what year is my jc higgins?

[roadmaster]

ok... with all the awesome talent here, this should be an easy question... what year is my jc higgins deluxe cruiser?

the handlebars, fenders and chainring are all oem. the bike started off red, i got it blue, painted it yellow and now it is all black. her is what i know.

1. its a jc higgins deluxe (as it said on the chainguard once upon a time)
2. ser#(s) W163476 and a smaller set 505-45263 all on the bottom of the bb shell.
3. its a huffy built jc higgins and came with a komet rear coaster brake wheel (white rims).

i thought the ser# would be on the left drop out, but it wasn't. i had to scrape away the paint on the bb shell to get what i did. using huffies ser# code, i am guessing it is a 61' as "1" is the first number after "w", and 64' or 65' was the last year sears used the jch nameplate.

any help would be sweet. thanks guys.

 

[Unchained]

I used to really dig the Jc Higgins bicycles, and so I might be able to help a little bit. The Jc Higgins bikes were produced by different manufacturers for different years as directed by the contract Sears had at the time. Being that your is Huffy built, and because of the particular frame style, I'm going to say that is definitely towards the later end, Between 1963 and 1965. (The very last year that Jc Higgins bicycles were being badged and sold seems to be in question, though it seems to be no later than '65 for sure, some say it is '64). I believe that particular huffy cantilever frame and chainguard were used only from 1963 onwards, so i think that your bike is very likely to be between '63 and '65, though from a serial number I couldn't tell you where exactly. These Sears Jc Higgins bicycles can be very tough to date, as contracts changed constantly, and so did styles! Hopefully someone else can be more precise.

 

[Markm]

http://oldroads.com/hf_sn.asp

 

[roadmaster]

thanks for the help guys. :wink: