Any info about an AMF Bingmaster? Year?

[eeyore5588]

Looking for a year and/ or any info on this bike. It has balloon tires on it but I've never heard of it. Can't seem to find anything on the internet. Thanks!

 

[Freqman1]

Looks late '50s/early '60s and has a bent fork.

 

[Oilit]

That stamped steel front piece on the tank was only used a couple of years, 1960 and '61. For 1962 they went to the molded plastic front piece. It was made by AMF for somebody, but I don't know who the somebody was. I don't recall ever seeing a "Bingmaster" before. And this is the first AMF serial number I've seen starting with "O", so that's a new wrinkle too. Covers of the 1961 and 1962 Roadmaster catalogs showing the Jet Pilot:

 

[eeyore5588]

That stamped steel front piece on the tank was only used a couple of years, 1960 and '61. For 1962 they went to the molded plastic front piece. It was made by AMF for somebody, but I don't know who the somebody was. I don't recall ever seeing a "Bingmaster" before. And this is the first AMF serial number I've seen starting with "O", so that's a new wrinkle too. Covers of the 1961 and 1962 Roadmaster catalogs showing the Jet Pilot:

View attachment 1932240

View attachment 1932241

Thanks for your input. Interesting.

 

[eeyore5588]

That stamped steel front piece on the tank was only used a couple of years, 1960 and '61. For 1962 they went to the molded plastic front piece. It was made by AMF for somebody, but I don't know who the somebody was. I don't recall ever seeing a "Bingmaster" before. And this is the first AMF serial number I've seen starting with "O", so that's a new wrinkle too. Covers of the 1961 and 1962 Roadmaster catalogs showing the Jet Pilot:

View attachment 1932240

View attachment 1932241

Huffy made an F85 in 1961 but the tank is different.

 

[ian]

Maybe it was a Ringmaster and someone vandalized the first R ??

 

[eeyore5588]

Maybe it was a Ringmaster and someone vandalized the first R ??

It doesn't look to be tampered with.

 

[Andrew Gorman]

A little rooting around found Bingmaster was a trade name for Bingham Hardware based in Cleveland:

W. BINGHAM CO. | Encyclopedia of Cleveland History | Case Western Reserve University

The W. BINGHAM CO., one of the Midwest's largest hardware concerns, was founded by WILLIAM BINGHAM and HENRY C. BLOSSOM when they purchased the hardwa...

case.edu

 

[Oilit]

If you click the icon of @eeyore5588, it shows he's from Findley OH, so it makes sense that it was a regional chain.

 

[eeyore5588]

A little rooting around found Bingmaster was a trade name for Bingham Hardware based in Cleveland:

W. BINGHAM CO. | Encyclopedia of Cleveland History | Case Western Reserve University

The W. BINGHAM CO., one of the Midwest's largest hardware concerns, was founded by WILLIAM BINGHAM and HENRY C. BLOSSOM when they purchased the hardwa...

case.edu

View attachment 1990851

Thank you for the info.