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WW2? Huffman - Military Surplus? Mystery!

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Dave Stromberger

I'm Afraid I Can't Let You Do That
System Administrator
I have a mystery here...

It seems to be a WW2 era Huffman, but a few things are "wrong". Brazed frame, and no year stamped into the bottom bracket? Talking with Scott @37fleetwood, he says "Surplus" is the answer, and that this frame is a regular 1938 frame.

But the orginal paint is OD green, and many of the correct WW2 era parts on it too... correct seat (with OD green chassis), toolbag, OD green crank, 10 guage spoke wheels with Eclipse front hub, Morrow rear dated M2, with original OD green paint under the blue.

And explain that 40-1 style chainguard on a '38 frame? Bracket is mounted specially to fit a straight down-tube... and traces of original OD green are on the guard.

Known incorrect stuff... truss rods, chrome sprocket, and possibly the fenders. I could not find any trace of OD green on them. Bike was also found with a 3-rib tank on it, no trace of OD green of course. We suspect that at some point, parts from another Huffman found there way onto this bike.

Any input? Ever see a brazed/non stamped frame on a legit WW2 Huffman? Was it built up from Surplus parts?

John Richardson - WW2 Huffman-009.jpg


John Richardson - WW2 Huffman-013.jpg

John Richardson - WW2 Huffman-001.jpg


John Richardson - WW2 Huffman-002.jpg


John Richardson - WW2 Huffman-004.jpg

John Richardson - WW2 Huffman-014.jpg
 
I am curious about your "brazed" frame comments, are the 519's not brazed? What is the fork date stamp? The guard doesn't seem to be 1940 as it is spot welded on the front brace.
 
The bike is not here now, it belongs to a customer. I'll ask him about the fork detail. All the photos I've seen of Huffman "519" bikes show it with the pre-war style truss fork. I suspect that this fork, along with the truss rods, fenders and sprocket came from a 41 bike... but, as this is a mystery bike, ya just never know!

Brazed vs. welded, that's something that Scott Seymour told me. There are pics on the intertube that show ugly un-finished welds, this one is smooth like a regular production bike.
 
I believe that both Huffman and Columbia probably used up whatever frames were on hand before they started gas welding the frames due to the shortage of brass
 
IMG_2051.JPG
Here's the number on the fork. Hope that is what you are looking for. Thanks for all your help.
 
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