# 1961 Walthour & Hood Catalog - Huffy, Dayton and Raleigh Bicycles



## Oilit (Apr 7, 2017)

I bought this off EBay not long ago and it has a certain charm, plus a good deal of interest. And I want to thank Floyd @WetDogGraphix for converting these from pdf's to jpg's so they could be posted!


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## WetDogGraphix (Apr 7, 2017)

Happy to help @Oilit


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## partsguy (Apr 10, 2017)

@Oilit 

This...this IS VERY VALUABLE to me and my research efforts to restore a rare 1960 Dayton. This is only the second ad I have seen for 60's era Dayton bicycles. This is very rare literature. Do you have any for 1960? I at least know now what the guard looked like!


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## Oilit (Apr 10, 2017)

partsguy said:


> @Oilit
> 
> This...this IS VERY VALUABLE to me and my research efforts to restore a rare 1960 Dayton. This is only the second ad I have seen for 60's era Dayton bicycles. This is very rare literature. Do you have any for 1960? I at least know now what the guard looked like!



I wish I did. The man I bought this from said his dad had a hardware store and this was among the catalogs at the store. I'm guessing W. & H. was a wholesale company, so there's probably more out there from other years, but finding them is going to take luck.


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## Oilit (Apr 10, 2017)

partsguy said:


> @Oilit
> 
> This...this IS VERY VALUABLE to me and my research efforts to restore a rare 1960 Dayton. This is only the second ad I have seen for 60's era Dayton bicycles. This is very rare literature. Do you have any for 1960? I at least know now what the guard looked like!



Good luck with your Dayton!


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## partsguy (Apr 19, 2017)

Oilit said:


> Good luck with your Dayton!




Thank you! Because of this post, I have confidence that I have determined the tank I need to find for my bike. The only questions remaining now is if the electric tail light option was also available in 1960, as it was in 1961. I'm hoping it was, because I have a spare lens to use up. Other question is if this bike could be had with only a horn in the tank, not a horn and light both.

I bet they may have been, especially with "Custom Built Dayton" being the main marketing theme here. My bike also has a 3-speed that appears to be original. I don't see a "standard" Dayton with a 3-speed in this ad.


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## GTs58 (Sep 3, 2019)

Jeeze!!!!!!!!!!!! That 61 Huffy F-85 ($99.30) cost more than a 1961 Schwinn Jaguar ($84.95)!!!  I'll take two of those Huffy's Mr. Salesman, Schwinn is way overpriced. LOL


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## bikemonkey (Sep 15, 2019)

Great catalog find and thanks for posting!

Walthour & Hood was a pretty big bicycle parts distributor in the southeast when I got in the business in the early 70s but I don't remember buying bicycles from them.......lots of bread and better items...i think they were based out of Georgia...


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## Oilit (Sep 16, 2019)

bikemonkey said:


> Great catalog find and thanks for posting!
> 
> Walthour & Hood was a pretty big bicycle parts distributor in the southeast when I got in the business in the early 70s but I don't remember buying bicycles from them.......lots of bread and better items...i think they were based out of Georgia...



I wonder if there was a connection with the racing Walthours?
http://www.6dayracing.ca/riders/walthourj/walthourj-bio.html


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## bikemonkey (Sep 16, 2019)

Took some digging...yes, there is a family connection to Bobby Walthour and his brother.

_Bobby’s older brother, Palmer had moved to Atlanta in 1885 and worked for the W. D. Alexander Bicycle Co. He went on to be the co-founder and president of Walthour & Hood (a sporting goods store with a specialty in bicycles) in Atlanta._

https://coastalcourier.com/zhidden-...ists/liberty-produced-world-champion-cyclist/


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## Oilit (Sep 17, 2019)

bikemonkey said:


> Took some digging...yes, there is a family connection to Bobby Walthour and his brother.
> 
> _Bobby’s older brother, Palmer had moved to Atlanta in 1885 and worked for the W. D. Alexander Bicycle Co. He went on to be the co-founder and president of Walthour & Hood (a sporting goods store with a specialty in bicycles) in Atlanta._
> 
> https://coastalcourier.com/zhidden-...ists/liberty-produced-world-champion-cyclist/



Took some digging is right! But it's an interesting article. Thanks for posting the link!


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## partsguy (May 6, 2020)

Revisiting this since I found the chain guard at last. It just occurred to me there is not even a speed model for a Dayton in 1961. Mine is optioned like the Huffy F-85, original front caliper brake and everything. Interesting.

I really just have to figure out how the tank was painted and the seat tube decal. There’s barely enough left to make out anything.


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## Oilit (May 6, 2020)

partsguy said:


> Revisiting this since I found the chain guard at last. It just occurred to me there is not even a speed model for a Dayton in 1961. Mine is optioned like the Huffy F-85, original front caliper brake and everything. Interesting.
> 
> I really just have to figure out how the tank was painted and the seat tube decal. There’s barely enough left to make out anything.



I saw this a while back and you reminded me. This ad was in the Oct. 1960 American Bicyclist and Motorcyclist. It says the Dayton Bicycle is distributed _exclusively_ by the Walthour and Hood Company, so their catalogs and advertisements may be the only place you'll see these bikes. Does anybody know how long they carried this line?


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## Oilit (May 6, 2020)

And I looked up the Rogers Street address in the ad, and from Google Maps Street View, it looks like the building is still there. Or at least this building could be from the '60's. Does anyone know when W&H closed?


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## partsguy (May 14, 2020)

Oilit said:


> I saw this a while back and you reminded me. This ad was in the Oct. 1960 American Bicyclist and Motorcyclist. It says the Dayton Bicycle is distributed _exclusively_ by the Walthour and Hood Company, so their catalogs and advertisements may be the only place you'll see these bikes. Does anybody know how long they carried this line?
> 
> View attachment 1188648




Beautiful ad! The latest I know of is 1966. It was a catalog in a collection of stuff on eBay years ago. I didn’t have the money at the time and I was outbid. The collection went for hundreds.

I can’t imagine Dayton going much longer than that because Huffy was starting to go full on department store, Huffy brand name and all by the 70’s. They weren’t hiding anything. This meant their days in bicycle shops and specialty catalogs were coming to a close.


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## bikemonkey (May 18, 2020)

Oilit said:


> And I looked up the Rogers Street address in the ad, and from Google Maps Street View, it looks like the building is still there. Or at least this building could be from the '60's. Does anyone know when W&H closed?
> 
> View attachment 1188652



I know I was buying from W&H in Beaufort, SC in 1980...pretty sure they made it into the mid-80s.

Here is a 1983 Takara ad mentioning them as distributors.


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## partsguy (May 18, 2020)

bikemonkey said:


> I know I was buying from W&H in Beaufort, SC in 1980...pretty sure they made it into the mid-80s.
> 
> Here is a 1983 Takara ad mentioning them as distributors.
> View attachment 1196486




There is Pacific Cycle. Is that the same company who imports China scrap to Walmart?


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