Need some help on dateing my new Elgin

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Uncle Stretch

Uncle Stretch

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Today my brother and I went to a swap meet . I found this old Elgin and bought it right after this guy bought my Hiawatha.
Also picked up a nice set of 26'' rims laced to an old Morrow 2 speed hub. All in all it was a good day. I was really happy with my new bike. Its complete and in really good original shape,still has lots of the paint . Straight fenders ,two small dings in the tank ,but you have to look for them. Anyway the guy said it was a 50's anybody got a clue???

el1.jpg

el4.jpg

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el8.jpg
 
judging from the chain tensioners on the rear id say prewar(probably early 40's) but the tank, light, fenders and pedals all look to be 50's(just a guess at a glance!) nice score!
 
Well that sux. So from looking at the pictures ,its a elgin frame with monarch stuff on it. Man I thought I had found a complete bike. The tank,chain ring and stuff is like the monarch,and the other stuff is something else. it has differant truss rods. Hummm maybe not that good of a purchase after all. It sure looked like it all went together. :roll:
 
ok here i my opinion :)
its an actual surviving custom!
stretch your is a 1940-41 elgin built by monark with a tank from a later monark :) the correct tank if it came with one would have been more rounded
and the rack isnt right
http://www.nostalgic.net/pictures/119.htm
steve yours is an early model because of the straight tube :)
 
Well there you go. They say there is one born every minute. I guess I can always find the correct tank,and I wasnt really crazy about the rack either. So i guess ill be watching ebay close for the right parts. Gee I guess you have to watch these bicycle guys,they will stick anything on something that will fit. Oh yeah its called a ratrod!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
Yeah once i took off the tank you can see where it has new scratch marks on the paint. I dont think it came with a tank,just looking at the paint. If the rack didnt come on it then its been on there a long time. There were wear marks on the fender where it was bolted. didnt look fresh.

elg1.jpg
 
cman said:
At least it came with a headbadge. 8)

Cool bike.
Click to expand...
ok cman that was funny. I guess i should run out there and rip it off. :lol: Is a cheap looking one anyway says something like elgin made for sears. Sounds like a washing machine or something.
 
Rat Rod said:
On second thought...not sure. My Elgin frame was supposed to be a pre-war frame, but....

RatRod, yours is absolutely a pre war as is evident by the drop stand brackets, the straight down tube and seat tube. It is probably a 38 and the frame was built by the same makers as the Mercury line-notice the blending of the tubes to the head tube. They also had bikes made by Westfield. The following years of Elgin bikes had the curved seatpost. Your bike had a standard tank and a longer toolbox tank. See pages 68-70 of the Evolution of the bike, Vol 2 for more info.
Click to expand...
 
All Elgins are prewar. After the war they were badged as JC Higgins. Occassionally you will find an early JC Higgins with Elgin parts as they used up remaining stock when production started again after the war.
 
Elgins were sold at Sears, built by at least two different companies, Davis Sewing Machine and another that made/sold Higgins bikes. It's a can of worms. Monark/Hawthorne/Rollfast/Roadmaster crossed lines, Cleveland Welding made some or most of those - almost all of the old non-Schwinn bikes had something to do with one another at some point.

It may be the case that you could make this bike look right with what you have there, or most of it anyway, depending on what you want it to be.
 

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