# 38 or 39 standard Autocycle



## aasmitty757 (Apr 26, 2009)

I just bought this today(one of those impulse buys). Maybe a few incorrect parts and weak paint but I just couldn't leave without it. Any critiquing would be welcomed. My wife is not as excited about it as I am.


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## cycletruck (Apr 26, 2009)

*Nice bike*

Where did you find it?


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## aasmitty757 (Apr 26, 2009)

Locally (Tulsa, OK). I tried to buy it in 2005 and missed it. Another collector that I know bought it and decided to let it go.


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## Monark52 (Apr 26, 2009)

Ah yes, the impulse buy...I know what you mean! Don`t worry what your wife thinks, The CABE members approve!

Great bike, good buy. Enjoy it.


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## cyclingday (Apr 26, 2009)

*A man with a good impulse.*

Ah! 
 Yes indeed, your instinct has lead you well. That looks to be a 1938/1939Schwinn model B607 dubbed the New Autocycle.
 If your wife is fuming, just let her know that one just like it recently sold on E-Bay for upwards of $4,000.00. I hope you got a smokin deal on it, becuase in my book, you just scored big time. Congratulations!


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## Aeropsycho (Apr 27, 2009)

*Problem...*

When you tell your wife what it is worth she will want to know when you are gonna sell it? and why do you have 100 bikes aren't they good enough???
and you should be fixing the roof or painting the house or..... you know, she's right.


the other bikes are NOT good enough!!!


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## markivpedalpusher (Apr 27, 2009)

Congrats on the new purchase not much critiquing to be made. A beautiful bike. The motorbike version too so you don't have to worry about all the exspensive accesories.


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## militarymonark (Apr 27, 2009)

awesome deal COPY THE TANK COPY THE TANK COPY THE TANK!!!!


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## cyclingday (May 1, 2009)

*To toil or not to toil, that is the question.*

Well, After staring at the pictures of your bike for a couple of days and drooling all over the keyboard, I have come up with some mild critiques.
Not really critiques, but just some suggestions.
 In the antique motorcycle world there is a form of restoration called an English restoration. Their belief is that you shouldn't try and remove the original finish that still exists, but to only restore what is missing.
 Your bike seems like a perfect candidate for this type of restoration since it is really only missing the graphic designs. The trim/striping and decals would be fairly easy to replace and the chrome plating still looks pretty good.
 I think that it would come out looking like a really nice original condition bike.
 I know some people cringe at the thought of messing with it in any way, and if more of the graphics were there, I probably would too, but the graphics were a big part of what made these bikes look so cool, and without them they just lose something.
 Personally, I like the fact that it has the truss fork. Springers look really cool, but the bikes ride so much better without them.
 The Schwinn catalog shows the long spring Messenger saddle, but since your bike is a hardware store bike, that saddle may actually be original.
 There were alot of variations in equipment so to say that they only came one way is not necessarily true. The dealer would try to get the bike marked at an attractive price, so costs were cut in areas like saddles grips and pedals. The fact that it is badged from a hardware store is the reason that it didn't have the Schwinn quality decal on the chainguard. I'm not sure why, but they left that space blank on the department store bikes and the hardware store bikes. I guess they just didn't want the public to think that the bike wasn't built by the dealer that was selling the bike.
 Anyway, those are just some of my thoughts on your fabulous bike.
 Thanks for sharing it with us.


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## pedal alley (May 1, 2009)

*English.....*



cyclingday said:


> Well, After staring at the pictures of your bike for a couple of days and drooling all over the keyboard, I have come up with some mild critiques.
> Not really critiques, but just some suggestions.
> In the antique motorcycle world there is a form of restoration called an English restoration. Their belief is that you shouldn't try and remove the original finish that still exists, but to only restore what is missing.
> Your bike seems like a perfect candidate for this type of restoration since it is really only missing the graphic designs. The trim/striping and decals would be fairly easy to replace and the chrome plating still looks pretty good.
> ...




Words,nice.
Very good,
display ,;
cyclingday .

Great impulse; Kim


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## aasmitty757 (May 1, 2009)

*before and after*

Thanks for the nice comments. I have gotten confirmation from the serial number that it is a 39. That was my guess from brochures that I have looked at;several bikes changed from long spring seats to the shorter spring seat that year. I thought I would let you see what the bike looked like before the other pink paint on top of the original paint was removed.


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## cyclingday (May 2, 2009)

*High braced 39's*

It's interesting that it turned out to be a "39". The last few 39's that have shown up have had the high braced rear fender strut, which is usually associated with the 1938 models. I knocked myself out trying to decide which fender versus frame number to use on a project that I am working on, because I knew that if I used the high brace fender which was in better condition with my 1939 frame which was also in better condition than the 1938 frame that I had, the purists would point out that it was wrong. Which I know is crazy because I doubt if anyone would care enough to get down on their knees to look at the frame number anyway. In the end I went with the high brace with the "38" just to avoid any conflict. As it turns out the high brace is correct for either year. Who knows they may have continued using them clear into 1940.
 Your bike is really beautiful. It cleaned up nice. I don't think that it would be a crime to re stripe it. Either way it is a fantastic example of a prewar Schwinn Cantilever Autocycle.


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