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Westfield Frame Numbers 1933 - 1945

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Wow, that is incredible to think about. That’s the mentality that I love and these bikes are really a vehicle- to the past. Thank you as always, you’ve been a wealth of info for me and I’m sure many others. Keeping it alive.


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I bought this Westfield Columbia Viking bicycle near Heerenveen in the Netherlands today. Seller had this bike for around 40 years in his personal collection. He told a American soldier left the bicycle to his grandmother in 1944 near Dokkum.

They repainted it during or just after war. This is the framenumber I found.

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Hi @Jorgos

It's a nice, quite complete Westfield produced Viking, but memories and stories can become a little clouded over that length of time. Perhaps it was left by US troops stationed in the Netherlands after the war, as they were for several years.

L32793 is a Westfield 1947 build number, probably the first third of 1947. If you look a few posts above yours at posts 68 and 69, you can see another L 1947 bicycle with the same frame.

It is a rare bike in Europe, and would be expensive to import into Europe if you wanted one from the US today.

I hope that's not too disappointing.

Best Regards,

Adrian
 
Hey Adrian! Thanks for getting this thread started and moderating it! I pulled my grandfather’s Westfield Crawford Model F38677 out of the old garage and gave it a quick cleaning. It is in riding condition and I was surprised that the tires still had air in them! The seat is really good too! I have no idea what year it was made but I’m sure he’s replaced parts on it. I’d love to find an original picture of what the model looked like so I could try to restore it.
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Hi @jasoncarubia

Welcome, and thanks for your kind remarks.

Thank you also for supplying some details on your bike. Crawford was an early independant bicycle maker up to around 1900, but, during a complicated historical period for bikes in the US around 1900, the name eventually belonged to Westfield, and they seem to have used it in the 1930's to produce bikes that were similar to the standard Westfields, but with perhaps a few minor differences in equipment, paint schemes etc. I've had a quick look, and there doesn't seem to be a known copy of a Crawrd catalogue around.

F38677 was made early 1941. If you'd like an exact date, there is probably another letter/number combination above the main serial number, possibly H2 or H3. If you can tell us that, it will tie it down further.

This is the 1941 Westfield from their catalogue. Yours would have similarities, but wouldn't be the same.

1212455


I'm guessing yours originally had no basket, did have the 'truss rods' in front of the fork, would have had a similar saddle and handlebars.
The chainguard on yours was available and used by Westfield, so could be original. The chainwheel is the first I've seen like that, so may be a replacement, or it could be specifically 'Crawford'. It's difficult to know.

Anyway, whether you decide to try to restore it to 'factory', or just clean it up and use it as your family have modified it, it's a nice bike, and there arn't that many of this type out there.

Let the CABE see what you finally do, we'll always be interested;

Best Regards,,

Adrian
 
Just picked this up off Craigslist. If I am reading the serial number right, is this a 1943? It has the black out wood pedals and off set head-badge screws. Someone swapped out the sprocket and rear wheel but I have the correct blackout crank & sprocket.. Anyone have parts for this?

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Hi,
Nice bike. I dig the color.
I believe you are correct. I recall an ad with an army guy calling it a "Compax Paratrooper".
Perhaps you can find this ad if you Google it.
-T
 
That add I believe was to market the ‘46 civilian models when they adopted the Paratrooper name head badge.
 
Hi @Sarg1969

It's a Westfield Compax F92H.

The frame number G14144A L2 tells us the frame was made in February 1944, and it was built up into a bike at about the same time. At this point they were still building the last of the Military G519 bikes, so the nearest surviving frame number I have to yours is 53 after yours, a G519, MG14197A belonging to @blackcat


What appears to have happened with your bike is that a batch of frames was made in February 1942. Yours(and some others) were built up then, and then the last G519 bikes took priority. The balance of L2 dated F92H were bulit up when G519 production ended, about a couple of weeks later.

The next surviving F92H I have listed is G15186A L2 belonging to @Bozman (Sorry, I don't have a picture).

The next closest, I have quite a bit of detail on, G43404A; L3 belonging to @R.Wheeler


you'll see a bit more history discussion there, and what your badge looks like without the paint. Also, an idea of what parts are missing. You have most of the special parts, except the shorter chainguard (which may not have been fitted to yours anyway, difficult to know). @Krakatoa may be able to help with parts.

Yours still has a green handgrip off a Military bicycle, I have seen these fitted to Compax's in the past too.

Your frame has the extra reinforcing rods at the rear which is common to wartime versions. The intention of Westfield was to try to sell this as a Paratroop bike to the US Army and Marines, but there's no evidence this happened. The bikes were certainly bought as transport by the Army, and also by civilians. Postwar, Westfield changed the name to Paratrooper to try to use this as an advertising lever.

Best Regards,

Adrian
 
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