Prewar?

[Vintagebikelover24]

Montgomery Ward's Hawthorne badged. Serial number appears to be 64SN? I've never seen a S/N this short. Any help would be appreciated.

One on the right, obviously

 

[Mark Davo]

I'm treading into dangerous waters here, because I'm NOWHERE near an expert, but I'm pretty sure that yours is a 1946 Snyder built Hawthorne as opposed to Cleveland Welding. It's MY UNDERSTANDING that after 1940, Snyder code used reversed numbers, thus 64=46. I'm assuming that the rear fender brace that's attached to the seat stays is arched (Snyder) rather than straight (CW). My apologies if I am incorrect.

 

[Vintagebikelover24]

You could be right, that sounds legit. I thought Snyder used a "star" sprocket? I don't know but everything on this bike screams prewar! Peaked fender with an odd looking reflector, skip tooth, Torrington bars, stem, and pedals, coke bottle grips, dog leg crank, Morrow hub. No I'm truly no expert on dating bikes but I know someone on this website has this same bike or has a catalog with this on it or know something about this. I'm just hoping they say prewar!

 

[M.Martian]

If the wheels are original to the bike you can date the Morrow rear hub. There is a two digit code (letter-number). The letter tells what year and the number tells which quarter.

 

[Vintagebikelover24]

Dave you are correct! The morrow hub has P2 on if which is 1946! Good job thank you for your knowledge

 

[Mark Davo]

Glad you got it dated, Sorry it's not a prewar, but there's nothing wrong with an early postwar in my book. I have several, and I'm just as happy with them as my prewars. The information that I passed along to you is my interpretation of what was told to me by Phil Marshall who has done the actual research.

 

[Vintagebikelover24]

Glad you got it dated, Sorry it's not a prewar, but there's nothing wrong with an early postwar in my book. I have several, and I'm just as happy with them as my prewars. The information that I passed along to you is my interpretation of what was told to me by Phil Marshall who has done the actual research.

I'm glad you passed the information on! And I'm still just as happy with the bike. It's a beautiful bike and I'm still just as excited to preserve it.