Wards Hawthorne

[Judson]

So I sold my Monark Deluxe Black and the Murray Mercury so I Have now acquired this Wards Hawthorne.
Its a super nice patinated skiptooth with original Wards tyres.
Forks are bent but I'm hoping my buddy can straigten them. Frame is stamped 036753 upside down on the downtube, can anyone date it from this please?
Wheels have a cool blue pinstripe around them.
Plan is to respoke the wheels but keep it as authentic as possible...

 

[Judson]

I got the forks straightened today, replaced the headset and crank bearings, gave it a clean and gripped bars with some Brookes tape I found in the shed.

 

[Jpromo]

Pretty sweet looking bomber you've got there! The numbers you posted were stamped aftermarket and could have been any number of things like registering with the local PD in case it got stolen.

The manufacturer serial number will be under the bottom bracket. I expect you'll see something like SE14. Whatever those digits are, flip them, and you'll have your year. Frame is built by HP Snyder.

 

[Judson]

Thanks for the reply. Looks like the serial number has been welded over unfortunately.

 

[Jpromo]

Thanks for the reply. Looks like the serial number has been welded over unfortunately.

What in tarnation? Welded over? Who does that. At any rate I'd lean towards a 1941 built frame here.

 

[Judson]

Cool, it looks early, have no idea what model though.

Dug put my carbide lamp today, been saving this for the right build.

 

[Judson]

Had a cool day out yesterday with a few of us turning heads...

 

[Judson]

Don't worry the green wheels aren't staying on the Wards, just using them until my wheels are built up, then I'll replace with skiptooth chainwheel and correct wheels and hubs. I rebuilt the hubs up, New Departure blackout hubs so I'm now thinking this is a WW2 bike, not earlier as discussed previous.

 

[Scribble]

sweet builds man

 

[SILVERKINGPC]

That 40's Hawthorn rat is begging for a twin springer prewar fork like a X-53 Western flyer or
Monarch fork from the period. The old long nose seat is nice too! Cool.

 

[Judson]

Cheers, although I'm pretty happy how it has turned out so I'll keep it original-ish...

 

[Wildcat]

Great looking Hawthorne. I'd save the Riverside tires and put on a standard set of black walls. Save the good tires for exhibition. Can you post a pic of the weld over the bottom bracket?

 

[The Black Monark]

This doesn't look like someone stamped it, too clean.