from what I've found looks like the only year for these with the dog ears was 1939. So I'll go with that year, now anyone has a cheap headbadge for it?
I have the '37-'41 Schwinn catalogs. '39 was the last year for the dropstand, but the '37-'39 bikes with dropstands had the detachable dogear, not the fixed one like yours. If that is indeed a Schwinn frame, and it looks like it is to me, I'd say it was made before '37. Gary
Sunrace makes a nice mini group kit that is Klunker worthy. You just need any freewheel mtb wheelset. You could braze on some cantilever bosses and be all set. Otherwise just do a single sprocket up front and gears in the back to simply things. I would do something small like a lucky seven sprocket and that thing would climb like a mountain goat. I love klunker builds. It's gotta have gears though. http://cgi.ebay.com/SunRace-7-Speed-gro ... 1c1767817c