I’m not known for short answers and your questions easily lead to long explanations but……I will give both a short and long answer.
The short answer…(still kinda long)
Does the serial number give more information than just the year?
The serial number on this frame does not directly decode to the year of manufacture and it also does not give any information regarding the specification of the original build of the bike.
Do you think it's worth fixing up?
As far as fixing up the bike, you can chose to replicate a bicycle that would have been originally built by the CWC factory on an identical frame or you can build a bike to any other specification you desire with parts that fit the frame as it is, or as many people here do, you can cut and modify the frame to suit your desires. In the first case you will need to research an original bike to determine what you want to replicate and in the second you would need to employ your imagination and fabrication skills. Fixing it up to something that combines aspects of both is also certainly possible
I really don't want to screw this up.
Other than driving over the frame with a pavement roller you can’t really screw it up more than the previous owners did so don’t be afraid of following your current desires with this bike.
Do you think it's worth fixing up?
Lastly, I think the frame is certainly worth fixing up both for the pleasure building a bike brings and to save the frame (at least for a while) from the metal recyclers.
What I don’t believe is that this frame is a prime candidate for what I call a “Restoration” (see below) because the amount of money and effort that needs to be spent to achieve that ideal is many times more that what would be spent in time finding and in dollars buying an excellent original version of the bike. A side note is that on a common frame I would never consider a frame with the dreaded kickstand pinch as a donor for a high end build as there is no real way to bring that type of superficial damage back to the factory original condition.
The long answer (though strangely shorter than the short answer, must be the spacing.)
Every bike had an original build and somewhere there probably is or was documentation and a paper trail that would link the serial number to the final point retail point of sale and at least an approximation of the specification of the original build.
I believe the work I have done with CWC serial numbers can be trusted to a fair degree for use dating a frame. There is no information that I have or know of in the public domain that can be used to determine anything more based solely on a CWC serial number. One source with much more original documentation than I have is the NBHAA which has a website on the internet. At a nominal cost you may be able to find more information there.
Ultimately, even the most extensive search may not provide more than you know at this point regarding the original build of this frame. This does not mean that the information does not exist and of course it could turn up at an inopportune time after a bike has been built only to prove the chosen interpretation does not match the documented original build of the bicycle.
I used the word “restore” in my earlier post and based an observation there (and above) on my definition of the word.
Restoration in the tightest sense of the word (and my choice of possible definitions,) means the process of returning an object to an exact replication of its factory original condition and build specification. For example; this would include returning the bike to the original color it was rather than a different optional color. Anything that does not meet that criterion, to me, is a replication or a customization. In that light, one has to know what that original condition and specification were to a specific bike to be able to “restore” that bike. It is something of a conundrum that, in general, the only way to have access to the information necessary to restore a bike is to restore one that is complete and in good to excellent original condition… exactly the bike that no one in their right mind would restore.
So…. Back to the short answer…
Best,
P.G.M.
