Prewar Hawthorne Zep Style Bike

[kingfish254]

Picked up this Hawthorne zep skiptooth at lunch today.

 

[kirkpatrick]

Dang Fish, how do you find all this killer stuff?

 

[kingfish254]

Dang Fish, how do you find all this killer stuff?

Craigslist

 

[Scribble]

Nice find, theres one of these for sale here in Idaho, but they want $400 bucks for it and its been repainted.

 

[kingfish254]

Nice find, theres one of these for sale here in Idaho, but they want $400 bucks for it and its been repainted.

There is some nice original paint hiding under a little dirt on this one. I love the darts and chevrons

 

[SILVERKINGPC]

The KF is always killing it with finds like that! Lots of storage space..

 

[Hophead]

Killer find there.

 

[Alex C]

Drool!

 

[thetwentyoneballoons]

Great find, but not every W/H frame of this style is a Zep. A Zep is a Zep because of it's high spec equipment: tank, locking fork, different rack, special lighting etc.. Besides the top model Zep, this frame was variously offered as a Streamlined Sports, Comet and others. As far as the year it's not a '36 model which had a locknut seatpost or a '37 which had no dropstand ears on frame but rather were incorporated into the fender braces. Probably it's a '38/'39/'40/'41 and by then this frame had dropped into a lesser model status, see scan below of left bike from '39/'40 W/H catalog. Earlier bikes had rounded and ducktailed not peaked fenders, and truss rod fork setup was angular not rounded. Curved rear fender stay would indicate it's probably a Snyder built bike. It would be interesting to see pics of the bottom bracket, and serial #.

Other info to be found here:
http://thecabe.com/forum/threads/hawthorne-comet-reference-thread.31512/
http://thecabe.com/forum/threads/po...-zep-hawthorne-or-rollfast.53969/#post-319978

 

[Pappy]

Clearly you can see by looking at the above catalog that the Comet & the "Zep" are different frames...I have one each of these bikes & I can tell you first hand...the frames are different...great find Kingfish my friend...another home run...Pappy

 

[thetwentyoneballoons]

Please carefully read my post and the links to the resources given to gain understanding of how this frame style was specified and named over the few years it was made. Untangling Ward's Hawthorne bicycle models and makers is confusing and takes some study but it is a rewarding quest. I'm trying to bring clarity not disinformation here.

"see scan below of left bike from '39/'40 W/H catalog".

Simply put having this frame style does not make this bike a Zep. I was trying to illustrate what is very likely the bike that Kingfish found.

"Besides the top model Zep, this frame was variously offered as a Streamlined Sports, Comet and others."

Ward's Hawthorne 1937 Catalog~ Here's the "Comet" and the "Zep" see if you can spot the differences.

Here is a '37 "Streamlined Sport" model I used to own

 

[9erniner]

Nice seat

Sent from my LG-H918 using Tapatalk

 

[Jaxon]

Great find, but not every W/H frame of this style is a Zep. A Zep is a Zep because of it's high spec equipment: tank, locking fork, different rack, special lighting etc.. Besides the top model Zep, this frame was variously offered as a Streamlined Sports, Comet and others. As far as the year it's not a '36 model which had a locknut seatpost or a '37 which had no dropstand ears on frame but rather were incorporated into the fender braces. Probably it's a '38/'39/'40/'41 and by then this frame had dropped into a lesser model status, see scan below of left bike from '39/'40 W/H catalog. Earlier bikes had rounded and ducktailed not peaked fenders, and truss rod fork setup was angular not rounded. Curved rear fender stay would indicate it's probably a Snyder built bike. It would be interesting to see pics of the bottom bracket, and serial #.

Other info to be found here:
http://thecabe.com/forum/threads/hawthorne-comet-reference-thread.31512/
http://thecabe.com/forum/threads/po...-zep-hawthorne-or-rollfast.53969/#post-319978

Thanks for this info. I believe I found a 37 by the fender info you posted. ✌