Hello! Looking for assistance in identifying bike!

[Pokienoze]

Hi I just joined to hopefully get some information for my father. My dad is 85 years old and his latest hobby is building motorized bicycles. He has his original Whizzer bike from when he was a kid and just recently acquired his twin brother’s bike that has been sitting in a barn for over 70 years. This also has a Whizzer kit on it. Obviously we know the bike is a Hawthorne put out by Montgomery Ward. We would just like help in identifying the year and model. My father plans on restoring it. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Pondo]

Very cool bike. There are some folks on this board that know the older models fairly well. The serial# on the bottom of the bottom bracket is handy for dating purposes. You can check with the folks over on the CABE too. Lots of good folks on both boards.

 

[Wildcat]

Hawthornes were either CWC or Snyder built. That one is an early 50s/ late 40's Snyder model. A serial number will be on the bottom bracket, under the cranks. It probably will have a reverse number for the year, 35 EH would be 1953. Here's an example of my 42 Hawthorne with 24 EH. May also be an SN instead of EH.

 

[Pokienoze]

Hawthornes were either CWC or Snyder built. That one is an early 50s/ late 40's Snyder model. A serial number will be on the bottom bracket, under the cranks. It probably will have a reverse number for the year, 35 EH would be 1953. Here's an example of my 42 Hawthorne with 24 EH. May also be an SN instead of EH.
View attachment 212930

My father says the bottom of the crank only has 05 on it.

 

[Wildcat]

Probably 1950.

 

[Rustinkerer]

Hawthornes were either CWC or Snyder built. That one is an early 50s/ late 40's Snyder model. A serial number will be on the bottom bracket, under the cranks. It probably will have a reverse number for the year, 35 EH would be 1953. Here's an example of my 42 Hawthorne with 24 EH. May also be an SN instead of EH.
View attachment 212930

'SN' signifies Snyder's main factory in Little Falls, NY. 'EH' is their Michigan City, IN factory, formerly owned by Excelsior Cycles. They used the reverse year codes from sometime during 1940, and continued through 1958. Also, the OP's bike has the new for '50 blue & red M/W badge. -Adam

 

[Wildcat]

I've seen a couple that just had the year stamped, like this one.

I use the dropouts as an indicator also. They went to forward facing in the late 40's with one hole for the fender mount, then went to the slotted style dropout after 1953 or so.

 

[Pokienoze]

My father did find another number on the frame. It is either F023428 or FC23428. It was on the post under the seat.

 

[rickpaulos]

Whizzers started out as a motor kit with motor mounts that have clamps that go around the frame tubes. Those could be fitted on many different brands of bikes. Later on Schwinn built Whizzer specific frames that had various tabs brazed on to the frames at the key locations. Whizzers were sold again about 25 years ago and look quite different with shock forks and modern parts.

 

[Pokienoze]

Whizzers started out as a motor kit with motor mounts that have clamps that go around the frame tubes. Those could be fitted on many different brands of bikes. Later on Schwinn built Whizzer specific frames that had various tabs brazed on to the frames at the key locations. Whizzers were sold again about 25 years ago and look quite different with shock forks and modern parts.

Yes both my father and his twin brother saved up and ordered the kits. This bike was his brothers. We are just trying to identify the model now, as we think it is a 1950 due to the 05 stamped on the bottom of the crank.

 

[Wildcat]

Since we have established that it is a Snyder frame, the other number may be a local ID number. They used to add those when registering the bike for licensing. Where was that number located? It should be right below the 50 and be 5 digits if it had the number. I found this 1950 pic with no sequence number.

 

[Pokienoze]

Since we have established that it is a Snyder frame, the other number may be a local ID number. They used to add those when registering the bike for licensing. Where was that number located? It should be right below the 50 and be 5 digits if it had the number. I found this 1950 pic with no sequence number.

View attachment 215739

It was on the post under the seat.

 

[Phil Fink]

Sounds like a 1950–F then.

 

[Pokienoze]

Thought you guys might appreciate seeing this about finished. My dad likes to keep busy at 85 y/o and this meant a lot to him since it was his deceased twin brothers bike. I think he did a pretty good job. Still some odds and ends to do, and a little carb work. I was there to hear it run for the first time in around 65-70 years. If you look up at my first post you can see what it looked like when we pulled it out of my grandfathers barn.

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

What a treasure. I hope I'm able to do work like that at 85 (27 years from now).

 

[RustyGold]

Looks great...good job!