I dug out the list I have for Westfield production. Total 1936 production reached just over 260,000 units so if production were linear then 215,650 would have been reached during October. In this case interpreting C10 as October 1936 works. I’m happy when the system works on bikes that are relatively easy to date because it makes me more confident dating the more difficult ones.
A caution is that I have found frames were the two numbers don’t match the described pattern in which case I am inclined to trust the longer number over the shorter one.
While I’m on the subject of Westfield Serial numbers I’ll add that 1934 serial numbers begin with “M” and 1935 serial numbers begin with “N”. 1935 appears to be the first year that two separate numbers were stamped.
What I didn’t note is that the Catalog never depicts the bike with a tank. This is also true of the earlier balloon models with this Moto frame. In real life the earlier bikes do appear occasionally with tanks and an aftermarket tank that fits the frame was offered on the parts and accessory page of the Sears catalog.
Your bike would have been originally painted with the graphics depicted in the ad that you posted and was available in black/white or red/white. If the current paint is green and there are no signs of paint or red primer beneath then the past owner probably stripped it and repainted it at some time.
I’m fond of these bikes so if I had found it I would probably look for a bike with good original paint and failing chrome and swap the parts over. I would also consider repainting the frame and fenders as the original pattern is one of the easier ones to duplicate. Lastly I wouldn’t feel too bad parting it to other Elgin projects as these bikes are not excessively rare and it doesn’t retain its original paint.
Anyway you choose to go you have a very nice score.
Phil
A caution is that I have found frames were the two numbers don’t match the described pattern in which case I am inclined to trust the longer number over the shorter one.
While I’m on the subject of Westfield Serial numbers I’ll add that 1934 serial numbers begin with “M” and 1935 serial numbers begin with “N”. 1935 appears to be the first year that two separate numbers were stamped.
What I didn’t note is that the Catalog never depicts the bike with a tank. This is also true of the earlier balloon models with this Moto frame. In real life the earlier bikes do appear occasionally with tanks and an aftermarket tank that fits the frame was offered on the parts and accessory page of the Sears catalog.
Your bike would have been originally painted with the graphics depicted in the ad that you posted and was available in black/white or red/white. If the current paint is green and there are no signs of paint or red primer beneath then the past owner probably stripped it and repainted it at some time.
I’m fond of these bikes so if I had found it I would probably look for a bike with good original paint and failing chrome and swap the parts over. I would also consider repainting the frame and fenders as the original pattern is one of the easier ones to duplicate. Lastly I wouldn’t feel too bad parting it to other Elgin projects as these bikes are not excessively rare and it doesn’t retain its original paint.
Anyway you choose to go you have a very nice score.
Phil
:mrgreen:
