# Deal of the Day - 1937 Firestone Fleetwood



## shutterbugKELLY (Jun 24, 2007)

We hadn't intended on buying any bicycles, mostly looking for parts, but this was in the garage.  When the guy said he wanted $250 for it, I about fell over.

I snapped a couple pics after we unloaded it from the Jeep.  It has stainless steel fenders, an aluminum torpedo light, zephyr tank with horn and light switch, an EA light on the rack (with a wire running towards the tank?), and a replacement wald rear-axle kickstand (pictured in the 1939 Island Cycle Supply catalog - we'll probably put the original rear stand back on it).  We need a putter stem (anyone have one laying around?), and the chainguard looks like one of the replacement guards in the 1939 ISC catalog, we also need a tombstone reflector - though I don't like how they look.

Does anyone have a pic of a Huffman in Seafog Grey?


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## Monark52 (Jun 24, 2007)

Wow,sweet bike! Want to make a quick 50 bucks and sell it to me for $300 buddy,pal,friend of mine???!!!

My initials just happen to be HW so it would be perfect


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## eazywind (Jun 24, 2007)

*streamliner*

Or super streamliner. You bastards!!!!! Just kidding . Nice find. If you decide to sell, I will double what you paid. Also just kidding! Well, not really......Those are pretty hard to find. My friend alan is repoping the goosenecks. He may have some left. Email me at easywind2@yahoo.com and i will give you his email address. Also, he has a seafoam green one. Link below to a pic of it. Marc

http://www.nostalgic.net/bicycle353.htm


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## eazywind (Jun 24, 2007)

*Whoops.....*

Thought I read seafoam green, when It was seafog grey. Marc


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## shutterbugKELLY (Jun 24, 2007)

Monark52 said:


> Wow,sweet bike! Want to make a quick 50 bucks and sell it to me for $300 buddy,pal,friend of mine???!!!
> 
> My initials just happen to be HW so it would be perfect



lol!  yeah, I'll think about it 


Hey Marc,
I really like that seafoam green, too bad I can't paint it that color.  I'd like to do something other than black-and-white since our Huffman built Belknap is very similar.  According to the ad, the '37 Fleetwoods came in Opalescent Maroon (which I don't really care for), Black-and-White, and Seafog Grey (which I can't recall ever seeing).

I sent an e-mail to you.  That'd be fabulous is your bud still has some putter stems, because we were planning on just using a regular Huffman stem, like they used on the '38 Fleetwoods, until we found the right one.




Here's a pic of the inside of the tank.  Aside from a little bit of rust on the tip of the battery tray, the tank is in pretty amazing shape.  It just looks grungy from all the little critters that have taken up residence.


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## Dave Stromberger (Jun 24, 2007)

Hey Shutterbug, congrats on the killer score! You can paint your bike Seafoam Green if you want, it is totally legit even though not mentioned in the 1937 Firestone catalog. That green bike that belongs to Alan used to be mine, and it is original paint (mostly). Also, Leon Dixon who knows more about these bikes than anyone alive often reminds me that you can't go strictly by what is mentioned in the catalogs. There were often other offerings. Huffman was known for offering a lot of strange options and combinations that were not in the literature too. I've got some leftover Seafoam Green paint too if you need a sample to get matched.  Email me direct dave@nostalgic.net A note about Seafog Gray. I had a discussion with Leon a few years ago about this color, and we came to the conclusion that in all likleyhood, Seafog Gray is simply silver! You have no doubt seen many Twin-Flex's in Silver. Based on this I painted my own '37 Streamliner silver and red, but opted to reverse the paint on the fenders for some extra flash. 
http://www.nostalgic.net/bicycle460.htm


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## shutterbugKELLY (Jun 25, 2007)

Thanks Dave, I'll keep that Seafoam Green in mind.  The red/silver looks real sharp.

From what I've come across, Sea Fog Gray (I would imagine that it would be pretty similar to Seafog Grey) was a popular color in the 1930s.  There were a few blurbs about cars being painted that green-grey color originally, so I checked out some historical car paint chips from the 1900s-1930s and found these.  If the Huffman color looked similar to that, I would definitely consider it.   At least we don't have to make any decisions right away, because I think we're going to restore our Color-Flow first.


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## shutterbugKELLY (Jun 27, 2007)

I just thought this was kind of cool.  It's the battery that was inside of the tail light - it's been in there for a while.


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## 37fleetwood (Jun 30, 2007)

HI, great bike!  I am still working on painting mine and could use some of the measurements on your paint. yours looks to be a 1938 and would have come with the regular Wald stem not the putter type. I think you should leave it original paint, there aren't many left. they're only original once. the stainless fenders are a great touch! awsome that it still has the initials intact. you only need a few things. the pedals, chain guard, drop stand and stem. you might think about keeping the side stand though the drop stand is hard to deal with.
Scott


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## shutterbugKELLY (Jul 1, 2007)

Thanks, Scott.  Let me know what measurements you need specifically.

I figured it was fall/winter '37 since the streamline part is straight as opposed to a spring/summer '38 where the bar is curved.  Is there something else to look at for the year?

Why is the rear stand hard to deal with?  Does it not stand well or something.  I actually prefer rear stands just because the bikes look better standing upright instead of leaning over, though that side stand that's on there now is pretty cool and really sturdy.

It'll definitely be restored.  I like original bikes, but only if they're in exceptional condition and pretty much just need a thorough cleaning and polishing.  For me, I just don't like things are fixed, replaced, and touched-up on a bike to make look like it's still all original.  I think that if you have to do any of that, it should be restored.  It'll be a great project.

Kelly


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## 37fleetwood (Jul 1, 2007)

the 1938 bikes had the rack like yours without the reflector area at the rear. also the stem. there are subtle differences in the tanks though most people would never notice. I am also guessing the stainless fenders since 1938 was the start of the chrome tanks and racks. I have yet to see a true streamliner without the straight bars out back. I have talked to several knowledgeable people and they have never seen one either. I posted in the bottom forum about the patterns I could use help with. if you can that would be great.
thanx
Scott 
P.S. I painted mine yesterday. Opalescent maroon:eek:


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## shutterbugKELLY (Jul 1, 2007)

We have an extra Huffman stem sitting around, so we'll probably end up using that.  I think that someone replaced our Fleetwood's stem and handlebars with a generic-looking 60s stem set fairly recently  

On NBHAA.com, they list that Fleetwood with the stainless steel fenders as a '37.  I wonder what it was a "special deluxe promotional" for?  Cool bike.

What are the differences in the tank?

Scott, I'll be interested in seeing your bike all painted up, especially in maroon.  I posted the measurements in the other forum.

Kelly


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## 37fleetwood (Jul 1, 2007)

ok, here is a photo of my 1937 rack:




here is a photo of a 1938 rack:



I'll post more photos next post. I hope no one minds if I post photos of their bikes for reference. 
Scott


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## 37fleetwood (Jul 7, 2007)

shutterbugKELLY said:


> We have an extra Huffman stem sitting around, so we'll probably end up using that.  I think that someone replaced our Fleetwood's stem and handlebars with a generic-looking 60s stem set fairly recently
> 
> On NBHAA.com, they list that Fleetwood with the stainless steel fenders as a '37.  I wonder what it was a "special deluxe promotional" for?  Cool bike.
> 
> ...




be careful with NBHAA.com, Uncle Leon is knowledgeable but some of his guesses go as gospel with just his say so. Yours is one of the few with stainless fenders at all so there isn't enough of a study sample to be very definitive. none of the literature shows the stainless fenders, what is he basing this on? how many of these bikes exist? maybe 50 or so? how many with stainless? maybe 3 or 4? saying anything for certain is risky. I tend toward 1938 though because that was the year they started piling on all the chrome. chrome crows beak chainguard, chrome tank, chrome rack, etc. Plus your bike has some other traits of the 1938s. it sure would be cool to find someone who worked for Huffman during that time period who could still remember what went on. The late '30s was a strange time for Huffman, they had just started putting out bikes again in 1935. Firestone was probably their biggest customer. they also made bikes for Western Auto around that time too, as well as smaller accounts such as Belknap, etc. In some way it is a little frustrating and in others it makes it easy since no one can really say for sure that what you are doing is truly wrong. some of the other brands are so well documented that their is no leeway at all. I heard an argument about the length of the flat tab area where it attaches to the dropouts being the wrong length on the fender braces of an old Schwinn!!
Scott


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## azbug-i (Jul 21, 2015)

Deal of the century!!!!!! I love it!!!


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## CWCMAN (Jul 21, 2015)

WOW! that's digging up an 8 year old post


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## Joe Buffardi (Jul 21, 2015)

Thats her favorite bike Eddie!


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## CWCMAN (Jul 24, 2015)

Your bike is her favorite bike, or should I say her bike now...


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## Andrew Gorman (Jul 24, 2015)

There's a reason most bikes are missing their dropstands.  Every time you go over a significant, bell ringing pothole the stand will...drop.  And drag on the ground, make a horrible noise and you have to stop and clip it back into the weak and deformed spring clip that is supposed to hold it up.  And to put it down you have to pick a heavy bike up by some part that probably isn't designed to be a handle and kick the dropstand out of the same deformed and weak spring clip.  That's why aftermarket axle and kickstands are so popular, but dropstands look cool.  Nice to park on, but use one for riding and in the immortal words of Miller in Repo Man, "you'll see".  Take a look at any original dropstands you have and you will probably see where they've been dragged along the pavement
Didn't notice it was from 8 years ago....


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