jimmythefly
'Lil Knee Scuffer
Don't think that tank came out till 40 and 41 came out with the curved seat stay style frame. Murry built as said ( biggest giveaway is the tank! ), most everything looks OG except seat & pedals, can't see the grips to good and not really sure about the stem & missing light, Great project, just change the seat & pedals and make it a rider!
This site shows what they say is a spring 1939 catalog with the tank in it. (pics below) But the tank shown has a horn in it and the horn button, I'm not clear if a plain tank was offered that year or not. (and lots of other details don't match my bike -I have painted wheels, zero chrome, etc.).
I have read elsewhere that in addition to manufacturing differences and running changes in product spec, that individual Sears locations could order from a larger list of parts and accessories and order/assemble/spec bikes for their sales floor that wouldn't necessarily match catalog descriptions and pictures.
The catalog descriptions and pictures could be off too -I've been tangentially involved in that sort of thing a couple different industries and I'd never presume that the catalog actually showed exactly what really showed up in the shipping carton!
So I could see how a bike with painted rims, no chrome, and a simple tank might be ordered as a budget model, but a step up from the one with no tank at all.