# Pre War Wards Hawthorne



## Denver Razorback (Sep 17, 2012)

My name is John, and I live in Denver, Colorado.  I'm joining The Cabe because I really enjoy riding and working on older bikes.  At this point, I have about 10 bikes that include a 1950s Schwinn Town and Country Tandem, some light and middle weights, and some fairly new mountain and road bikes.   

This past weekend I purchased a bike that appears to be a late 1930s or early 1940s Hawthorne that was built by Cleveland Welding and sold through Montgomery Ward.  However, I'd really like to get some clarification and your thoughts.  All help is greatly appreciated


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## Adamtinkerer (Sep 22, 2012)

Welcome to the forum! I agree, this looks to be a late prewar model. Most Hawthornes from this era were produced by HP Snyder, or Cleveland Welding. I'm leaning towards Snyder on this one. Around 1940, they started stamping the year in reverse on the bottom bracket, or BB as it's commonly known. The code was stamped apart from the serial number, with two letters after the year, so "04 EH" would be 1940. I know some 1940 and 41 year only models have been confirmed with 04 and 14 codes. There isn't any known factory info to compare with, but it looks like they continued this way of coding until around 1957.


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## Denver Razorback (Oct 29, 2012)

Thanks for the welcoming and great feedback on the bike.  As shown in this picture, the serial number is 14-EH.  Thus, I presume that it's a 1941 Snyder built Wards Hawthorne.

One more question.  The front hub is a New Departure and the rear is a Bendix.  Would someone please help me better understand what's original?  I'm thinking New Departure.  The rims are slightly different so I'm curious what rims were original as well.  

As always, I greatly appreciate the learnings from this group!


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## Larmo63 (Oct 29, 2012)

This one has the "04 EH" serial number, also a H.P. Snyder product....I got lucky to find this tank....


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## tailhole (Nov 3, 2012)

*Welcome*



Denver Razorback said:


> My name is John, and I live in Denver, Colorado.  I'm joining The Cabe because I really enjoy riding and working on older bikes.  At this point, I have about 10 bikes that include a 1950s Schwinn Town and Country Tandem, some light and middle weights, and some fairly new mountain and road bikes.
> 
> This past weekend I purchased a bike that appears to be a late 1930s or early 1940s Hawthorne that was built by Cleveland Welding and sold through Montgomery Ward.  However, I'd really like to get some clarification and your thoughts.  All help is greatly appreciated




Hi John, Great bike!  I'm a Denver Caber and former Razorback too.  I live in the Highlands area near Sloan's lake.  There is a pre 60's bike ride coming up soon, if you'd like I can let you know as soon as the details are concrete.
Welcome to the CABE!
-Scott


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## Denver Razorback (Nov 12, 2012)

tailhole said:


> Hi John, Great bike!  I'm a Denver Caber and former Razorback too.  I live in the Highlands area near Sloan's lake.  There is a pre 60's bike ride coming up soon, if you'd like I can let you know as soon as the details are concrete.
> Welcome to the CABE!
> -Scott





Thanks, Scott. It sounds like we're basically neighbors. I live near 41st and Stuart - around the corner from the hardware store. I'll send you a PM with my contact info.

- John


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## Adamtinkerer (Nov 16, 2012)

Denver Razorback said:


> One more question.  The front hub is a New Departure and the rear is a Bendix.  Would someone please help me better understand what's original?  I'm thinking New Departure.  The rims are slightly different so I'm curious what rims were original as well.
> 
> As always, I greatly appreciate the learnings from this group!




Probably was New Dep originally on both rims. Bendix was an early 50s newcomer, i think they bought out Eclipse/Morrow. The original rims would most likely be 'drop center', meaning that looking at the profile of the rim, the sides are angled, with a dropped center flat section.


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