60's hawthorne "silver bullit"- update 7/20

[roadmaster]

i was debating about entering (for the first time) due to my tight time schedual, bu the next build on my docket is my wife's hawthorne, and i really need to get crackin on it, so here i go...

picked this up as a "barn find" last winter, and she's ready to be transformed.

started tearing her down today, and im gonna start sanding her down over the next week. got a broken chainguard bracket to fix, but thats about the worse of it. havent figured if im gonna use the existing wheels, or a pair of chrome ones off my 93 westport with whitewalls. got fenders from the westport too, if thats the way i wanna go with it.

she says she wants a "sparkly, metalic" paintjob. thinking a metalic silver would look good.

just in it to get my feet wet this year and allready lookin to next year with a 52' schwinn a friend in washington is gonna send me down later this summer. for now, i thought a "girl's" bike would be a great way to start and i hope my wife will love it once im done.

 

[roadmaster]

Re: early 60's hawthorne (wife-e-rat)

well... got the bike all sanded down and with any luck, i should have it in the paint shop by the 23rd. allready repainted the rims black with new whitwalls and plan to go silver or gold with the color as wel as add some fenders from an old westport. with a business trip that i leave for today down to sacramento, i was thinking of packing up the chainring to start poloishing and cleaning up while im bored in a motel room for 4 days. more picts after next weekend.

 

[OUTLAW]

Re: early 60's hawthorne (wife-e-rat)

great, welcome to the Lady's pack. we are here to wack all the little boys. it's funny how the little boys are being called her. i think they all want to be a LADY. lol.

Outlaw

 

[roadmaster]

Re: early 60's hawthorne (wife-e-rat)

(shoulda just added this to this post vs started a new one, so here it goes...)

so for the first few weeks, between work projects and work itself with some out of town business classes, i deconstructed her and began to sand her down, by hand.

once i got it sanded down and ready for primer, i just needed to get my wife to decide on a color. "i want something sparkly and metalic looking.", is what she told me. so we finally went down to pick up some krylon magic. she picked out silver metalic for the main and metalic purple for accents. i can dig it.

finally, got some primer on this one. i decided that id do the frame in dunsmuir where i had more privacy and room (pictured), and do the forks and chainguard in yreka, my home. i figured i let the bike dry a week b4 i started to mess with it.

by the time your reading this, everything but the chainguard has been painted with its final coats and been drying for a few days. i had alot of work to do to that dented up chainguard to get it ready for prime and paint. with her color schemes, i asked her if she wanted it purple, but she said silver. ok.

 

[roadmaster]

Re: early 60's hawthorne (wife-e-rat)

yeah, i realize in the pictures of it being primered, i painted over the scratched out head badge. reason, once i was done and have entered this, she wants to take the purple metalic and finish it off with some pinstriping this winter, including her own badge paint over. :wink: maybe while i'm at it, i'll paint the wheels purple, too, but for now this is what i got...

took the originals, repacked the bearings and rebuilt the coaster brake (and i hate disc type coaster brakes, too). then i put on an extra set of white wall tires once i painted the rims primer black. im sure the new tires will help it ROLLFAST.

the paint job turned out great with lotsa metal flakes and a sorta rough texture, but really tight. thoughrally inspected it for flaws and look to be good to go.

the fenders on it were too banged up to use, and besides, i wanted chrome one, so i borrowed some off my 93' murray westport

v

they fit on the hawthorne frame really good and i'll probably use the westport in a future build. while im waiting to go back to dunsmuir to put her all back together next monday (my d-day), im cleaning up all the little chrme pieces and chainring. not gonna put the rack back on and due to health issues with my wife the past month, my budget is gone to spend anymore on thisbuild for extras. so pictures of completion by next week. yay! :mrgreen:

 

[roadmaster]

(figured i change the title to something a better suited)

so today i got a chance to put her back together and fixed my chainguard mount by attatching new brackets made for shelves. got lucky that they matched up so well. unfortunatly, the front tire didnt fit in the forks with the fenders, so at least for now... goodbye fenders. man, what a busy month and i barely squeeked out any time to finish, but in a few hours thats just what im finna do, post as "finished". :mrgreen:

 

[roadmaster]

as far as my time constraints and money are going to allow me, im done with this... for now.

the fenders i wanted to put on there didn't work out with the forks i have, and can't get a replacement set for at least another few weeks, so i decided, no fenders. hope everyone likes it. i know its not gonna win by far, but for my first time, i just wanted to complete it.

 

[Uncle Stretch]

The recognition is knowing that you built something that made you happy ,with your own hands. Nothing else is needed. Looking good.

 

[Markm]

cool!!!! 8) 8)

 

[roadmaster]

thanks guys! i have talked myself out of putting any fenders on it the future. kinda like the way it looks and hope my wife will in the morning when i finally show it to her. she has never been one to take any interest in my bikes YET doesnt say a single thing when i have like 5 bikes in the house and 4 more out back. wait, this ones coming up tommorow, so make that 6 in house. at least i have the room. :roll: