Victory 5-0

[Wildcat]

Count me in. I took all the new stuff off this old Hawthorne bike to make my daily cruiser, so it'll go back to original as much as it can. I don't have fenders or seat or rear wheel, so it won't be as it came new, as a V 50 model (best guess) back in 1942. The basic model. The rear wheel is a first generation Bendix from way back when and it will be skiptooth. Since I'm in Hawaii, the name is a play on the Hawaii 5-0 TV show.

 

[metalchewy]

Hawaii, sounds nice this time of year.

Great looking frame. Looking forward to seeing what it becomes.

Book'em Dano... [emoji106]

Building..... Riding.....

 

[Wildcat]

What is looked like previously when I made it up like an Army bike:

 

[Wildcat]

This is a Snyder made Hawthorne. They made at least 30, 415 bikes in 1942 before WW2 restrictions. They were hurting for metal I think, there are 2 round blanks welded in to the BB, as seen here.

 

[Funkme]

Sounds and looks good. Interesting to see what you end up with.

 

[kingfish254]

Book'em Barry-O

 

[Wildcat]

This bike is a V-60. The top model, V-70 had all that plus a rack and springer. I think mine is a V-50 because it hasn't got the trussrod/headlight bracket nor the chain guard like this bike. It also has the standard handlebars, not the wide version, like the V-60 and V-70 had. But those things could have been removed over the years, who really knows. They all came with fenders so I know those were taken off. It still had the truss rod bracket on the top tube, so that matches up with the V-50 standard, truss rods but no fork crown bracket.
I was looking for a pic to see the original paint scheme, they all had the same pattern with the white on the front. I also think mine was lakeland green, the darkest color they offered then. I only found a tiny bit of original color, inside the bottom bracket. Green. Whoever repainted it flat black sandblasted everything, including every bit of the fork and inside the fork tube. The lakeland green I've researched has a blueish look to it, so I'll try to find that shade in spray paint, then try to put the white trim on it. It looks pretty easy, straight lines on the white, so I should be able to pull it off.

 

[Wildcat]

I tried a different shade of green on the forks first. I think that's the color I'll go with for the frame too. Then decide if I want to stay with black for everything else or go with silver. I'm leaning towards black. Since I already have the green and black paint, that will work. I also have a little bit of white for trim and some wood that might be a tank insert. My cost might wind up being zero for this.

 

[kingfish254]

I really like the that green with the black.

 

[Wildcat]

I really like the that green with the black.

The wheels will be black also, truss rods too along with the old knobby bw tires. Keeping it low cost.

 

[kingfish254]

The wheels will be black also, truss rods too along with the old knobby bw tires. Keeping it low cost.

That will give it a slight military blackout vibe. (Which will be good for those incoming missiles)

 

[sdframe]

It looks awfully sweet in your opening picture. I'd be tempted to not change a thing. (But that's not what we do.)

 

[Wildcat]

It looks awfully sweet in your opening picture. I'd be tempted to not change a thing. (But that's not what we do.)

Those brown brick tires are gone, went on a Walmart flip build.

 

[Wildcat]

I finally got around to painting the frame. I looked it over closely, it seems to be in good shape for being 76 years old. I wanted the paint to look like old enamel, not a fresh paint job. I'm debating whether to do some white on the front of the frame or not, and whether to paint the rims the same green. But I'm happy with the frame.

 

[Wildcat]

Forks are ready also.