# Anyone know the year of this Montgomery Ward Hawthorne?



## decath6431 (Oct 27, 2012)

Thanks in advance.


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## fordsnake (Oct 27, 2012)

It's an Early 50's. The bike's a Rollfast model, uses the same frame, front springer and fenders as the Hopalong Cassidy.


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## decath6431 (Oct 27, 2012)

Awesome.  Thanks.  Anything jump out as possibly missing?  Got a Delta Sealed Beam light and has the switch on the top tube.  Is that a light in the fender?  I unfortunately don't have the bike now to look at it, I'm scooping it next week but those things jumped out at me as maybe being good candidates to typically be missing on these.  Thanks.


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## halfatruck (Oct 28, 2012)

The switch on the top tube is for the turn signals in your rear rack........


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## decath6431 (Oct 28, 2012)

Awesome.  Thanks.  Looking at the pic it looks like it may control the headlight too.  Anyone know what a relative value might be on this ?


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## decath6431 (Nov 4, 2012)

*Is this a 1954?*

Anyone able to confirm or definitively say if this is a 1954?  Been trying to get the specific year and it looks very similar to pics I've seen of a 1952 Deluxe model 80 and also a 1953 model.  I also read somewhere that 51 was the first year that the Delta light switch went on the top tube.  Thanks.


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## Freqman1 (Nov 5, 2012)

I would say '54 is about right (based on the chrome headlight) even though I cant find those exact tank graphics in the book. The bike is probably HP Snyder built but is a Hawthorne not a Rollfast. V/r Shawn


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## fordsnake (Nov 5, 2012)

Freqman1 said:


> "The bike is not a Rollfast." V/r Shawn




Really? Judging by the proprietary characteristics of the chain ring, the front springer, the bottom of the front fork, the holes above the rear dropouts and the frame geometry…these details are similar to the 26” Hopalong Cassidy bike, and other DP Harris bikes commonly known as Rollfast, but sold under the Hawthorne brand name!

http://luxlow.com/bicycles/1948-hawthorne-deluxe-tank-ballooner-bike/
http://luxlow.com/bicycles/1955-rollfast-made-hawthorne-ballooner-bike/

As history suggests Rollfast bicycles was a partnership between two business entities; The D. P. Harris Hardware & Mfg Co and H. P. Snyder Mfg Co.

The D. P. Harris was renowned for many products. Around the turn of the century Mr. Harris became a distributor of the Reading Standard Bicycle and established a factory to produce bike and skate parts including ball bearings.  About the same time, Homer Snyder (H.P. Snyder) and his partner Michael Fisher of Fisher of Little Falls, NY started manufacturing circular ring knitting machines. Like so many other sewing machine companies at the time, Snyder and Fisher, began producing a line of high quality bikes under the "S & F line" name. Four years later the company was forced to reorganize with the retirement of Fisher, and the company was renamed the H. P. Snyder Mfg Co. 

In the early 1900's Snyder had 300 bikes that he was unable to sell. DP Harris offered to sell the bikes and had sold them in less than a week. A partnership was born between the two companies.  

Harris and Snyder agreed that the Snyder Company would market their bikes directly to large department stores such as Montgomery Wards who sold the under the Hawthorne brand name. 

This move benefited the Harris Company since they supplied parts, such as handlebars and sprockets. The Hawthorne bikes also used Torrington pedals and U.S. Royal tires which were distributed by DP Harris. 

In 1948 Rollfast introduced a new line of standard and deluxe models. The top model had a slightly different springer and fork, a painted "wing" design on the tank, "ball" type headlight mounted to the springer, and a two tone metallic paint combination, available in green, blue or burgundy contrasted with silver.

So not to labor this any longer, lets reprise decath6431 question, *“Anyone know the year of this Montgomery Ward Hawthorne?” *Based on the photos supplied this particular model _(similar to a Rollfast)_ was produced with slight differences between 1948 through 1955.


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## PeterScherer (Nov 6, 2012)

Quick question: is there a number stamped on the front of the seat post tube? It should be just below the second bar on the vertical frame rail. I have a 1952 Hawthorne that I just restored that has a build date stamped there. The number will be in reverse; so the last two digits of the number in that spot are the reverse of the year, if that make any sense. For example: mine was 6-4-25. So June 4th 1952. I'm not sure if this applies to all Hawthornes but an elderly bike expert told me about this a few months back.
Peter


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## decath6431 (Nov 7, 2012)

Didn't see anything on the seat tube, but thanks for the suggestion.  The only #'s I see stamped are on the bottom bracket hanger and look to read "35 SN" .  The 3 and 5 are pretty clear, as I think is the N.  The S may be an 8?  It's just kind of hard to see.  There is also what looks to be a capital "I" stamped on the left rear dropout.  Not sure if that means anything to anybody.  Thanks.


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## Freqman1 (Nov 7, 2012)

Based on the previous post this may indicate '53. Your bike has many similarities to my '52 Hawthorne Model 80 such as the turn signal on the top bar. I believe earlier bikes had this on the handlebars. V/r Shawn


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## decath6431 (Nov 7, 2012)

I can buy that...sure does look extremely similar to yours, and I can at least reasonably date it based on that theory and similarity to the prior year model.  Thanks to everyone for their help.  It's much appreciated.


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## Adamtinkerer (Nov 9, 2012)

1953. Snyder started stamping the year in reverse around 1940. Phil/rms37 has positively ID'd some 1940 and 41 Snyder Hawthornes with one year only features, that were stamped 04 and 14. This pattern appears to continue through about 1956ish. It's not corroborated by any factory info, since there isn't any out there that I know of. But, for all intents and purposes, this is the most accurate way to decipher the year of a Snyder frame from those years.


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