# Wartime Columbia Sports Tourist...100% Original



## HARPO (Apr 10, 2020)

I bought this bike almost 10 years ago from a friend that got it from the original owners family. They said nothing was changed since the bike was new, and I tend to believe it.

I was in contact with @HUFFMANBILL  yesterday who asked me what the serial number was. Lol...I never had a photo of it, so I just took one. All of the other photos are ones I had taken when I had done a little clean-up on it all those years ago. The bike has been sitting in my nice warm, dry, finished basement since they were taken, so it looks no different.

Enjoy a "barrage" of photos!!!


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## HARPO (Apr 10, 2020)

...and more...


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## HARPO (Apr 10, 2020)

@HUFFMANBILL  Bill, can you tell me when it was made?


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## Oilit (Apr 10, 2020)

Beautiful bike! I'm guessing that there's no head badge because brass was not available, but you would have thought they would have at least put a decal on there. But maybe they couldn't get decals either. Was this common?


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## HUFFMANBILL (Apr 10, 2020)

Hey Harpo,

Great pics!  In the Wartime Schwinn New World post we were starting to talk about the year your wartime Columbia was manufactured.  I had requested the bikes S/N , which is above, and the one letter and 1 or 2 number frame date code,  which would normally be stamped above the S/N on the BB.  An example of the frame date code for wartime Columbia bikes would be J2 the J signifies 1942 and the 2 is the second month February, therefore February 1942 would be the manufacture date of the frame only.  For Columbia Wartime bikes I usually look at the Frame date code to determine the frame manufacture date and then the S/N usually, but not always falls within about 0-3 months from the frame mfg. date.  That is how I usually estimate the month that the wartime Columbia bike was completed.  

Now, I have your S/N W123797, however I do not have a Frame date code, which your bike may not have.  I do know that at some point in 1945 the Westfield Co. stopped using it.  So is your bike a 1945.  Not necessarily. As background, in the spring of 1942 the WPB ( War Production Board ) issued L-52 ( Limitation Order ) regarding manufacturing restrictions on bicycles during the war,  As part of an amendment to this order all bike production was to cease on Sept., 1, 1942.  Only Westfield ( Columbia) Mfg. Co. and Huffman could legally continue bike production with restrictions throughout the war.  However, other manufacturers could upon special appeal be granted, with restrictions, permission to sell off remaining stocks and in certain cases produce restricted amounts of new bikes.  Also as part of these restrictions, which began Sept., 1, 1942 no trade name or trade-mark could be placed on bikes produced, which is why your Columbia does not have a head badge.  Also, Columbia mfg. bikes could stamp the letter W next to the S/N and Huffman an H next to their S/N ( Now, US Military Columbias and Huffmans were still able to use headbadges, which were painted over at the factory and Columbia used MF,MG, or MC next to the S/N )  This is why your Columbia S/N begins with a W.  

So your bike has a W prefix serial number.  The records that I have at hand show that the W prefixed Columbias  had S/N between W5001A and W85244A and these all were in 1944.  Your bike does not have and A suffix and is numbered well above 85244.  However, we do know that the Westfield S/N listings for the war years that are available show a G prefix on their bikes from Dec., 1941  starting at G5000 -  G200000 in 1944. These numbers include all bikes civilian as well as military bikes with the added M mentioned previously.  Now,  your bike is S/N W123797.  For 1943 Columbia produced according to the listings bicycle S/N G112859 - G195135.  Now, if the WPB L-52 Amendment stipulation that all Westfield bikes could place a W next to the S/N was being used as on your example and the W stamped bikes remained chronologically in line with the extant S/N listings, your bike would fall right in with the 1943 manufactured bikes. Possibly in the early months of that year.  Any civilian ''Victory'' blackout Columbia that had been produced between April and the end of Aug., 1942 ( like mine that you saw pics of) would without question still have the G prefix.  So with all the above in mind, it is my best guess that your bike was manufactured in the 1st half of 1943 possibly in the 1st quarter.  Of course, this is conjecture on my part based upon the information that I have and without the frame date code.  Why that would be absent on a late 1942 or 1943 and 1944 Columbia I do not know.  At present if I were to offer an answer it would only be pure conjecture. Even though I cannot give you a exact manufacture date for your bike at this time, I trust that the data I provided was of some assistance.

Regards,
Bill


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## bulldog1935 (Apr 10, 2020)

nice find in that condition


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## HARPO (Apr 10, 2020)

@HUFFMANBILL  "my best guess that your bike was manufactured in the 1st half of 1943 possibly in the 1st quarter".

*THANK YOU* for all the time you've spent on this for me!!!!!!!! Much appreciated!! And reading all you've written, I've learned a lot.

BTW...I've looked all over for a frame number and have yet to find one. Anywhere specific that I might have missed seeing it?


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## HUFFMANBILL (Apr 10, 2020)

HARPO said:


> @HUFFMANBILL  "my best guess that your bike was manufactured in the 1st half of 1943 possibly in the 1st quarter".
> 
> *THANK YOU* for all the time you've spent on this for me!!!!!!!! Much appreciated!! And reading all you've written, I've learned a lot.
> 
> BTW...I've looked all over for a frame number and have yet to find one. Anywhere specific that I might have missed seeing it?



Your most welcome.  I am on vacation this week and because of the present events staying home and socially isolated from the world.  So I have the time to go through my records and bring myself back up to speed on some of this stuff.  The only place that I have ever seen the frame date code on these Columbias is about an inch or so above the S/N.  Could it be a light stamping and hidden under the paint.  Not likely if the paint is original, but possible. Also, like I wrote previously at some point in 1945 they discontinued the frame date code stamping. However, I could be wrong, but I just do not get the impression that your bike iwas manufactured well into 1945. Assuming that your bike is not a 1945, I do not have an answer as to why there would not be a frame date code other then this was WWII and nothing was for certain even in the manufacturing world.

Regards,
Bill


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## HARPO (Apr 10, 2020)

@HUFFMANBILL  DOH! I didn't look far enough onto the BB. There it is...K 3.....  So, March of 1943?


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## HUFFMANBILL (Apr 10, 2020)

Hurrah!!! Great balls of fire!!!  Yes, that is March 1943!  So your bike was most likely completed between March - June 1943.  Probably April or May.  Didn't I tell you the first half of 1943? That is so cool!  Thank you for the opportunity to assist you in this.

Regards,
Bill


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## HARPO (Apr 10, 2020)

HUFFMANBILL said:


> Hurrah!!! Great balls of fire!!!  Yes, that is March 1943!  So your bike was most likely completed between March - June 1943.  Probably April or May.  Didn't I tell you the first half of 1943? That is so cool!  Thank you for the opportunity to assist you in this.
> 
> Regards,
> Bill




Thanks to you, Bill, I now know my bikes History!!!! And you were dead on with the dating!!

And when I think about it, the War was raging on at this point as the bike was being made....scary...


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## HUFFMANBILL (Apr 10, 2020)

That is part of the reason I like to collect the WWII. US Military and Civilian Defense bicycles.  You own a piece of WWII history that was part of the history that was being made.  You can read and think about what was going on at the time that your bike was there!

Regards,
Bill


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## bikerbluz (Apr 11, 2020)

Wonderful bike Harpo! HuffmanBill, I totally agree with you. This history and time period is fascinating. My father was a veteran of WWII and wounded in the South Pacific. I often think of the sacrifice both of my parents, as well as millions of others made during that time. As you said Harpo, scary. I have a 1942 male version of your bike. I need to dig it back out and check for the frame code.


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## HARPO (Apr 13, 2020)

I just want to add something about the bike to make it a little more special, IMHO... 

@HUFFMANBILL  When I bought the bike, I was told it was all original, tires included. And unless a tube was replaced all those years ago, the bike is a true Virgin. I cleaned it up to make it look like you see it, but I never took it apart to do it. It even retains whatever grease was on the bearings.

What I'm getting at, is that the last person to touch the bike at the factory to assemble it was in 1943. It has remained that way since WWII.


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## s1b (Apr 30, 2020)

Beautiful bike


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## comet (Apr 30, 2020)

All your other bikes usually get the full treatment and are just beautiful. Would you clean the grease off the bottom bracket, with just rags so the inside grease is left alone. Or is that too much and kinda devalues it. It seems kinda perfect. Just curious.


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## HARPO (May 1, 2020)

comet said:


> All your other bikes usually get the full treatment and are just beautiful. Would you clean the grease off the bottom bracket, with just rags so the inside grease is left alone. Or is that too much and kinda devalues it. It seems kinda perfect. Just curious.




I've cleaned the bike, but never took it apart to grease anything. And with those tires, I've never even ridden it!   Just a piece of History to look at and enjoy. It was pretty filthy when I got it, but this is now more of a "Time Capsule" and cleaned up as you see it. Doubtful I'll ever find another this original from this time period.


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