# What year & Model is this JC Higgins?



## gnar10 (Feb 12, 2014)

Hi there everyone, I am new to collecting vintage bikes (and am hooked & broke) and was able to pick up some pretty nice bikes recently. I can't find any info on this bike. Does anyone have any idea of the model or year?
Serial number stamped on frame states:   MOS-M                    Thanks for your help a head of time. 





                                                     MOD-502-219
                                                          75711


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## jd56 (Feb 12, 2014)

MOS should be 1953 ... not sure about the "M" suffix.
So Murray built sold at sears. Could be a Higgins but what does the headtube name plate say? 
That's my guess.

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## oldfart36 (Feb 12, 2014)

Looks like my late 40's to me. 47-49.


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## gnar10 (Feb 13, 2014)

Head badge is a JC Higgins, I was thinking around 53 also because of the crank, but just wasn't able to find much info on it. It appears to be a basic model, what do you think the value is on it? Not looking to sell, but just curious. Thanks for the help.


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## jpromo (Feb 13, 2014)

MOS is the standard serial prefix for Murray of Ohio Supply. JC Higgins bike sold by Sears. I agree with Oldfart, 1947ish because of the chainguard and the rack. They're earlier issue parts. Paint looks original and pretty nice. It'd bring around $300 in my neck of the woods.


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## gnar10 (Feb 13, 2014)

Cool, thats good news on the age. Ya, its in great condition and fun to ride. thanks for the help.


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## jpromo (Feb 13, 2014)

Glad you're enjoying it! Welcome to the hobby. That's a perfect first bike.


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## jd56 (Feb 13, 2014)

Just was going by my ABC reference book.
I do see a lot more of the MO and different letter followup denoting the year prefix..then of course the MO and number is more what I'm used to with the middleweight Murrays.
So what does the "M" in the  MOS-"M" indicate?
Still learning on the older ballooner bikes, actually always learning here on the Cabe.

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## jpromo (Feb 13, 2014)

jd56 said:


> Just was going by my ABC reference book.
> I do see a lot more of the MO and different letter followup denoting the year prefix..then of course the MO and number is more what I'm used to with the middleweight Murrays.
> So what does the "M" in the  MOS-"M" indicate?
> Still learning on the older ballooner bikes, actually always learning here on the Cabe.
> ...




Folk lore has it that the M would be the year code. There is a Murray serial list floating around out there cataloging these but it's not worth a crap. I think it's about 8 years off.. google it at your own risk.


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## jpromo (Feb 13, 2014)

*Murray MOS serials*

I just did a bit more digging and I think I found a correction to the bad Murray list that's going around. Before the war, the serials were formatted differently, but I have a '39 Elgin with an SC serial. I've seen what could have been a '40 with an SD serial. Adamtinkerer suggested they started a lettering system in 1937 (presumably at A). This falls in line with my C '39. If you follow that through, taking out letters that can be mistaken for numbers, M lands at 1948.

How about this:

1937—A
1938—B
1939—C
1940—D
1941—E
1942—F
1943—G
1944—H
1945—J
1946—K
1947—L
1948—M
1949—N
1950—P
1951—Q
1952—R
1953—S
1954—T


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## oldfart36 (Feb 14, 2014)

jpromo said:


> I just did a bit more digging and I think I found a correction to the bad Murray list that's going around. Before the war, the serials were formatted differently, but I have a '39 Elgin with an SC serial. I've seen what could have been a '40 with an SD serial. Adamtinkerer suggested they started a lettering system in 1937 (presumably at A). This falls in line with my C '39. If you follow that through, taking out letters that can be mistaken for numbers, M lands at 1948.
> 
> How about this:
> 
> ...





Good post, thanks!!  Hopefully this can be used for reference, it hits mine right as well.


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## HIGGINSFOREVER (Feb 14, 2014)

Looking at the Higgins book my guess is 1948.Is there a big red reflector on carrier


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## Boris (Feb 14, 2014)

jpromo said:


> That's a perfect first bike.




Or fifth, tenth or fiftieth. I recently got mine, and I love it's styling. It's definitely one of my keepers! That could be one of my favorite racks ever.


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## HIGGINSFOREVER (Feb 14, 2014)

Dave Marko said:


> Or fifth, tenth or fiftieth. I recently got mine, and I love it's styling. It's definitely one of my keepers! That could be one of my favorite racks ever.




Hey Dave is that the rack with the one large reflector.Higgins sure used a lot of different racks There are at lest seven that I can think of


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## Boris (Feb 14, 2014)

HIGGINSFOREVER said:


> Hey Dave is that the rack with the one large reflector.Higgins sure used a lot of different racks There are at lest seven that I can think of




Rack with one of my reflectors.


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## ramjet70 (Nov 8, 2014)

*elgin question...*

my elgin has been painted. turned in to a board tracker by someone. bottom bracket reads: MOS 502 207 on the first line. SER15483 on the second line. I think MOS is murray and 502 is sears. but what is 207 or the second line of numbers mean?


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## jpromo (Jun 1, 2015)

jpromo said:


> I just did a bit more digging and I think I found a correction to the bad Murray list that's going around. Before the war, the serials were formatted differently, but I have a '39 Elgin with an SC serial. I've seen what could have been a '40 with an SD serial. Adamtinkerer suggested they started a lettering system in 1937 (presumably at A). This falls in line with my C '39. If you follow that through, taking out letters that can be mistaken for numbers, M lands at 1948.
> 
> How about this:
> 
> ...




The more I look at Higgins bicycles, the more I feel they may not have taken out the I and the O from the sequence. Anybody have an example with an MOS-O? I've had a handful of frames right around this period and no "O"s. But I've seen a few Jetflows now with MOS-T designations. And Jetflows didn't come out until 1956. I'd like to get this accurate.


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## Adamtinkerer (Jun 6, 2015)

The ABC list shows 56 as "MOV or MOTV", 57 as "MOTW", 58, "MOTX", but then back to "MOR" in 59. Of course, a Sears bike would be "MOS-V", etc.


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