1940-41 Big Tank Dayton

[37fleetwood]

these are coming up lately aren't they?
actually don't let it fool you these are extremely rare birds.
the story is this. I have wanted one of these more than anything for over 10 years but when I had the money one wasn't available at any price, and when I was broke I've had to watch a few go by.
well when Dave then Nate got theirs, I finally decided to make it happen for me too. I put the word out and was helped by Scott McC. here and located a tank. and I found the bike hiding in plain sight on ebay.
you may have noticed I have been letting go of stuff I wouldn't regularly sell, but finally I'm getting really close to making it all come together. once done, I'll have a mostly original paint bike, only the tank will be repainted.
please help me by buying something, I'll make a deal.
here are the photos of the bike (with the wrong tank) and tank.

 

[npence]

I'm glad to see you finally got your dream bike Scott. Can't wait to see the big tank on it.

 

[cyclingday]

I'm glad to see you finally got your dream bike Scott. Can't wait to see the big tank on it.

When opportunity knocks, open the door!

Carol Merrill just opened door number two for Scott, and he found a big tank Huffman waiting inside.

 

[37fleetwood]

well, I just sent off the check for the first half. this part of the deal is for a basket case 1940 Twin-Flex with all the trimmings. I can hopefully sell most of it to help pay for the bike in the photo above.
anyone interested in a 1940 Twin-Flex project? I'm keeping a few choice parts but there will still be enough there to start a really cool bike!

 

[npence]

I would be interested in the twin flex.

 

[John]

sent pm

I Sent a PM

 

[fatbike]

This paticular model has come up a lot. I noticed two show up on eBay about a year ago or maybe last summer. And someone i know here in Portland has one. Cool bicycle Scott. Congrats!

 

[37fleetwood]

I don't know that I would go so far as to say a lot, but more than usual for sure. the others have all been Huffmans if I'm not mistaken, this one is a Dayton. this one is also one of the nicest original paint ones I've seen. there a few Huffmans out there with better paint but the Daytons seem more rare. anyway I'm certainly excited.
maybe I'll have to move my Champion Mainliner thread over from my old site soon.

 

[BWbiker]

Huffman from a Dayton from a Firestone.....

Scott, you are the resident Huffman guy so hopefully you can answer this.
My '40 is Silver, Red darts and black pin stripes OE paint.
Original single flex front fork with the deep McCully (sp?) fenders.
Welded on kickstand, never had a head badge.
Is this color combo a tell for the brand it was sold under? I was told Firestone.
There are no decals present.
Thanks, Brad

 

[37fleetwood]

You know Brad, that's a great question. we're getting ahead of where I'm at on this subject. I've been focussed on the Streamlines and what's correct and haven't gotten into the subtle nuances of the Mainliner and Champion line. I'm really looking forward to getting this all hammered out, and in fact I have had a discussion with Nate about us going through the learning process together. perhaps I should start a thread and invite anyone interested in delving deeper to join the discussions. for now my answer has to be that the Firestone ads do not mention color for that model in that year. The Huffman catalog does list color options but not silver and red. I sadly do not have the Dayton catalog so I not sure what the options were. Silver and red were used by Firestone, but we can't say for sure if this is the case on your bike.
the no head badge thing would be a good indication that it was a big tank bike, but there were Champions built without tanks and I'm not sure about them.
I do have this for you, it's the original paint Front Flex fork on the 1940 Twin-Flex that's coming.