old hawthorne 193? no idea

[62hotrod]

I made a trip up north a week ago and was able to visit a couple of bike collectors stoped at bobs in springfield illinois and was able to buy a couple of bikes out of his large barn very nice guy and helpful and on the way back stoped at
chucks in arcola again very nice has been doing this for 50 plus years and spyed a few of his old bikes this is one that i'm not sure of the year if anyone could help me out .i belive i'll keep and repaint this one i had added fenders a stand & wheels so its looking a lot better than it did when it came out of the shed the only numbers i have found so far is under the crank E92582 it looks like a 1930's bike i really love this style of frame this will make a great built when i go to blow some paint on it

 

[stretch]

awesome! wish there were those barns in my neck of the woods.

 

[Rustinkerer]

I'm pretty sure that's a late 30s-'41 CWC built bike, I'm sure Phil (rms37) could narrow it down by that serial #! Cool find! -Adam

 

[scott brownsey]

awsum find those frames r awsum looking :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[rms37]

Your bike was made for Montgomery Ward by Cleveland Welding. The serial number on your bike places the build date in very late 1939 or very early 1940. The sprocket on your bike was first depicted in the spring/summer 1940 issue of the Montgomery Wards catalog at which time the “rainbow framed” Hawthorne models were no longer offered in the catalog (they were last shown in the fall/winter 1939-40 catalog.)

This happens all the time with Wards Hawthornes; it seems that there are fewer bikes that truly cleave to the strict catalog descriptions and illustrations than examples that are a mix of features from more than one model or catalog. In reality the catalogs are a snapshot of the model line at the time the catalogs were produced and changes were implemented and models were modified continuously between catalog issues. In addition bicycles were sold through the MW retail outlets as well as through the catalogs and the store models would not have to follow the catalog descriptions as closely.

Splitting hairs, I would call the bike a 1940 Hawthorne and assume the frame was perhaps built in late 1939 but the bike was sold in the first two or 3 months of 1940.

In 1938 MW offered a model with the same frame as the bike you have equipped with a tank (The tank that fits these frames was produced in much smaller numbers than the frame so it is hard to come by.) By the time your bike was produced it is not likely the tank was still in production and the later versions of these frames were generally marketed as low cost price leaders.

 

[62hotrod]

thanks so much for taking the time to educate me on these old bicycles i enjoy collecting & restoring. and when i can get help like you have just described it makes the whole process so much more complete knowing the year & background on the bikes