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Welcome to the forum! Those are cool bikes. What direction are you interested in taking it? Got any pics?
 
Some different styles
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Been wanting to build a rat bike for awhile and thought I would join to get some ideas
Project:39-40 Hawthorne Snyder built roll fast,it couldn’t stand on its own 2 feet is why it is upside down.
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Welcome to the forum! Those are cool bikes. What direction are you interested in taking it? Got any pics?
Right now I’m thinking just the patina looks,cleaning everything up and having to re-spoke both rims.none in either one
 
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Right now I’m thinking just the patina looks,cleaning everything up and having to re-spoke both rims.none in either one

Great plan. Add some cream or red tires and grips and that will be a pretty cool bike. Start a build thread in the 'builds' section when you get started. It will be a fun build!
 
View attachment 276568

Right now I’m thinking just the patina looks,cleaning everything up and having to re-spoke both rims.none in either one
My 42 Hawthorne looks very similar, frame wise. The chain wheel is Hawthorne so I think you have a Hawthorne, same bike as a Rollfast, made by Snyder. The curve in the downtube suggests early 40s. I can't see the headbadge that well, but it doesn't look like the usual round Rollfast badge.
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The serial number will give the date probably. On the bottom bracket will be letters and numbers. Snyder used a reverse number system for the date. 14 would be 1941, 34 would be 1943, etc. The EH or SN is the code for which factory it came from and the 5 digits are the sequence number from that year.
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Mine was advertised as a 1941, but was actually early 1942 right before they halted bike production for WW2.

Your bike looks like a deluxe model and shows no bad rust or damage. The rims are the only part I would suspect might be in need of replacement.
 
Been wanting to build a rat bike for awhile and thought I would join to get some ideas
Project:39-40 Hawthorne Snyder built roll fast,it couldn’t stand on its own 2 feet is why it is upside down.
Welcome. That Hawthorne tooks like it could be a really special bike. I like the idea of just a clean up and preservation on the really rusty ones. I think you should even try your best to use those rims. But I'm weird and poor, so I get into rusty specials when they can be done well.
 
Welcome. That Hawthorne tooks like it could be a really special bike. I like the idea of just a clean up and preservation on the really rusty ones. I think you should even try your best to use those rims. But I'm weird and poor, so I get into rusty specials when they can be done well.
I like using original stuff even when it’s rough looking , bad part is some one painted it red. Was a Maroon color
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My 42 Hawthorne looks very similar, frame wise. The chain wheel is Hawthorne so I think you have a Hawthorne, same bike as a Rollfast, made by Snyder. The curve in the downtube suggests early 40s. I can't see the headbadge that well, but it doesn't look like the usual round Rollfast badge.
View attachment 276593

The serial number will give the date probably. On the bottom bracket will be letters and numbers. Snyder used a reverse number system for the date. 14 would be 1941, 34 would be 1943, etc. The EH or SN is the code for which factory it came from and the 5 digits are the sequence number from that year.
View attachment 276592
Mine was advertised as a 1941, but was actually early 1942 right before they halted bike production for WW2.

Your bike looks like a deluxe model and shows no bad rust or damage. The rims are the only part I would suspect might be in need of replacement.
Yep mine should be a 41
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You might be able to remove that red paint with WD40 and steel wool. I haven’t done it but others have. It’s a fair amount of work.
 
I like using original stuff even when it’s rough looking , bad part is some one painted it red. Was a Maroon color View attachment 276618
They didn't sand it down, that's good. It may make the paint easier to remove without damaging the original. Mine was sandblasted with nothing left.

Here's some info I found at the CABE, a 41 Hawthorne Comet. It came in gray or red:
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They didn't sand it down, that's good. It may make the paint easier to remove without damaging the original. Mine was sandblasted with nothing left.

Here's some info I found at the CABE, a 41 Hawthorne Comet. It came in gray or red:
View attachment 276666View attachment 276662
Only paint is in the hard to get to spots, I wet sanded with 800 and it goes to bare metal on the cross bars
 
The bike in the photo is gray with red trim. Yours was probably red with gray trim, it looks like that in the advertisement but in black and white is hard to tell. Gray would show up as a lighter color as in the ad.
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If you want to paint it in original colors, Check to see if there is any color left where the gray trim would have been. Mainly the chain guard and fenders. If all you see is the moroon color, then it was maybe a solid vermilion red, as the ad only listed gray with red on the one speed with springer, but yours is definitely originally red.

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It's going to look good no matter what color it is.
 

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