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1940 Davega Girl - Reggie Mac
- Thread starter pedalpower17
- Start date
pedalpower17
Finally riding a big boys bike
appreciated...much cheaper than a therapist
pedalpower17
Finally riding a big boys bike
Frame paint is original and beautiful. I'd prefer the original, brewster green tank....and avoid the need to try my hand at a matching patina paint job. Any help out there?
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pedalpower17
Finally riding a big boys bike
SUGGESTIONS? The fender braces were covered with an old coat of brush-on silver paint. Today this was removed with water and copper wool. What's left is a mix of bare metal, a silver toned coating (I'm assuming that was the original) and a brownish/tarnished coating. In this photo, the brown toned areas might appear to be rust, but it's not. Other than re-coating or painting, any thoughts on how make these look a little better? Stay healthy, everybody.
pedalpower17
Finally riding a big boys bike
FENDERS: Pretty clean! I'm sure most of you will agree, one fun part of this hobby is guessing at the history of a bike by its scars. In the case of this rear fender, and all the scratches on top of it, there's no need to guess. You'll notice from the first photo in this thread, when I got the bike it had a 50s color-matching Westfield rack retrofitted, probably 10 or 15 years after the bike was made (1940). While the color match was perfect, this bike did not originally have a rack. The result was all that scratching on the rear fender.
Also, I'm liking more and more this "brewster" green color. When indoors or in dim light, it can easily be mistaken for black. But put it out in the bright Spring sunshine, and the deep green color explodes. For comparison, look at these two pics, both taken this morning. I'm really pleased that this original paint survived its first 80 years so well.
Finally, looking at those eyelets on the rear fender and already wondering how in the name of Reggie McNamara I'm ever going to do a lace job that is similar in complexity to the original ones! Really hoping that @bentwoody66 will be willing to elaborate a little bit on his helpful post from a few years back! Anyway, yesterday I ordered the 1mm black hemp cord for the skirt guard. It will first be aged with a period of 24/7 exposure and then the washing machine. Also, I still need the pair of those spring lace loops that hook into the braces. I've posted on Wanted for them.
Also, I'm liking more and more this "brewster" green color. When indoors or in dim light, it can easily be mistaken for black. But put it out in the bright Spring sunshine, and the deep green color explodes. For comparison, look at these two pics, both taken this morning. I'm really pleased that this original paint survived its first 80 years so well.
Finally, looking at those eyelets on the rear fender and already wondering how in the name of Reggie McNamara I'm ever going to do a lace job that is similar in complexity to the original ones! Really hoping that @bentwoody66 will be willing to elaborate a little bit on his helpful post from a few years back! Anyway, yesterday I ordered the 1mm black hemp cord for the skirt guard. It will first be aged with a period of 24/7 exposure and then the washing machine. Also, I still need the pair of those spring lace loops that hook into the braces. I've posted on Wanted for them.
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pedalpower17
Finally riding a big boys bike
The tank has been an odyssey. This Davega girl had no tank when I bought it, but I'm fairly certain it had one originally. First, I had to determine what were the correct graphics. This question was answered by an image of the Westfield "50" Series F50T, provided by a fellow Michigander @cds2323 , and which appears above in my first post of this thread. While I searched for the original brewster green/ivory tank with these graphics, I acquired the blue Westfield tank also shown in the first post above. The plan was, in case no original could be found, I would patina paint this one to match. As you can see, the graphics on this blue tank are the same as the the ones on the tank of the Westfield Model D70S, whose catalog page also appears in my first post above. I had assumed that the tank of the F50T and the D70S were the same, only painted differently. As I was preparing to paint the tank, I reached out here on the CABE to see if anyone actually owned a Westfield bike with this teardrop graphic. Even if not for sale, I was looking for a closeup image and dimensions of the ivory teardrop. Chris @fat tire trader responded, saying that he had a black/ivory tank and it was for sale. I didn't need another off color tank, so I asked and he was helpful in providing me with pictures and teardrop dimensions from his tank. That's when the project took a couple steps back. Turned out that his teardrop graphic was as long as my entire tank. Something wasn't right. Upon more careful review of the F50T and the D70S images, I noticed that the D70S tank only comes down to the small support tube connecting the frame's two down tubes. This tank is relatively short. On the other hand, the F50T tank reaches down beyond that support tube. It's a couple inches longer!!! So, I bought the black/ivory tank from @fat tire trader and it arrived today. This is super helpful because not only does this Westfield tank have the correct dimensions for my Davega, but now I can trace the teardrop and be able to reproduce it accurately once the tank is converted to brewster green. Anyone need a clean and primed D70S style tank? Finally, the last part required for this project is a working horn to fit the F50T tank.
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pedalpower17
Finally riding a big boys bike
Frame with original paint. Tank is repainted...my attempt at patina match.
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pedalpower17
Finally riding a big boys bike
A lot of water under the bridge since my last post. Now life, slowly but surely, is offering an opportunity to spend a little time with my Davega girl. Recently, I overcame the most intimidating step of the project...lacing the skirt guard. I wanted to make it as close to the original lace pattern as possible. I don’t pretend to think that any of you guys will mistake it for an accurate duplication of the original diamond pattern, but after a lot of trial and error, I’m fairly satisfied with the result.
Now another big question has come up with my project. When I bought this pre-war Davega, it had a rack on it. See the photo appearing at the beginning of this thread. Despite the exact brewster green paint, I concluded that this was a post war rack added to this bike in the late 40s or 50s. The 12-hole rack sure looks like one that Westfield was using in the 50s. Also, the Columbia/Westfield book doesn't include pics of any pre-war racks similar to this one. I felt relief when I removed the rack. It felt like another little step in taking her back to original form. However, recently I stumbled on the image below, the same junior Davega model in the same brewster green color….and with the same rack. Could it possibly be that two of these bikes were retrofitted with the same 50s style rack? Or was this OE? Any thoughts for the CABE experts will be appreciated.
Now another big question has come up with my project. When I bought this pre-war Davega, it had a rack on it. See the photo appearing at the beginning of this thread. Despite the exact brewster green paint, I concluded that this was a post war rack added to this bike in the late 40s or 50s. The 12-hole rack sure looks like one that Westfield was using in the 50s. Also, the Columbia/Westfield book doesn't include pics of any pre-war racks similar to this one. I felt relief when I removed the rack. It felt like another little step in taking her back to original form. However, recently I stumbled on the image below, the same junior Davega model in the same brewster green color….and with the same rack. Could it possibly be that two of these bikes were retrofitted with the same 50s style rack? Or was this OE? Any thoughts for the CABE experts will be appreciated.
cds2323
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
I would think your rack is original. The top isn’t shown but it looks like it’s at least in the 41 Westfield catalog. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it on prewar Westfield built ELGIN’s too. The rack is also used post war well into the middle weight era. I also think that the curve at the front of the rack may be different where it attaches to the frame. Seems like I had two at once awhile ago and they were slightly different.
Here’s a link to a prewar rack listed awhile ago https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/prewar-westfield-fork-truss-rods-and-rack.184388/
Here’s a link to a prewar rack listed awhile ago https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/prewar-westfield-fork-truss-rods-and-rack.184388/
pedalpower17
Finally riding a big boys bike
cds2323, thanks for the comments and link. Taking both into consideration, I've now reversed my thinking. Mine looks just like the blue one in the post whose link you included. These prewar Westfield racks must have been really weak at the tabs that connect to the seat post. All that I've seen are broken, mine included. See below. Now I'll come up with some kind of replacement extensions. Otherwise, mine is really straight and clean.
