1930 Hartford by Westfield Mfg - My 2nd build

[Gary Mc]

My first build was a 1961 Huffy Eldorado which I finished as a rat rod beach cruiser in May. For my second build I wanted a semi-rare prewar bike so went searching on ebay. After about a month of looking on ebay & at other great rat rod builds on this site, one bike (a 30 day listing) kept saying buy me / rebuild me. What I kept coming back to was the simple design & the amazingly neat head badge. It screamed to be turned into a Touring style rat rod bike since the frame will not accommodate fat tires. So on day 29 of the listing I contacted the seller & made a deal for the complete frame with fork, crank, & handlebars. He threw in the original fenders as part of the deal. It was this 1930 (serial number starts H4) Hartford by Westfield Manufacturing Company. so it is essentially a 1930 Columbia rebadged as Hartford. I think it is probably a rare bike with not many surviving but not sure. I have not seen any Hartford's on the internet and have read they were sold as a cheaper version of the Columbia's. I would not think many survived however I do see similar Columbia's on ebay a lot. Any information anyone has on Hartford's would be greatly appreciated. The ebay seller was parting it out due to the number or super rare / hard-to-find accessories and parts on it. He sent pics of the bikes I'll also share before he dissasembled it. The super rare parts/accessories I did not get include:

(1) The pedals were stamped J.H Graham Co. 'The Inventor of Torrington Pedals' which have been sold,
(2) Patent Pending Persons Speedo,
(3) Persons Majestic siren,
(4) Delta light and canister, and finally
(5) the one thing I really would love to have gotten my hands on was the saddle which was a Troxel long spring with red (Cordovan that matched the bike paint) leather, also rare!

I got the parts/frame yesterday, now my dilemma will be what I want to do with it. The paint except the white and pinstriping is in amazingly great shape. No rust at all. The Pope decal on the frame is intact & complete. The fenders are a little rough but will clean up well again except the white stripes. I will probably debate what to do the rest of the year and would like any suggestions from fellow rat rodders.

My current thoughts on the build are:

- Leave the frame alone except clean, straighten fenders, and polish and leave the character it has intact.
- Try to make it look as original as possible with the exception of new rideable components.
- Maybe paint head tube only back original white.
- Either rebuild a 1930s era Troxel saddle and stain the seat red like the one that was on it or maybe a new Brooks saddle in honey to match the headbadge????
- Rechome the handlebars & crank (the plating is pitted).
- Build either new 700cc or 28" wheels with 8 speed Shimano Nexus coaster brake rear hub (I live in North GA where hills will kill an old man LOL)
- Schwalbe Delta Cruiser tires in cream
- Find a 1930s vintage light & convert to LED

My only caveat with any build is it has to be rideable in North Georgia hill country for an old man & it has to be comfortable and enjoyable. I don't need a museum piece to collect dust, I want to ride any bike I own regularly. Any input or suggestions or just comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Gary Mc.

Here's what I got yesterday:

Here is the head badge that kept me coming back to the listing on ebay:

More pics:

Before the ebay seller parted it out. (this will make some people sick, ashamed not to have been restored intact but to each his own, sellers/pickers sell to make profit, & I am very glad I got the parts I did!!!!!!!)

Finally, the one piece I am sick I could not get, that original matching Troxel long spring with red leather. At least glad I got the pic as I know what the original looks like if I decide to try to rebuild one just like it. Now I know a red (cordovan) troxel saddle existed & was originally on this bike.

 

[SCHWINNRAY69]

Wow, that's a real piece of history there Cool bike, I say keep it as original as possible :wink:

 

[deorman]

A 700c wheel will provide a pretty wide range of tire sizes and styles. I probably wouldn't do anything more than a gentle hand waxing to the remaining original parts if it were mine. 8) Can't go wrong with a Brooks. :|

 

[CapnUNITarian]

Wow Gary-- you got a nice package. Too bad, like you said, that you couldn't have gotten the whole thing. That seat is awesome :shock: 8) (among other things-- wonder if those springs really work?) Wonder how old those padlocks are that are hanging under the seat?
Anyway, I'd say just start simple, put a set of simple wheels and crank on it, with a fairly easy gear ratio (I'm kind of an old man myself :wink: ) and just ride it a bit-- then see what all you want to do with it. If it seems feasible, then start spending some money on it. I had one of the 7 speed Nexus hubs on a GT Dynamo some years ago, and it worked great in the hilly neighborhood where I was living at the time.

Have fun with it, and good luck!

 

[Gary Mc]

Had some time yesterday to start working on the 30' Hartford. Removed all the hardware from the frame being careful to tag & bag then started with the item that kept me going back to it on ebay, the head badge. I spent about 3 hours polishing it using Meguiars Boat/RV metal polish to get 80 years of dirt and tarnish off being very careful not to touch the original brown paint in the center. Followed this up with about 30 minutes of Brasso polish finishing it off with several coats of Carnauba wax. This head badge had original great paint so only cleaned the painted center carefully with Dawn dishwashing soap followed by several layers of Carnauba wax as well. The head badge is metal with a thin coating of brass on the face so had to make sure I didn't go too far with the polishing. Thought it turned out great and will now be some pretty eye candy for the front of the bike.

Here's before, after, & products I used:

 

[Gary Mc]

Second thing I started was on the front fender. I am using Meguiars Heavy Duty Rubbing compound on the paint and got much of the front fender rubbed out. Still a little more work to do. Trying to get it back to as much of the original luster as possible. There is almost no rust on this bike, even under the fenders where there is none and the paint there will look like it did out of the factory when finished. While the rubbing compound works great on the original deep red & white paint it has a bad side effect in that it removes the black pinstriping which would have been a thin coat out of the factory when new. So the only new paint this bike will most likely see is new black pinstriping before I finish it. Next steps will include finishing rubbing it out, followed by polishing compound to final polish out from the rubbing compound, new black pinstriping, to be followed by several coats of carnauba wax. The bottom rear of this fender is also bent up so I will have to straighten it back out best as possible while trying to insure I don't damage the paint. The paint is just too good & original to mess up, I would rather not get it perfectly straight than mess up the paint. This is the only area of the bike that has a real problem. Any opinions or hints on straightening it would be greatly appreciated. I'll post a pic of the area before I start that process.

Now to the "fun part" and the reason the white paint on this bike will not be repainted. When I cleaned the front fender I discovered the probable original owner had etched their name in the white paint on the front fender which to me gives this bike additional character and a provenance as to ownership. I would never paint over this and believe it will add a little "Rad Rod Character" to the finished product. The name etched is "Gennard Perrotta". Did a little research online and there are 2 Gennard Perrotta's still alive in the USA. One in his 90's in NY and one in his 80's in KS. Could this have been one of those gentlemens' bike, maybe. I may try to find out at some point by getting in touch with them. The NY Mr. Perrotta would be about the right age to have got this bike new as a kid.

Well enough for this weekend. Thanks for following this build and yes I should have started it under Bike Builds rather than the Bike Gallery. Here's pics of Gennard Perrotta name etching in the fender:

Here's a larger pic of the head badge too:

 

[Gdcast]

Wow, this bike restoration is most interesting.
Keep in mind that, possibly, little Gennard wouldn't scratch his brand new bike, maybe if there´s a younger Gennard he did it to a not that expensive, used second hand bike from the thirties he got for a few bucks... (maybe :?: )

Headbadge looks great; I would try to restore this baby as exact as possible, even more so with all that history on it.
Godspeed! :wink:

 

[deorman]

Visit a local sign shop and get some vinyl stripes made up. :wink:

 

[Gary Mc]

My INTRIGUE with the history of this bike deepens. In trying to find out what pedals were appropriate for this bike today I started searching the CABE for any info on J.H. Graham pedals. I didn't get these with the bike but knew they were one of the "rare" items the ebay seller I got the frame from had sold when parting it out. I found two posts that referenced these pedals (that came off this bike) as follows:
http://thecabe.com/vbulletin/showthread ... #post85632
http://thecabe.com/vbulletin/showthread ... nly-1500...

The J.H. Graham pedals from this bike were sold on ebay for $300 to everyone's amazement. Still have found very little on J.H. Graham pedals other than the patents from the original ebay ad at:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Torrington-Pedals-M ... 3177672875

The patent that appears to maybe apply to these is:
04/28/1925 Patent
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/1535601.html

The ebay seller who sold these pedals to someone & the frame to me did some research and says: "James Graham was General Manager for the Torrington Co during the 1920s Also he was an inventor, there are several Patents Granted to J.H Graham during the 1920s most were assigned to the Torrington CO. Most of the pedal patents greatly attributed to the success and high quality of the Torrington pedals we know today." He lists three different patents including the one referenced above.

Evidently these are very rare unless someone knows different. They are similar to Torringtons, probably his connection as GM. How did such a rare pedal end up on this bike probably from the factory instead of regular Torrington's or Persons of the day you see on Columbia's out of Westfield Mfg of this era? Were they aftermarket additions? I may never know the answer but every step with the restoration of this bikes seems to add to the intrigue and mystery of it just as the name on the fender "Gennard Perotta" did.

Here are pics of the pedal I swiped from the ebay add:

Based on the $300, might be time to start looking at pedals more closely!!!!!!!!!!!!! Any info on Graham or these pedals would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Gary Mc]

Troxel long spring saddle arrived today. It's not the red/cordovan color I wanted but it will do until I can find exactly what I want. Just needs cleaning & some TLC.

 

[scott brownsey]

sweet bike i also have a frame like it no headbadge or fork i have the rest goodluck enjoy

 

[Gary Mc]

Moving this to "Builds" at viewtopic.php?f=21&t=43005&p=429674#p429674