# Year of a Montgomery Ward Hawthorne?



## jeep girl (Jan 3, 2010)

It is a Montgomery Ward Hawthorne "fat tire" bike but that's all I know.  How do I figure out the year?  Thanks.:o
Sorry, I can't upload a pic for some reason.


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## partsguy (Jan 3, 2010)

Like other questions like this, we will need the serial number.

As for pics, put them on a host website first (like for example, www.Photobucket.com). Then copy and paste the IMG code to your post. Submit and DONE!


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## jeep girl (Jan 3, 2010)

classicfan1 said:


> Like other questions like this, we will need the serial number.
> 
> As for pics, put them on a host website first (like for example, www.Photobucket.com). Then copy and paste the IMG code to your post. Submit and DONE!




Does 65EH sound like a serial # ?


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## Adamtinkerer (Jan 4, 2010)

Get a good shot of the chainguard side of the bike, and the head badge, as they changed every few years. We should be able to tell which co. built it for Wards', and get within a couple years. That # may be _part_ of a serial #, the digits may be filled with paint. First place I would look is the bottom bracket (where the crank goes thru the frame.)


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## jeep girl (Jan 5, 2010)

*Serial #*

I got the 65EH off the area where the crank goes hrough the frame.
I have another # from the rear drop out. 212925
HEY, I got ONE pic to work!  I'll try to get more!


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## jeep girl (Jan 5, 2010)

*More pics...*

I guess I need to make the pics real SMALL in order for them to work.  I'll try to get the frame.


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## jeep girl (Jan 5, 2010)

*Frame*

This is the best I can do.:o


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## Adamtinkerer (Jan 5, 2010)

Looking at copies of original catalog pages, in the Elgin/JC Higgins/Hawthorne book, I'd say 1957-59. The red & blue crest badge satrted in 1950, skip tooth drives were gone after 55. The wishbone style rear frame stays, and the rows of connected holes in the rear dropouts show up in 57. The 1960 pages are the last in the book, and they don't show any frames with a second straight bar like yours. And it was made by the Snyder co., same as their house brand, Rollfast.


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## jeep girl (Jan 5, 2010)

Thank's Adam!  I appreciate the info!


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## Archie Sturmer (Apr 29, 2021)

jeep girl said:


> Does 65EH sound like a serial # ?



65EH reads like a date-place code for 1965 <EDIT> *1956* built at the Excelsior factory in Michigan City Ind., closer to Montgomery Ward in Chicago and their early store in Plymouth.

So we have seen examples of *1956* Snyder-built bicycles with 6-digits serial numbers on the left rear fork end, with a “C” prefix, a “B” prefix, and *no* prefix at all.  Makes one wonder when this method started or how long it might have continued and how many bicycles was Snyder producing in a year.

The frame style looks like a *middleweight* (1.75”) tire model (see yoke at seat post cluster), but may fit 2.125” balloon tires also.

There once was a member *Marshall* from Ryderwood, or the greater Cowlitz area.


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## coasterbrakejunkie1969 (Apr 30, 2021)

Werent the Snyder codes reversed meaning 65EH is a 1956? I thought that was their deal


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## coasterbrakejunkie1969 (Apr 30, 2021)

Yes it is a 1956, i have the same frame.


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## FICHT 150 (Apr 30, 2021)

D’ya think she still has the bike she posted about ELEVEN YEARS ago?

We can hope, right?

Ted


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## Archie Sturmer (Apr 30, 2021)

The different frame with the triangle arrangement at the seat post cluster might indicate a balloon-tire model.


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## Adamtinkerer (May 2, 2021)

Yes, 11 years ago, we hadn't figured out the reverse year/factory codes. Despite that, I was still right on about the year!


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