Western Flyer for my Dad

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Chips_Mahoy

Chips_Mahoy

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I'm trying to help my dad identify what Western Flyer he used to have as a kid. It has the same frame style as the one in the photo. He said he purchased it new in '50 or '51. It was a 26" bike without a tank. Here's what he noted about the pic:
If it were green, with green fenders, and without the rack over the back fender, that looks pretty much like it. I also had two small white stripes on the fenders.
Any help is appreciated....thanks!
 
Re: JC Higgins for my Dad

A '50 or '51 bike would have been a ballooner for sure. The bike in the pic is a middleweight. J.C. Higgins (Sears) bikes were made by many different manufacturers so it might be difficult to find the exact one. Gary
 
Re: JC Higgins for my Dad

B607 said:
A '50 or '51 bike would have been a ballooner for sure. The bike in the pic is a middleweight. J.C. Higgins (Sears) bikes were made by many different manufacturers so it might be difficult to find the exact one. Gary
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Right.....It was a ballooner. The pic was just for reference to show what frame he had. I'm hoping someone might have a PDF of a 50 or 51 Sears catalog.

EDIT: I STARTED THIS THREAD AS JC HIGGINS FOR MY DAD. IT SHOULD BE WESTERN FLYER FOR MY DAD. i HAD LOOKED AT A JC HIGGINS EARLIER AND STARTED A THREAD ABOUT IT IN ANOTHER THREAD AND STILL HAD IT ON MY MIND. THIS THREAD IS ABOUT I.D.-ING A WESTERN FLYER.
 
EDIT: I STARTED THIS THREAD AS JC HIGGINS FOR MY DAD. IT SHOULD BE WESTERN FLYER FOR MY DAD. I HAD LOOKED AT A JC HIGGINS EARLIER AND STARTED A THREAD ABOUT IT IN ANOTHER SECTION AND STILL HAD IT ON MY MIND. THIS THREAD IS ABOUT I.D.-ING A WESTERN FLYER.
 
Cleveland Welding (CWC) made a lot of WF's around 1950. Basically the same as a Roadmaster of the era, but they would have a straight second frame bar, only Schwinn had the rights to the cantilever style frame, like the red bike pictured above. It wasn't til late 1957 when other companies were allowed to sell their own versions. Check out the gallery at the CABE (Classic & Antique Bicycle Exchange) or nostalgic.net for early 50s cwc bikes. -Adam
 
It's very possible that I misundertsood his description. I know he said it had one set of double tubes and a single tube. I just assumed it was like a schwinn. Did any WF bikes have two small/double tubes over a regular size single tube?
 
Chips_Mahoy said:
It's very possible that I misundertsood his description. I know he said it had one set of double tubes and a single tube. I just assumed it was like a schwinn. Did any WF bikes have two small/double tubes over a regular size single tube?
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Introduced in 1958, Murray's Flightliner frame has two over two, in the canti style of the red frame. Working off memory can be a bit confusing too, as it's hard to think of all the different frame styles!!! -Adam
 
Im still looking. I've look at a bunch of different Western Flyers with him and he is dead set on the frame that looks like a Schwinn Corvette, Typhoon, etc. The color is similar to Varsity Green and it had painted fenders. The fenders had white pinstripes on each side. The wheels were painted white with two black pinstripes. He said he bought it new in the fall of 1950 from the Western Auto store in Crawfordsville, Indiana.

Does anyone have a pic or copy of a 1950 Western Flyer / Western Auto Ad they could post up?

Does anyone have a pic of a bike like this they could post?

Did Western Auto stores sell any other bikes than Western Flyer?
 
Chips, you should show your dad the other Western Flyer thread, by layflat78. There's a pic of a restored green 1950 WF Super, which is the only green one I'm aware of. -Adam
 
Rustinkerer said:
Chips, you should show your dad the other Western Flyer thread, by layflat78. There's a pic of a restored green 1950 WF Super, which is the only green one I'm aware of. -Adam
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I did....he said that one was too fancy.

Something I thought about was Western Auto used to be affiliated and/or owned by Sears. If that was the case in 1950, could they have sold JC Higgins as well?
 
MplsCoaster said:
Here is some Western Flyer ads (go to page 2 for 1950 bike ad)
http://flickrhivemind.net/Tags/westernauto/Recent
That's all I got, maybe not much help...
Good Luck!
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That was a HUGE help! I showed them to him and he said none of them looked like his. I explained my Sears/Western Auto/JC Higgins theory and he thinks that could be a possibility but he doesn't know if they were all tied in together then.
 
The JC Higgins line died in the 70s, and Western Auto was not affiliated with Sears until 1987.
 
udallcustombikes said:
I recreated my dad's first bike for him a couple years ago. It was a Western Flyer as well, 1959 though. Here is the build thread for that bike.
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That's pretty cool! I've been thinking of doing a clone or tribute build since we can't figure out what he had yet.
 

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