1939 Schwinn Cycle Truck

[GTs58]

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

John,
From many examples over the years, we know that Schwinn's practice of introducing a new model in advance of the next years models was somewhat common and some of the new Cycle Trucks could very well have been built and sold in 1938, even possibly with a fall entry. @Freqman1 s (X) 1938 serial number may very well back that up. These earlier releases were never in any of the catalogs prior to the new model year's catalog so it's very likely that these were introduced sometime in 1938, but 1937 would be quite a big stretch. I found it interesting that these weren't produced in 1945-46, but after you mentioned the post war surplus that would make sense explaining the reason why. The USPS in the City of Mesa used CT's well into the late 70's. When I was painting my house I removed the metal mail box attached to the Carport wall. When Mr. Mailman came riding up on his CT he chewed my azz for removing the mail box telling me that mail box was USPS's property and I had no business removing it. I told him I was painting the walls with latex paint and I was going to paint the mail box with a different color and in oil and that's why I removed it. He didn't back down and rode away grumpy.

 

[Schwinn Sales West]

GT,
Catalogs, both Consumer and the Schwinn Dealer Catalogs are just reporting a snapshot of time. They represented the information that was accurate about two weeks "before they went to press". Schwinn held up that information for a reason, likely a good reason, but we can only speculate today 70 some years later. Bringing an "entirely new model" like the Cycle Truck to market would be difficult even today. It had many special unique parts that Schwinn would need to fabricate. In addition, they would have needed to place vendor orders for special parts and have received the parts orders before production. It was not like releasing a new color, or hub on an existing model. Lots of things could have delayed the release.

If they missed the deadline to make the New Years Dealer Catalog, they would have just made a separate dealer mailing with a flyer and an order form. You can find many examples of new models being advertised to the public before they appeared in Schwinn's catalogs. The new Sting Ray, the new 27"wheel 10 speed Continental, and the new 8 speed Varsity were in Boy's Life ads before I can find them in Schwinn's catalogs. This is another example of the Early Release bikes you mentioned. In short, catalogs might be the best information we have today, but catalogs are far from a 100% accurate Storey.

It's just a WAG (wild azz guess) but who's to say Schwinn was not producing Cycle Trucks for Government Contract during 1945-46? If they were not sold/shipped to Schwinn Dealers, they would not have shown up as sales/production records. It's just my guess, I have nothing to back it up. But how do you explain all of the Schwinn Cycle Trucks being used in Maricopa County during the 1950's by the U.S. Post Office. And they were painted Army Olive Drab Green, a color that was not in Schwinn's color option list. Somehow, the war surplus Schwinn Cycle Trucks got from Chicago to Arizona, AND it happened during a period when Schwinn made NO Cycle Trucks? Again, I have nothing to back up my dream, but I'd like to hear a better answer.

Ask that mailman when he plans to come by your house and paint "his mailbox", LOL.

John

 

[Fifthcenturycheese]

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

Do you know of an existing image of the red, white and blue Post Office Dept. paint scheme with Mr. Zip?

 

[Fifthcenturycheese]

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

If Schwinn had decided to build CT's again, do you think the fenders would have been painted or chromed? Perhaps fenderless with a newer kick stand system?

 

[Ricollector]

Here is my 1939 that I restored a few years ago.

Before:

After:

 

[Schwinn Sales West]

Do you know of an existing image of the red, white and blue Post Office Dept. paint scheme with Mr. Zip?

No, Sorry. What I do remember, is that they had a really crappy quality paint job. It was like we see today where a kid "might have taken off the wheels" then hit it with a spray bomb! The paint jobs were quickly done with no, or maybe just minimal "paint prep". The job was in the same colors still in use today by the Post Office in Red/White/Blue, like the flag.

They had these really cool stickers of MR. Zip. They were promoting their new at the time ZIP Code system. MR. Zip looked like Speedy Alka-Seltzer's brother.

John

 

[Schwinn Sales West]

If Schwinn had decided to build CT's again, do you think the fenders would have been painted or chromed? Perhaps fenderless with a newer kick stand system?

I don't think they would have made any model changes. I believe they would have sourced as many current "off the shelf" parts as possible to keep the production costs down. They would have had to make any OSHA, and CPSC safety updates that might have been updated since they stopped making them in 1967. Things like reflectors, and the chainguards with a larger degree of coverage. Colors likely would have included a safety OSHA Yellow, or Day Glow Orange because they would have been targeted to industrial and commercial sales. Due to cost and environmental concerns, the era for any chrome parts is dead.

But then you have to consider, in this country we no longer have any factories building anything, so what factories and warehouses would be looking to buy Cycle Trucks? Where's the market? And Amazon is going to be delivering your small packages to your house via drones, not new "Amazon Grey" Schwinn Cycle Trucks.

John

 

[GTs58]

Do you know of an existing image of the red, white and blue Post Office Dept. paint scheme with Mr. Zip?

The paint on the USPS Cycle Trucks varied considerably, there was no standard across the board specifications. Here is what the Mesa AZ USPS CT's looked like thru the 60's and 70's. Nothing fancy, just blue with maybe some white trim detailing and panel markings.

Edit: Adding another photo for reference. 1950's

 

[Fifthcenturycheese]

No, Sorry. What I do remember, is that they had a really crappy quality paint job. It was like we see today where a kid "might have taken off the wheels" then hit it with a spray bomb! The paint jobs were quickly done with no, or maybe just minimal "paint prep". The job was in the same colors still in use today by the Post Office in Red/White/Blue, like the flag.

They had these really cool stickers of MR. Zip. They were promoting their new at the time ZIP Code system. MR. Zip looked like Speedy Alka-Seltzer's brother.

John

A sticker that looked like this? Was it placed on the basket or on the sign plaques? The sticker is dated May of 63.

 

[Fifthcenturycheese]

I don't think they would have made any model changes. I believe they would have sourced as many current "off the shelf" parts as possible to keep the production costs down. They would have had to make any OSHA, and CPSC safety updates that might have been updated since they stopped making them in 1967. Things like reflectors, and the chainguards with a larger degree of coverage. Colors likely would have included a safety OSHA Yellow, or Day Glow Orange because they would have been targeted to industrial and commercial sales. Due to cost and environmental concerns, the era for any chrome parts is dead.

But then you have to consider, in this country we no longer have any factories building anything, so what factories and warehouses would be looking to buy Cycle Trucks? Where's the market? And Amazon is going to be delivering your small packages to your house via drones, not new "Amazon Grey" Schwinn Cycle Trucks.

John

I was asking your opinion based on your late 70's conversation with the Schwinn VP and what they would have looked like at that time. I own two, one of which I have considered finishing in the similar fashion of the California Cruiser/Spitfire decal and paint scheme...or the P.O. Dept scheme as I am associated with the USPS.