robertc
Wore out three sets of tires already!
A few weeks ago I was telling Darci (nickinator) about one of my bikes that started my bicycle addiction. Telling her about the bike made wonder, should I share the story with everyone else? Well here it is the story behind my first vintage bicycle. This girl’s Schwinn Autocycle had been originally purchased by Harry and Ruth Pearson who lived at 2425 Walnut Street, Blue Isle Illinois. Harry purchased a DX for himself and the Autocycle for Ruth. The Person’s purchased these two bikes from the Fair Store (The Fair Store was a discount department store founded in 1874 in Chicago Illinois) on March, 20 1942 three months after the US entered into WWII. The Pearson’ was both doctors and after retiring moved from Blue Isle to Durham, N.C. where they lived until their passing. This is where I came into the scene. I found the bike listed on auctionzip to be sold at auction at the Person’s estate on March 16, 2010. My girlfriend and I took off to Durham that Saturday morning. Following the GPS we were within one mile of the auction and running late when we rounded a curve and found an overturned vehicle. My girlfriend is a firefighter/paramedic and I am a Firefighter/Emergency Medical Technician so we had a duty to stop and render aid. The vehicle turned out to be a Durham County Paramedic unit. We utilized the equipment on board to treat the medics who luckily had sustained minor injuries who had no patients on board. As soon as the local responders arrived we turned over care to them and rushed to the auction. We arrived just when it had started. 68 years and 4 days after Harry and Ruth purchased these bikes in 1942, I was the proud owner of Ruth’s Autocycle purchased at the auction. Harry’s DX went to an absentee bidder who is also a cabe member. The Autocycle has all of her original paint but I had to re-chrome all of the metal parts. The neat thing about this bicycle is I have the original bill of sale, the original safety tag and a 1942 bicycle tag from Blue Isle, Illinois. All of the items were handed to me after the sale in an envelope with the Pearson’ names on it along with two Schwinn Typhoon tire by the auctioneer. I was loading the bike up and the Pearson’s daughter came up to me and said “her mother loved that bike”. Now, my girlfriend rides it in the local parades and shows it in bike meets. We love the old bike but I just love having the history behind it. See attached photos.
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