well i have to tell you, i was very excited when i came home and found this odd little bike in my back yard. i had no idea where it came from and figured either my friend at the dump salvaged it for me, or one of my other friends had happened across it.
turns out this isn't the case. its my neighbours old bike and he wanted me to clean it up for him. alittle disapointed it wasn't left for me, but he did say he has another.
waterloo (the place it was built) is just an hour away from both my home town and the city i currently live in. theres not much info on the sunshine bike company. it wasn't around for long.
based on company info, i think the bike dates to the 1930"s but i'm not 100% positive.
figured you guys would enjoy it anyhoo.
heres alittle info i dug up.
"Incorporated in 1929 by H.V. McKay of Sunshine Harvester Works(Australia) and Massey-Harris(Canada). Sunshine-Waterloo Company Ltd. was formed. They built a 285,000 square foot plant in Waterloo, Ontario in 1930. The company was involved in manufacturing mainly farm equipment before the war. The company diversified during the 1930s adding the production of baby carriages, bicycles, tricycles and roller skates. In 1939 the manufacturing converted to war-related production army trucks, smoke bombs, shells, mines, grenades and gun mounts. Following the war, market changes led to the company adding office products, stoves, shelving and lockers. Massey-Ferguson Industries Limited(formed in 1953 from Massey-Harris-Ferguson) purchased H.V.MacKay's share in 1955, acquiring the Sunshine-Waterloo Company in the process.
This association allowed the company to expand in the office equipment market leading to a switch in focus in 1956 almost entirely to the manufacture of steel office furniture. The name was changed to Sunshine Office Equipment Limited in 1961"
I hope this helps somewhat. If it's a 40s model, it would be from the later part of the decade. Either way, it's a cool bit of Canadiana. I hope you buy it. It's good to preserve some small bit of Canadian heritage. You never know. They might be super rare. By my calculations, they only built bikes for 11-12 years. And I'm pretty sure there wasn't high numbers of them built and sold."
the only thing not rusted.
not quite solid tires, but they might as well be. (16" wheels, its a small bike)
belt driven
heres the belt tensioner
tiny little pan seat welded to a lean back post
ratty enough for ya?
i'm sure if it were mine, i'd leave it just the way it is, however my neighbour has other plans
guess i got my work cut out for me.
turns out this isn't the case. its my neighbours old bike and he wanted me to clean it up for him. alittle disapointed it wasn't left for me, but he did say he has another.
waterloo (the place it was built) is just an hour away from both my home town and the city i currently live in. theres not much info on the sunshine bike company. it wasn't around for long.
based on company info, i think the bike dates to the 1930"s but i'm not 100% positive.
figured you guys would enjoy it anyhoo.
heres alittle info i dug up.
"Incorporated in 1929 by H.V. McKay of Sunshine Harvester Works(Australia) and Massey-Harris(Canada). Sunshine-Waterloo Company Ltd. was formed. They built a 285,000 square foot plant in Waterloo, Ontario in 1930. The company was involved in manufacturing mainly farm equipment before the war. The company diversified during the 1930s adding the production of baby carriages, bicycles, tricycles and roller skates. In 1939 the manufacturing converted to war-related production army trucks, smoke bombs, shells, mines, grenades and gun mounts. Following the war, market changes led to the company adding office products, stoves, shelving and lockers. Massey-Ferguson Industries Limited(formed in 1953 from Massey-Harris-Ferguson) purchased H.V.MacKay's share in 1955, acquiring the Sunshine-Waterloo Company in the process.
This association allowed the company to expand in the office equipment market leading to a switch in focus in 1956 almost entirely to the manufacture of steel office furniture. The name was changed to Sunshine Office Equipment Limited in 1961"
I hope this helps somewhat. If it's a 40s model, it would be from the later part of the decade. Either way, it's a cool bit of Canadiana. I hope you buy it. It's good to preserve some small bit of Canadian heritage. You never know. They might be super rare. By my calculations, they only built bikes for 11-12 years. And I'm pretty sure there wasn't high numbers of them built and sold."
the only thing not rusted.
not quite solid tires, but they might as well be. (16" wheels, its a small bike)
belt driven
heres the belt tensioner
tiny little pan seat welded to a lean back post
ratty enough for ya?
i'm sure if it were mine, i'd leave it just the way it is, however my neighbour has other plans
guess i got my work cut out for me.