# Need some advice and consideration on this old GWM



## palepainter (Aug 8, 2021)

I am having difficulty finding any shots of this bike in color.  During the sanding CSI, I cam across a brownish orange at the base.  Not sure but the observation leaves me thinking it was some where originally that color.  Who the hell knows….  So I had the 4 layers of house paint blasted, prime red and polyesters a few small dings.  It’s is ready for paint.  The world is my oyster as..this is what I do.  I would love to keep some resemblance of the original with decor and striping.   I was advised that this was a 1922 GWM Crown.  I got what appeared to be the correct badge for it, bit the mount holes are not same width apart.  I’m hoping someone may have an idea of what this is or what it looked like so I can give it some proper paint.


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## palepainter (Aug 8, 2021)

Perhaps it is a GWM Hawthorne




This is damn close to the color I found in the weld crease of front tube.


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## Archie Sturmer (Aug 8, 2021)

Most GWM in-house head badges had the vertical hole spacing; and about 2+3/4” in the later years.  GWM was one 1920’s supplier to Montgomery Ward, who sold Hawthorne bicycles.  The smaller-frame black-and-orange bicycle looks like a Westfield product in style and a later timeframe.
Often, Hawthorne badges depend on the manufacturer of the bicycle; however the badges are fairly common, (should one need to check the fit of various badges in one’s inadvertent collection).
There are threads on this site about MW Hawthorne Deluxe bicycles; some with color catalog pictures, or at least a b&w description of the color/finishes offered. 
Many of those bicycles were red; I would advise against any pearl (oyster) finishes.


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## palepainter (Aug 8, 2021)

This may help as an identifier.


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## SKPC (Aug 8, 2021)

Now THAT is an interesting GWM fork if it truly is a GWM fork. The truss supports seem detatchable from the fork itself?  Never seen that one before....


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## palepainter (Aug 8, 2021)

SKPC said:


> Now THAT is an interesting GWM fork if it truly is a GWM fork. The truss supports seem detatchable from the fork itself?  Never seen that one before....



Yes. But can’t be removed because the lower truss is welded to fork


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## palepainter (Aug 8, 2021)

Here is photo as I got bike.


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## Archie Sturmer (Aug 8, 2021)

It is a classic GWM truss fork, nooks and crannies and all, only highlighted by the sand blasting. 



GWM may have used a brick clay filler material in the wider gaps before painting?


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## palepainter (Aug 8, 2021)

Archie Sturmer said:


> It is a classic GWM truss fork, nooks and crannies and all, only highlighted by the sand blasting.  GWM may have used a brick clay filler material in the wider gaps before painting?



Thanks for your help Archie.   Truly appreciate the expertise.   Now hoping I can find an appropriate paint scheme and head badge.


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## palepainter (Aug 9, 2021)

That is the remnant of color that I found under all the latex as well.


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## gkeep (Aug 9, 2021)

You probably already know this but there are a fair number of digitized Montgomery Wards Catalogs online that you can use for researching the colors. For what they're worth you can also get a sense of the truss and fork style, chainrings, etc. that at least they were using that year in the advertising. This catalog is labeled as 1920 but someone has made a comment that it's 1917. The bikes are on page 646, text says the colors available were Cherry Red with Cream darts or Army Olive with white. This one has a truss fork similar to the Westfield Frame I have so this particular year they may have been getting the bikes from Westfield. Like your's the truss rods are brazed to the fork at the bottom. https://archive.org/details/montgomerywardca1920mont/page/646/mode/2up.

My Westfield forks.(or maybe not Westfield, mine could have been a parts bike way back when.)







Nostalgic.net has this image of a 1917.





My neighbor has a 1928 Hawthorne Deluxe in Blue with red and white trim tag someone has overpainted long ago. 










Good luck on the research, great looking bike!


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## Archie Sturmer (Aug 9, 2021)

646 Deluxe looks like an A&S truss fork and chain ring sprocket.


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## palepainter (Aug 10, 2021)

Finished paint work today and started some assembly.


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## gkeep (Aug 11, 2021)

Fantastic paint & patina job! Wow that is cool! A real work of art. Did you spray over a dark primer and use a hydrogen peroxide and salt spray under the orange or was that just careful sanding and scuffing?


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## palepainter (Aug 11, 2021)

gkeep said:


> it was sprayed base coat clear coat urethane.  Cleared, then sanded smooth.  next was Pinstriping in gold. Then I took a spray bomb matte finish and cleared entire bike.   After that I made several rust colors in urethane.  I used water spraying then airbrushed over it.  I also used stencils with small perforations.  after than I took a small water bottle and made a few different rusty wash colors that were sprayed with the water bottle sprayers.  Manipulate that with a wet cloth.  Let air dry.  Repeat to your liking.  Then re clear with matte finish.  This photo shows paint prior to weathering techniques.






gkeep said:


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