# 1937 Dayton Super Streamline



## Freqman1 (Jun 6, 2013)

Here are the teaser pics. Its been raining all day so these had to be taken in the garage and are kinda crappy. I test rode the bike last night and still have some small adjustments/things to do e.g. missing a headbadge screw! This was my first bicycle restoration and I can say this one was worth it. I'll post more later once I can get it outside for some good pics. V/r Shawn


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## RJWess (Jun 6, 2013)

For me these are the best looking bikes ever made.  Nice job...


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## Oldnut (Jun 6, 2013)

Wow what a bike congrats first restoration? How can you improve on the next one


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## Freqman1 (Jun 6, 2013)

Oldnut said:


> Wow what a bike congrats first restoration? How can you improve on the next one




By not doing some things two or three times! V/r Shawn


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## cyclingday (Jun 6, 2013)

AWESOME!

Nice job, Shawn.
I'm looking forward to seeing some pictures of the bike in natural light with the beautiful Georgia countryside in the background.


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## Oldnut (Jun 6, 2013)

No I meant its a 10,first time and it turned out this nice phew hard to top that one


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## catfish (Jun 6, 2013)

Wow! That came out great !!!


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## then8j (Jun 6, 2013)

Looks like its museum quality! Awesome job
Remember..... The first scratch on a new paint job hurts the worst!!!


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## OldRider (Jun 6, 2013)

Shawn, that's beautiful!


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## Terry66 (Jun 6, 2013)

Really nice! Did you do your own paint? I have a '41 Huffman that I plan to start soon, but I am thinking about doing a trial run on a WF Newsboy Special to get the hang of painting.

Super nice bike. You should be seriously proud.


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## Flat Tire (Jun 6, 2013)

Great job Shawn!  The colors are fantastic....you'll turn heads for sure riding that beauty!


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## Oldbikes (Jun 6, 2013)

Well done, it's stunning!

Alan


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## Freqman1 (Jun 6, 2013)

Yes I did the paint and stipes. Proctors did the chrome and Bob U. handled the seat. V/r Shawn


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## THEGOLDENGREEK (Jun 6, 2013)

Wow you did a very nice job on the paint and pin stripping looks amazing!!


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## 37fleetwood (Jun 6, 2013)

Hey Shawn, is it too late to back out of selling it to you??? I'll give you a full refund!
just kidding, it looks amazing, can't wait to see it out here to fend off the Shelby invasion next month!
again I'm kidding ...or am I?


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## supper15fiets (Jun 6, 2013)

Shawn, very nice job!
Very nice colorcombo,tires looking great to!


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## babyjesus (Jun 7, 2013)

*wow*

That's beautiful - you know if you ever wanna sell it........    great job!


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## Freqman1 (Jun 7, 2013)

37fleetwood said:


> Hey Shawn, is it too late to back out of selling it to you??? I'll give you a full refund!
> just kidding, it looks amazing, can't wait to see it out here to fend off the Shelby invasion next month!
> again I'm kidding ...or am I?




I'll be there but the SS will stay in Ga. Hell if I were gonna go through the trouble to ship a bike out I'd ship my Speedline! John says he can take care of my daughter for a bike for the ride but I'm still looking for someone to spot me an Arrow or a Speedline for the ride otherwise I'll have to ask John if he trusts me on one of his big tank Huffmans! V/r Shawn


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## Wayne Adam (Jun 7, 2013)

*Beautiful bike*

Great job Shawn!.........Wayne


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## Freqman1 (Jun 7, 2013)

First I would like to say thanks to all for your kind words. While this is my first bicycle restoration its only fair to tell you my dad was a body/paint man for 50 years and I grew up with sandpaper in my hands! I've done cars to include street rods, antiques, and special interest cars so I know something about proper preparation where 90% of the work is in a really nice paint job. I bought this bike in Jan '10 from Scott S. (37fleetwood). I tore it apart and started stripping it immediately thinking it would be a fairly straight forward  restoration. The more I started digging though the more I started to question what was, and was not, correct for a Dayton level bike.  There are not a lot of these to start with and the only purported orignal '37 that I've seen pics of I don't believe is original. Few of the restored bikes are done correctly. A lot of emails between myself and Scott followed to get after what correct should look like. So after three years here is the result. The posts following this show what I started with and how the project progressed. I gotta give a shout out to Proctors for the chrome and to Bob U. for bringing my ratty seat back to life. V/r Shawn


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## Freqman1 (Jun 7, 2013)

*Super Streamline Project*

The first three pics are how I got the bike--largely complete but a few wrong parts to include seat and fenders. Next are some pics of it stripped and the seat. The seat is a pretty rare piece and I wound up buying an original '37 Dayton motorbike for the seat and the original mesh guard. The mesh guard I got with it was an older repo--John has since reproduced both the guard and the seat chassis so my motorbike looks original again!


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## Freqman1 (Jun 7, 2013)

Next was chrome, paint, and assembly....


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## Freqman1 (Jun 7, 2013)

And finally the restored bike!


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## 37fleetwood (Jun 7, 2013)

Well Shawn, all I can say is that all is as it should be.
This bike really deserved this. When I first saw it I knew it was a really special bike.
I have been blessed with owning a few of these ultra rare bikes, not because of any specialness of myself, but because of my love of them, and the fear they engendered in the hearts of those who saw the miserable state they were in when found. This one was just a frame, I gathered a few of the parts and in the course of events had to give it up, but to a worthy successor. 
It has been a pleasure delving into the intricacies with you, truly there was a bunch to learn. As iron sharpens iron, going through every piece of this one has really upped my game and knowledge of these. I've never claimed to be the Huffman expert, but more of a Huffman fanatic.
This bike has paved the way for the others waiting in the wings. Last year was the year of the big tank Huffman, this year has started with Marty's '38 Streamline, and now your '37. I happen to know of a few more that will likely debut this year. Truly this is going to be the year of the Huffman Super Streamline!

This is the first photo of this bike as I saw it, and started working toward getting it. If you want one of these, this is usually how they come.


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## babyjesus (Jun 8, 2013)

*stunning*

Stunning bike and great story form start to finish and a job perfectly done by the looks of it. Well done. What more is there to say really other than "omg I never even thought an orig tornado leaf sprung saddle even existed" and  "sell me the bike please".


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## then8j (Jun 8, 2013)

Very impressive. How many more are out there? How rare?


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## Freqman1 (Jun 8, 2013)

So far I think we are still under 20 on '37 SS tank models but Scott S. could probably answer that better. V/r Shawn


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## bikesnbuses (Jun 8, 2013)

>>PHENOMENAL<<   Great work! :eek:


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## wayne hermes (Jun 8, 2013)

*Super Streamline Project*

Shawn, Unbeliveable!! Color combination is screaming. A proud example of why i follow the cabe.


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## Freqman1 (Jun 11, 2013)

Terry66 said:


> Really nice! Did you do your own paint? I have a '41 Huffman that I plan to start soon, but I am thinking about doing a trial run on a WF Newsboy Special to get the hang of painting.
> 
> Super nice bike. You should be seriously proud.




I posted an album in the gallery documenting the build (somewhat). V/r Shawn


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## frankster41 (Jun 11, 2013)

*Wow*

Wow great pictures. That bike makes a statement.


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## spoker (Jun 11, 2013)

*new*

Awesome job,pretty satisfying doin it yourself,becomes a lot more meaningful to ya,peace out AJ


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## traveler11 (Jun 12, 2013)

*Great bike*

What a beautiful bike ,  I am now ready to start my quest for the holy grail . I have tried to decide what bike would be the one and it looks like  Dayton super streamline is it . Thanks for starting my quest .


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## SirMike1983 (Jun 29, 2013)

I may have missed it, but is the gold accenting an original feature or something you've added? That sort of accenting is a feature is popular in more modern bicycles/cruisers. If they did that on the originals, it was ahead of its time. I see mostly red/black type accenting and not bright yellow (not gold like box stripes but bright yellow) like that as much. The work looks very, very well done.


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## babyjesus (Jun 29, 2013)

SirMike1983 said:


> I may have missed it, but is the gold accenting an original feature or something you've added? That sort of accenting is a feature is popular in more modern bicycles/cruisers. If they did that on the originals, it was ahead of its time. I see mostly red/black type accenting and not bright yellow (not gold like box stripes but bright yellow) like that as much. The work looks very, very well done.




I have a red similar bike that has bright yellow pinstriping. It doesn't stand out as much as this because it's not against such dark colours. Maybe it's a Huffman thing but I hadn't noticed until you pointed that out. Shawn's bike really is beautiful isn't it.  It looks professionally restored too which is impressive for a guy with a regular day job.  I've got a long way to go  

Cruisers or whatever they are called now do often have colours on them which pop. And you are right the older bikes often seem to have much more subtle blends of colour on them.


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## hoofhearted (Jul 2, 2013)

*Eye candy ...*

WOW .. that SS is absolutely beautiful to behold !!!  Those colors are  pure royalty.

............. patric


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## Freqman1 (Jul 2, 2013)

Thanks Patric. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out and even my non-bike friends think its pretty cool. Now if I could just find a ladies SS to go with it! Anyone have a restorable project? V/r Shawn


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## widpanic02 (Jul 4, 2013)

*Yellow*

If you reference the 1937 national Shawn's restoration colors are right off of page one except the blue seems to be a little more aqua dark blue. Huffman pretty much used yellow on every one of there heavyweights in the 1937 catalog in stenciling trim or in flash frame paint. Yellow pops so much more than white . I think it was huffmans way of being a littleness flashy than schwinn who used white trim and stenciling quite a bit. With the exception if maybe a few yellow was kind if non existent in prewar schwinn paint schemes.


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## babyjesus (Jul 4, 2013)

widpanic02 said:


> If you reference the 1937 national Shawn's restoration colors are right off of page one except the blue seems to be a little more aqua dark blue. Huffman pretty much used yellow on every one of there heavyweights in the 1937 catalog in stenciling trim or in flash frame paint. Yellow pops so much more than white . I think it was huffmans way of being a littleness flashy than schwinn who used white trim and stenciling quite a bit. With the exception if maybe a few yellow was kind if non existent in prewar schwinn paint schemes.




I have one with yellow and one with cream.  The nice thing about the cream is it matches the whitewalls on the tires (I put crappy chinese tires on that one which are too white on the sides - so I can ride it easily - nos tires look nice but ride like sh*t and they aren't nos anymore if you ride them) - the other one has yeloow pins which pop for sure alot more. Not sure which I prefer. 












The cream pins are extremely nice when you factor in an old cream whitewall tire. The matching colours create a pop of their own. The 2 schemes are entirely different in nature anyway.


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## Freqman1 (Jul 4, 2013)

widpanic02 said:


> If you reference the 1937 national Shawn's restoration colors are right off of page one except the blue seems to be a little more aqua dark blue. Huffman pretty much used yellow on every one of there heavyweights in the 1937 catalog in stenciling trim or in flash frame paint. Yellow pops so much more than white . I think it was huffmans way of being a littleness flashy than schwinn who used white trim and stenciling quite a bit. With the exception if maybe a few yellow was kind if non existent in prewar schwinn paint schemes.




The 'National' blue was matched straight off my '37 Motorbike. The catalog pic you refer to is actually an artists rendering so the colors may not match the real thing exactly. I actually had already bought a quart of blue a couple of years ago but once I got the MB I realized it was too dark. Luckily its a dead match for both the Shelby and Elgin blue I need for other bikes I'm restoring. V/r Shawn


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## widpanic02 (Jul 5, 2013)

*!*

Gorgeous anyway you put it! I was wondering if my catalog was just playing truck on me . Do you see what I'm seeing though about the aquaish? It's weird ?


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## babyjesus (Jul 5, 2013)

Freqman1 said:


> The 'National' blue was matched straight off my '37 Motorbike. The catalog pic you refer to is actually an artists rendering so the colors may not match the real thing exactly. I actually had already bought a quart of blue a couple of years ago but once I got the MB I realized it was too dark. Luckily its a dead match for both the Shelby and Elgin blue I need for other bikes I'm restoring. V/r Shawn




To be honest I think the yellow pops the most powerfully off your colour scheme because it's generally much darker - there is more contrast - it's really beautiful.


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## RJWess (Jul 5, 2013)

babyjesus said:


> I have one with yellow and one with cream.  The nice thing about the cream is it matches the whitewalls on the tires (I put crappy chinese tires on that one which are too white on the sides - so I can ride it easily - nos tires look nice but ride like sh*t and they aren't nos anymore if you ride them) - the other one has yeloow pins which pop for sure alot more. Not sure which I prefer. View attachment 103416View attachment 103417View attachment 103418View attachment 103419View attachment 103420
> 
> The cream pins are extremely nice when you factor in an old cream whitewall tire. The matching colours create a pop of their own. The 2 schemes are entirely different in nature anyway.




All time favorite bikes. I love the one with the red tank yellow pinstrip.


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