bb shell & having a clamped on cable stop. Only feature really standard are seat stay caps.
So he had Ken Taylor look at photos & Mike Thompson check against serial no records.
They concluded that it was a 21" 'built-to-order' Taylor from Nov 2nd 1970 (serial no 6127 on left hand rear stay).
I'm pretty sure it will be Reynolds 531 - I never thought to check, but I think all Taylors were.

Don't know why it ever got badged as a Merlin?

Hope these photos load up ok.

It kind of makes a bit more sense now, I see your point about the cost of painting. Actually, the paintwork looks in pretty good condition, although without Jack Taylor's famous flamboyant painting style.

I can see why you passed on it, a plain white bike, badged as a Merlin without the lug lining, box lining and colour's leaves it a bit of a disappointing Jack Taylor

sorry bike sold for £250