"Ole' Blue" 1940's Skip Tooth hawthorne

[Scrapirondesigns]

So, I'm new to the forum...not sure if you guy's will even count my bike for the Build Off. I just built this bike for the Shiny Side Up Bike Show. Actually finished it the night before. I have pictures of all of the work I did to it. The bike was originally my grandfather's; He bought it at Montgomery Wards. I found it a few months ago hanging in his old barn. Here are the photos from it hanging in the barn to getting painted and pinstriped to being assembled and it being complete at the Shiny Side Up Bike Show.

In the Barn where i found it

geting ideas...

Mock up

painting it with some Rattle Bomb

My boy did a kick ... job on the pin

My boy at Daddy-O hooked it up with a custom badge

my buddy let come in his shop after hours to use his stand and tools to put it togahter.

DONE at the Show

 

[kingfish254]

Re: "Ole' Blue" 1939 Skip Tooth hawthorne

When did you start your build?

 

[Scrapirondesigns]

Re: "Ole' Blue" 1939 Skip Tooth hawthorne

When did you start your build?

I started the 2nd week of July.

 

[rms37]

Re: "Ole' Blue" 1939 Skip Tooth hawthorne

This bike was manufactured by Cleveland Welding and dates to 1944-1946, based on the fork I would guess it was made nearer the 46 end of that period. Identical frames were retailed through Montgomery Ward but they typically have a MW pattern chain ring so this bike may have been sold under another branding.

 

[Scrapirondesigns]

Re: "Ole' Blue" 1939 Skip Tooth hawthorne

This bike was manufactured by Cleveland Welding and dates to 1944-1946, based on the fork I would guess it was made nearer the 46 end of that period. Identical frames were retailed through Montgomery Ward but they typically have a MW pattern chain ring so this bike may have been sold under another branding.

The info I got on the bike was from my grandfather it was his bike as a kid. The year my be off by a few years he kept changing the year. But the bike was bought at MW.

 

[raggedjim]

Re: "Ole' Blue" 1939 Skip Tooth hawthorne

Here's the thread! Great bike and even better cause it was grandpa's. Rg

 

[rms37]

Re: "Ole' Blue" 1939 Skip Tooth hawthorne

The info I got on the bike was from my grandfather it was his bike as a kid. The year my be off by a few years he kept changing the year. But the bike was bought at MW.

It is common for people to forget dates, the frame definitely dates to the period I mentioned and the serial number will help pin it down further. As for the MW purchase, I notice the original picture shows the frame hanging without a crankset. Typically a MW version of this bike will use a different chain ring than the one on the finished bike so it may be that this bike did have an MW chain ring when it was new or it may be an anomaly as product moved quickly in the early postwar years.

 

[Scrapirondesigns]

The crankset was in the barn on a shelf right next to the frame I don't know for sure if it's from that bike or not. But my buddies Hawthorne ladies bike with badge has the same chain ring. And the sero-number on this bike doesn't have the CW like my roadmaster of the same frame. Which also has the same crankset. But I could totally be wrong about what kind of bike it is. Fairly new to the vintage bike scene I've been trying to research what bike it was. That's actually how I found this form. So I assumed it was a hawthrone based on the CW frame style wich i read online made hawthrone for MW and that it was purchased at Montgomery wards.

 

[rms37]

Hi again, I'm just trying to be helpful with some facts so I don't mean to make too much of this. The main point of my post was to let you know the bike cannot be a 1939 model. Since you referred to the year in the title I assumed that had an importance in the overall picture of the build and clearing up the facts would be important both so you could adjust your estimation of the bike and so the incorrect information would not be carried on further to others. The CW suffixes were not used on CWC bikes until late 1947 so I would not expect this bike to have that stamping.

As for the bike being MW sourced or not, I personally don’t know the source of the claim that it was purchased at Montgomery Ward. If the source was not clear on the year of the bike they may be mistaken about the source of purchase or that this is the bike that they remember it to be. I run into a lot of people that honestly miss remember portions of the past. If I see a 1957 Chevy and the owner swears he bought it new at a Ford dealership in 1952 I have to make my own assumption based on what I have come to learn and believe.

The bike may be a CWC built Hawthorne but typically they do not use that pattern sprocket, despite some other MW bikes turning up now with them. As I noted, in the early postwar years moving product was important and some anomalies did occur but that is also an overused scenario that allows a lot of water through the cracks. Head badge hole placement can also be useful in determining how a bike was originally marketed but in this case it does not help much as CWC Hawthornes for a while after the war were equipped with MW badges with vertical hole placement rather than the more typical MW horizontal drilling

 

[Scrapirondesigns]

I understand I just want to know more about my bike. It does have horizontal holes for the badge

 

[SCHWINNRAY69]

Nice boardtrack racer 8) I redid my Sting-Ray the same blue...looks great! :wink:

 

[kingfish254]

Beautiful build.

 

[cyclonecoaster.com]

Nice build -- great looking bike -- good luck in the contest - you might appreciate my build - check it out when you have a chance -- ride vintage -- Frank

 

[raggedjim]

Hey man, this is a great looking bike, I keep coming back to look at it.

Seriously, great job on a clean build, Rg

 

[Scrapirondesigns]

Re: "Ole' Blue" 1940's Skip Tooth hawthorne

Thanks guys. I'm glad everybody likes the bike this build was important to me because it was my grandpa's bike so I'm stoked that all you guy like what I did with it.

Check out my next build it's going to be similar to this bike but just kind of stepping it up a little. http://http://www.ratrodbikes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=61100

 

[Scrapirondesigns]

Re: "Ole' Blue" 1940's Skip Tooth hawthorne

Grandpa's first look at his rebuilt bike. He approves!!

 

[kingfish254]

Re:

That is slick!!!!
I love that photo!!!!

 

[thatismytruck]

Good looking bike!! who did the striping? it's sweet!

 

[Scrapirondesigns]

Re: "Ole' Blue" 1940's Skip Tooth hawthorne

Good looking bike!! who did the striping? it's sweet!

thanks!! Josh rude boy medeieros did the striping

 

[Scrapirondesigns]

Re: "Ole' Blue" 1940's Skip Tooth hawthorne

The blue and chrome is the one on ole blue