Restoring a ladies Hawthorne dumpster find (Updated 10/5/11)

[catamount]

My Dad found this old Hawthorne by a dumpster a couple of months ago. I'm in the process of restoring it for my fiance.

Here are some pictures from before I did any work.

While taking the bike apart I found an old newspaper jammed inside of the tank. I think someone wadded it up in there to keep the horn batteries from rattling around.

Tiffany Dodd returning home after visiting friends was big news. Maybe he didn't always return home. Maybe he was upset that his parents named him Tiffany.

A similar looking bike sold for between $39.95 and $46.75.

Something about a "Spy Scare" and "Commie Convention".

 

[catamount]

Re: Breathing new life into a ladies Hawthorne dumpster find.

So, about a month ago I started tearing into her.

Once I had a bare frame, I set up my backyard sandblasting operation...

1/2 way there!

Clean frame... I was originally going to paint the frame myself but decided to have it powdercoated as my local guy only wanted $50 to do it. It won't be period correct, but it will be rugged!

 

[YOUBUGME2]

Re: Breathing new life into a ladies Hawthorne dumpster find.

Wish I could find something as nice as that in a dumpster lol looking good for sure.

 

[KJV]

Re: Breathing new life into a ladies Hawthorne dumpster find.

bet the bum sleeping in that dumpster;
was mad when he awoke to find his ride gone. :lol: :lol:
maybe it was Tiffany.
waiting to see the finished product.

 

[SailorMac]

Re: Breathing new life into a ladies Hawthorne dumpster find.

Awesome time capsule!

 

[RatRod Diva]

Re: Breathing new life into a ladies Hawthorne dumpster find.

I'm drooling over your find! Your fiance will be one lucky girl. I love the newspapers and the small town tidbits we get to revisit. Can you find a year on any of the pages?
Keep us posted with updates please!

 

[ZbikerD]

Re: Breathing new life into a ladies Hawthorne dumpster find.

Why this bike was in a dumpster is beyond me! What the heck would make someone want to trash a classic that is in such good shape! Extremely cool find for you!!! I'm redoing a schwinn that looks very similar.. I'll be watching this one.

 

[Kreep]

Re: Breathing new life into a ladies Hawthorne dumpster find.

Awesome bonus with the newspaper. I wish all those cars were still for sale at that price.Good luck with the bike,your off to a good start.

I'm drooling over your find! Your fiance will be one lucky girl. I love the newspapers and the small town tidbits we get to revisit. Can you find a year on any of the pages?
Keep us posted with updates please!

The first pic of the paper says Thursday August 5th 1948
-Kreep-

 

[RatRod Diva]

Re: Breathing new life into a ladies Hawthorne dumpster find.

For some reason my browser cuts off part of the pictures and I couldn't see the date..just the August part. Maybe it's my refusal to upgrade to the latest version of explorer (I fear change). :lol:
Love this bike and can't wait to see her all pretty again!

 

[Big_Daddy_Sloth]

Re: Breathing new life into a ladies Hawthorne dumpster find.

Looks great. I will be following this for sure.

And I love old newspapers, especially from small towns. "Dog crossed Street Today. Today a dog was seen crossing the street near 702 State st at around 1:32 pm. It was a small brown and white dog with long ears, possibly a beagle. And in other news..."

 

[catamount]

Re: Breathing new life into a ladies Hawthorne dumpster find.

Thanks for all of the positive feedback! I think this is a great site... I didn't really know much about bicycles until acquiring this bike and stumbling upon this site. It seems like a great community here!

I got the bike back from the powdercoater on Friday. Glossy black. My paint scheme will be pretty classic -- glossy black, with some chrome & white (tires).

I'm getting married in 3 weeks so I'm trying to get it done before the wedding. I would like to give it to my future wife as a "welcome home" gift (she is moving into my house after the wedding). Now that the frame is done, it should go pretty quick!

 

[ZbikerD]

Re: Breathing new life into a ladies Hawthorne dumpster find.

Lookin purdy nice there! Can't wait to see it with some peices parts on it!

 

[catamount]

Re: Breathing new life into a ladies Hawthorne dumpster find.

While waiting for parts to arrive, I have to clean up several parts myself. I've got a small powdercoat setup in my garage (sandblaster, powdercoat gun and old spare oven) so I get to stripping down the chain guard.

It was looking pretty beat.

But 20 minutes in the sandblaster gets it looking new again.

After coating with gloss black powder and baking for 20 minutes @ 400 degrees, the parts are ready for another 60 years for cruising...

A bunch of parts came in! New 26" wheels, whitewall tires, tubes, fenders and chain.

*DISCLAIMER*. I'm not going for a period correct restoration, I'm just trying to fix up a cool bike for my fiance. I'm trying to finish this thing in 2 weeks (before my wedding)!

I don't have the means or patience to re-chrome the old rims or have the brake rebuilt, and I could find new wheels very inexpensively so new wheels it is.

Thing is, the new coaster brake arm says "Taiwan" on it and doesn't really have the same character as the old "Bendix" brake arm.

(Putting on flamesuit here, the next part is going to make many of you cringe/get angry.)

Using some scrap steel I cut out a "shim" that allows the old Bendix arm to fit snuggly over the stub of the new coaster brake.

New brake arm on top, old brake arm on bottom (with my homemade shim).

It's a nice fit, so no sloppy braking.

The wheels are now ready to be mounted.

False advertising alert:

 

[crump582]

Re: Breathing new life into a ladies Hawthorne dumpster find.

Nice... I ain't mad at ya!

I'm doing pretty much the same thing on my first build (which is in progress). I bought new wheels (3 speed, hope they fit) becuase the originals are wrecked and I have no wheel building skill. i bought mostly new stuff actually... I will try to reuse more one my next build. I just want to ease into it on my first one.

She will love it... conrgats on the wedding.

 

[user 135]

Re: Breathing new life into a ladies Hawthorne dumpster find.

I think my wife may draw the line on using the oven for baking bike parts. Nice work.

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

Re: Breathing new life into a ladies Hawthorne dumpster find.

great idea putting the Bendix brake arm on the HiStop hub. I just might be borrowing that idea. Congrats.

 

[catamount]

Re: Breathing new life into a ladies Hawthorne dumpster find.

Haha, that is not my cooking oven. You can't powdercoat in an oven you eat out of (carcinogens) so I found that one on Craigslist for free. It lives in my garage

 

[mybike1]

Re: Breathing new life into a ladies Hawthorne dumpster find.

great build! I'm in the middle of re-assembly on almost the same exact bike... although this one didn't have a tank. I'll share some pics soon

 

[norcokid]

Re: Breathing new life into a ladies Hawthorne dumpster find.

Nice work.....SWEET

 

[catamount]

10/5/2011 UPDATE:

I was stuck for a week or so waiting for various bearing parts to come in. Eventually, I rebuilt the crank and rebuilt the steering set with fresh bearings and a few new races. Everything is silky smooth now.

Weighing the bike down with a cast iron pan worked okay for assembly on the bench but I really could use a proper bike stand.

Oh, and I also riveted the old Hawthorne badge back onto the head tube.

Time to mount the new fenders. The original fenders had "dents" in a key location to allow the fender to clear the front and rear wheel arms.

I had to recreate these dents into the new fenders to get clearance. My fear was deforming the fenders *too* much. I ended up taping 2 PVC pipe sections to the inside of the fender so that when I banged on them to make the required dents (with a hammer & a large socket) that nothing else on the fender became bent or twisted. It worked out pretty well.

Time to mount the fenders.

Then, some more parts came in!

So I put some of those on... New pedals, kickstand, seat post, seat post clamp, steering neck and handlebars.

I am still waiting on the seat & grips to arrive. I've still got to mount the chain, mount the front truss rods, mount the new headlight I purchased (this bike originally had a light) get a few missing nuts & bolts.