1939 Schwinn Cycle Truck

[GroodyBros]

I recently completed a restoration for a customer of a 1939 Schwinn Cycle Truck. Believe it or not, he didn't know what he had found when he bought it. He just thought it looked pretty cool. Bought it at a farm sale for $35.00. Oh to be so lucky! The front fender is not authentic, but it's what it arrived with, so I used it. The color scheme is pretty close to what it would have been when new.

 

[Freqman1]

The bike would have been one color when new.

 

[EastsideSchwinn]

The bike would have been one color when new.

Not in '39

 

[EastsideSchwinn]

The paint work came out great! Looks killer!
These are my two "39s

 

[Freqman1]

Not in '39

Not in '39

View attachment 1874178

Main color-not different color on fenders.

 

[EastsideSchwinn]

Main color-not different color on fenders.

Doh.. I didn't notice that. Looks good either way

 

[Schwinn Sales West]

The bike would have been one color when new.

In the 1941 "Dealer Catalog" (I do not have a 1939 Dealer Catalog, only a 1939 consumer catalog) the color options for a Cycle Truck were White, Ivory, or Cream with blue stripe or black, light red, blue, or bright yellow with stripe. It's worded so you could read it several ways, but they were all one color (not two tone) with a contrasting pin stripe color. I'm not sure where the Bright Yellow came from because it was not available on any other Schwinn model that year. They were considered industrial/commercial units, never painted too flashy back in the day. In the 1950's the U.S. post office department had Cycle Trucks still painted Olive Drab from the Army war surplus purchase. These were later repainted Red/White/Blue to match the Post Office new image with MR. ZIP (code).

Nothing is wrong with two or three tones, but originally, they were built in one color with a contrasting pin stripe color done in a very thin "box style". The colors on Cycle Trucks followed the color changes of the other Schwinn models of the same production year.

In theory, it was possible to order any Schwinn model (but not those with a X in the model number) with REVERSE GAURDS "if wanted". It seems easy to visualize that on a deluxe model bicycle with two different colors that you could reverse for the effect. But I'm not sure how that would work on a single-color bike like a Cycle Truck? But for the record, it was listed as an option.

Note, the Cycle Truck was not listed as a model in either the 1937, or the 1938 Dealer Catalogs. It's our belief that it was first available in 1937, but if it was, it's weird that it was still not in the 1938 model year Dealer Catalog. I'm not sure how this model's information was released to the dealers. Just more minutia.

John

 

[GTs58]

I have no idea where this information originated.

 

[Freqman1]

In the 1941 "Dealer Catalog" (I do not have a 1939 Dealer Catalog, only a 1939 consumer catalog) the color options for a Cycle Truck were White, Ivory, or Cream with blue stripe or black, light red, blue, or bright yellow with stripe. It's worded so you could read it several ways, but they were all one color (not two tone) with a contrasting pin stripe color. I'm not sure where the Bright Yellow came from because it was not available on any other Schwinn model that year. They were considered industrial/commercial units, never painted too flashy back in the day. In the 1950's the U.S. post office department had Cycle Trucks still painted Olive Drab from the Army war surplus purchase. These were later repainted Red/White/Blue to match the Post Office new image with MR. ZIP (code).

Nothing is wrong with two or three tones, but originally, they were built in one color with a contrasting pin stripe color done in a very thin "box style". The colors on Cycle Trucks followed the color changes of the other Schwinn models of the same production year.

In theory, it was possible to order any Schwinn model (but not those with a X in the model number) with REVERSE GAURDS "if wanted". It seems easy to visualize that on a deluxe model bicycle with two different colors that you could reverse for the effect. But I'm not sure how that would work on a single-color bike like a Cycle Truck? But for the record, it was listed as an option.

Note, the Cycle Truck was not listed as a model in either the 1937, or the 1938 Dealer Catalogs. It's our belief that it was first available in 1937, but if it was, it's weird that it was still not in the 1938 model year Dealer Catalog. I'm not sure how this model's information was released to the dealers. Just more minutia.

John

Here’s a CT I sold about ten years ago with an “X” serial. I always thought it was earlier than ‘39.

Rare Early 1939 Cycle Truck | Sell - Trade: Bicycle Parts, Accessories, Ephemera

According to the serial # experts this CT was one of the earliest made as the serial #s starting with "X" run from mid '37 to Aug of '38. This would make this one of the earliest CTs out there (the CT was introduced fo rthe '39 model year). This has some wrong/missing parts but is still a solid...

thecabe.com

 

[Schwinn Sales West]

I have no idea where this information originated.

View attachment 1874215

GT,
The motorcycle industry tracks actual vehicle DMV "sold vehicle" registrations so they can tract and forecast sales trends. The primary reason is to control the flow of inventory built and warehoused. Neither "too much", or "too little" is not good for business. They have a manufacturers association called M.I.C. (Motorcycle Industry Council) that pays for the service and one person from each manufacturer sits on the council.

The bicycle industry is not as sophisticated, and frankly not willing to invest in a similar tracking system. The problem is in acquiring the "sold sales" information in a timely manner. Dealers do not share their sales with the distributors and manufacturers. The manufacturers do not share with each other. In the past 60 years several different groups have tried to get a tracking system started. The NBDA (national bicycle dealers association), and the BIA (Bicycle Institute of America, Interbike, are just a few names. Jay Townley a Vice President at Schwinn, and later at Giant Bicycle tried hard to pull the industry together. You have to take a "big picture" view on a project like this. No one ever went out of business because they were low on inventory, but if you screwed up and ordered unicycles when mountain bikes were selling you would be dead in the water. An industry wide tracking system is a huge help to the inventory guys that have to make the hard financial choices of what to order three to six months in advance. The MIC motorcycle tracking system would tell you how many of each model, each brand, were sold last month in a sales area like say Los Angeles. It was all broken down into market share percentages

The copy of the letter you posted is something I have seen before. It would not surprise me if it was written by Jay Townley.

In the late 1970's, I had a beer with Al Fritz another Schwinn VP. I was asking him why not build the Cycle Truck again? In return he asked me if I could sell more Cycle Trucks, or more Schwinn Airdynes? The Cycle Truck was near to my heart, but let's face it, the Airdyne's profit paid the bills.

John