A little piece of Frot Worth history

[oddrodal]

Picked up this bike last week off CL. It was sold by a department store that started out as a small grocery store in 1918 and when it closed in the 1970s it was the equivalent of Wall-Mart today. Don't know who made it for them but at some point in time they started selling all there items under the Leonard's name to keep the prices down. Don't know the year or maker still researching that. The serial # is on the seat post clamp, last place I thought to look. First photo is when I got it, the rest is after a quick cleaning. Front tire is org. and holds air. the rear is wards and holds air but the tire started coming apart

 

[horsefarmer]

cant see pics

 

[Dr. Tankenstein]

They look Huffman to me! The blue one with the tank where the s/n (0H#####) stamped on the seat post clamp is 1950 (unique placement of s/n in 49-50) , I suspect they are both from that timeframe. Great finds!


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[Shackleford]

Cant see pics on my laptop or tablet.

 

[oddrodal]

Got the pics. fixed.. Dr. Tankenstein first pic. is the same bike before I did a quick clean and thanks for the info. it gives me a little more to search with. The tank was an add on I had laying around in a box. They have a leonards museum that I think I will check out and see if they might need it for display.

 

[horsefarmer]

Neat find! Thanks for fixing pics.
Interesting, Must of been something BITD! 1 store covering 7 city blocks!
http://www.wfaa.com/story/local/2015/06/17/14126750/

And the store had a private subway!

 

[Dr. Tankenstein]

Ahh I see now! Displaying it in the museum would be awesome.
BTW, the patina around Texas is the coolest.

Cheers!


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[jerrykr]

Although not shown in the video, the museum has 2 bikes on display, a girls and a boys balloon IIRC. You can get a pretty good hamburger at the cafe next door too. The museum is easy to find, it's just west of the new Target store that is behind the Montgomery Wards building on West 7th.

 

[KJV]

Cool.

 

[oddrodal]

Jerry I went buy the museum and check it out, it is small but it has a lot of cool stuff in it. the girls bike is a little newer than mine and the boy's was cool looking. They only take donations and no loans on the items so I'm kind of torn on letting it go since they have 2 bikes now and not a lot of room. If anyone is in town for a visit it is worth taking a little time to check it out and I agree with jerry the burgers well worth the stop also..