1937 Hawthorne

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nchooks

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My dad picked up this 1937 Hawthorne from the original owner. :D
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The story is the original owner bought the bike from the local Montgomery Ward with money he earned by collecting and selling leftover scrap tobacco after the premium tobacco had been graded and bought by the buyers.
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The original owner is about 89 years old so that would put him at 14 years old in 1937. If this is a Cleveland Welding Co. bike the serial number info I can find seems to match up with 1937.
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The bike apparently didn't come with a chainguard as the original owner said the salesman told him to "get one of those clips to hold your pants leg".
Battery operated tailight.
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The dropstand was not attached when my Dad bought the bike but was nearby, lucky to find that. Overall it seems to be in OK shape, no major damage and mostly surface rust. The skiptooth chain is probably not salvagable :(
 
Thats the first rack that I've ever seen that wasn't bent from someone riding on it. The stem is stunning.. Hope you're going to clean her up..
 
Nice Find! The bike is a Cleveland Welding built model and the serial number places the build date in the first half of 1938. A version of the bike is depicted in the Spring/Summer 1938 MW catalog with a simple chainguard and a tank but this CWC frame style was offered for several years through MW and most of them were produced in a basic spec without the extra sheetmetal.

 
What's that strap going thru the front coil of the seat spring that attaches to the frame? With those big ole' springs it looks like it could be a quick release for an ejector seat! :roll: Nice old bike you got there!
 
tnt1 said:
And is that a ambulance or a hearse in the of the red mustang looks like a buick !
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I was going to ask the same thing.It's for sure a Buick. If its a profesional car it's gota be a Flxible. It looks like it might just be a 4 door though.
Very cool bike as well!
-Kreep-
 
heyslugger said:
What's that strap going thru the front coil of the seat spring that attaches to the frame? With those big ole' springs it looks like it could be a quick release for an ejector seat! :roll: Nice old bike you got there!
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G-force tether!! :lol:
 
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My guess is it's something the original owner fashioned to keep the seat from tipping back. Those springs are really "springy".
The Buick in the background is a 54 I think, a sedan, not hearse or anything like that
 
The bike is a Cleveland Welding built model and the serial number places the build date in the first half of 1938
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I found this image of a 1937 Spring/Summer MW catalog and it seems to more closely represent this bike, i.e the braced handlebars, the attachment point and adjustment of the rack to the seat stays and the dropstand is "U" shaped, doesn't have the extra braces shown on the 1938 catalog image. Of course I understand that parts were sometimes carried over year to year.


1937MW.jpg
 
The bikes pictured in the 1937 catalog are all models supplied by H.P. Snyder rather than CWC. While the frames look to be similar in shape they are completely different. The bike you have has a frame style that was produced by CWC from late 1937 through 1940-41 with little change. The serial number is what shows the production of this particular frame to be later than 1937, probably dating it to about the spring of 1938.

It is interesting that the bike has a Torrington bevel-lock stem as that is about the tail end of their use but it is probably a case of using up the final supply of those stems. While the catalog cut I posted shows a relatively deluxe version of the bike (Note; although this CWC frame was supplied to MW for several seasons, this illustration is the only appearance of it in any of the editions of the full MW consumer catalog) most of the units were built to a lower spec and that would also explain the trickle-down of parts generally used on earlier models.
 
I just picked up a 1936 Snyder Built Belknap Badged bike today. I had previously sent pics to Phil for identification. The top bars on the Snyder come down a little lower on the seat tube than the CWC resulting in straight seat stays to put the rear wheel in the correct location whereas the the higher CWC top tubes result in a curved seat stay to end up in the same place.
 
The top bars on the Snyder come down a little lower on the seat tube than the CWC resulting in straight seat stays to put the rear wheel in the correct location whereas the the higher CWC top tubes result in a curved seat stay to end up in the same place.
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Thanks for explaining I see the difference now. This bike ID stuff is hard business!
 

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