Need to know what I have on my car

[Airic55]

I picked this up on my drive the other day. Would like to know what I have so I know direction to work on it. No badge, number in BB SD65174 has a New Departure 3 speed and front hub is New Departure as well. Rims and spokes look heavy duty. Seat post bracket looks to have been cut off co no clamp. Has a basket that was attached.

 

[Wildcat]

Holy Cow! That's a great find.
I think that's a 2 speed rear hub. The bike may be Elgin, but there's another brand with the curved seat tube. Others here know more than I do.
That front fender is rat plus.

The serial number looks like SD 63174

 

[RustyGold]

It's a '40-'42 Murray made bike. If Elgin it would probably have Alemite grease fittings on the BB...could be several other brands like Derby, Mercury, Murray, etc. That serial, however, doesn't fit the normal Murray format.

 

[RustyGold]

The serial is puzzling. I've only seen one other Murray of this vintage with a serial starting with an 'S'...and that was SE...and the owner stated it stood for 'special edition', and I've never bought that. I figured the S was just some obscure brand that had there own code, but the 2nd letter was the standard Murray year code (E is '40). If yours followed such a format, it would be a '39...and I don't believe the curved seatmast frame came out until '40... probably even late '40. Maybe these 'S' code bikes are 'special' war time construction codes in '42. There are other '42s out there, however, and they follow standard Murray codes...so I'm puzzled.

 

[RustyGold]

The BB looks like Snyder or Ross...chainwheel looks possibly Columbia/Westfield... neither looks Murray.

 

[nosferatu1381]

I love that hub. I have two of them. I found one still in the box out at Charlies but it didn't have the shifter. I finally found another one on a crusty garden bike and put it in one of my blackout hubs. It is a New Departure Tripl Speed. I have the NOS hub shell and the completely fried one on my desk as paperweights.

they are really easy to service just don't get a heavy weight grease in the shift pin area it won't want to work. It was sold as an adapter. The best part is you can use a real monster sprocket and still have a great climbing gear

 

[nosferatu1381]

That chainwheel is also aftermarket upgrade part. i had a bunch of those big wagon wheel still in the bags I just sold the last three. I can't find a picture of one out of the bag. They really hotrodded that bike.

 

[Airic55]

The serial is puzzling. I've only seen one other Murray of this vintage with a serial starting with an 'S'...and that was SE...and the owner stated it stood for 'special edition', and I've never bought that. I figured the S was just some obscure brand that had there own code, but the 2nd letter was the standard Murray year code (E is '40). If yours followed such a format, it would be a '39...and I don't believe the curved seatmast frame came out until '40... probably even late '40. Maybe these 'S' code bikes are 'special' war time construction codes in '42. There are other '42s out there, however, and they follow standard Murray codes...so I'm puzzled.

I wonder if the SD could be for a sears bike. It's the 3 speed and heavy duty wheels that throw it all off from what I've seen around the web. I need to figure out how to get a seat on it to ride it....LOL

 

[RustyGold]

Sears code prefix is MOS, Murray MO, Derby is just M and year code, Gambles and Western Flyer are WG and WF, I believe.

 

[horsefarmer]

Prehistoric rat bike from the 50's - 60's?

 

[Grant]

I picked this up on my drive the other day. Would like to know what I have so I know direction to work on it. No badge, number in BB SD65174 has a New Departure 3 speed and front hub is New Departure as well. Rims and spokes look heavy duty. Seat post bracket looks to have been cut off co no clamp. Has a basket that was attached.View attachment 138139View attachment 138140View attachment 138142View attachment 138143

Such a weird and cool bike.

 

[sandman]

The BB looks like Snyder

That would be my guess . This is a Snyder built Hawthorne ?

 

[RustyGold]

The bike on the roof is Murray...I can't see the transitions on the girls bike, but I don't recall a curved seat tube snyder (the chain ring on the bike is a wald.

 

[sandman]

https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/curve-mast-frames.179194/

 

[RustyGold]

I should have said, I don't know of any boys snyder curved seat mast frames.