ELGIN - ESTATE SALE FIND

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Rat Rod

Rat Rod

Owner & Founder
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I ended up winning the bid on this Elgin today.

Probably going to part it out since it's not all original.

Nice Lobdell wheels with a Morrow rear hub.

Cool Torrington Meteor pedals too.

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thatismytruck said:
I love it very much. Ummm ... do all estate sales in texas have old bikes? I might have to move there.
Click to expand...

Ha Ha...I doubt it.

A girl I work with was on the Estat Sale company's email list and tipped me off to this one because of the bike.

It just so happened that it was 2 blocks from my office so I was able to run over and place a bid yesterday.

I talked to one of the guy's neighbors and the guy was 87 when he passed on and lived alone in the house...never married.

Apparently it was his parent's house and they had lived their whole lives there before him. :shock:

The neighbor said it was the guy's childhood bike. That's when I plugged my ears and started singing loudly...NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH.
 
I know the handlebars are wrong because I stuck those on there.

I figured the seat and the chaingaurd were wrong too.

I also assumed that this bike came with a tank.

Anybody have any Elgin catalog images from the 30s?
 
The chrome looks amazing on those rims and crank! :shock: That chainguard looks like one seen on Rollfasts, and the odd Columbia and Dayton, but a lot of those Elgins didn't come with a guard. I'd find a proper long spring seat for it and call it good! ~Adam
 
It's sort of hard to tell, but the bike is dark green....I'm assuming it's the original paint.

Man...yall are making me want to keep it now...ha ha! :lol:
 
8)
 
That old picture is the same Elgin I sold a while ago, cool to see the original ad. I would say the only thing not correct is the chainguard, seat, fenders, and bars. I've seen those tail lights on Elgins before so it may be correct, but the fenders look odd for some reason. Very nice find, those wheels are definitely worth hanging on to.
 
The fenders have the flat braces like the ones in the catalog shot and the ducktail on the front fender is the same.

I guess if it does have a mix of vintage parts it could be one of the first Rat Rods. :wink:
 
Hi,

Nice find!

Your Elgin was built for Sears by the Westfield Manufacturing Company. Sears sold a version of that bike for several years. The bike appears in the catalogs with rain gutter fenders through the Spring-Summer 1936 catalog. For the Fall-Winter 36-37 catalog the model was updated with the crescent fenders that are on your bike (those are the original fenders but they have been repainted or painted over). The same model was offered in the SS 37 and FW 37-38 catalogs but does not appear in the SS 38 catalog.

To date the bike look at the serial numbers stamped on the underside of the crank hanger.
There are probably two numbers; a letter followed by a one or two digit number and a letter followed by a four to six digit number. If the longer of the two serials begins with an “A” the frame was produced in 1936, “B” connotes 1937, “C” 1938 and so on. At that time Westfield’s annual production hovered around 200,000 units so the number following the letter should give you the approximate time of year the frame was made.

Typically other series usually consists of a letter two places higher than the letter preceding the longer serial followed by a number from one to twelve. This appears to be a second year/month? code. Often the two agree i.e. C1 / A5555 or C12 / A199999 but sometimes they do not.

Back to your bike, the rear light is appropriate and may have been added at the time of sale. The saddle and bars are wrong and the chain guard is an accessory guard that is first depicted in the 1941 Sears catalog. I am not certain which model Torrington pedals were originally fitted but the wear looks appropriate to the rest of the chrome. I can’t tell from the photos if the frame is original paint with the white graphics removed or repainted. Otherwise the bike looks complete and original. The condition of the Chrome is the most astounding thing and looks like it would stand up to a restoration of the paint.

Congratulations,

Phil
 
Wow!!!...thanks Phil...I'll be checking those numbers tomorrow.

Hooch said you were the man to talk to about Elgins. :wink:

Good to hear that the fenders are correct.
 
Numbers on the bottom of the BB are as follows:

C10
A215650

Looks like it's a 1936 model. :D

Also the green paint is chipped in several places on the bike and I see no signs of other paint colors....just bare metal.
 

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