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Bluebird Technical Discussion 1935-1937

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My BB which may be a late 36 or early 37

No braze points under tank
Re-inforced seat post
Alemite kit installed
No headtube protrusion
Signs of gunmetal remnants on the bottom bracket
A - prefix at serial number
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From what i have visually seen on the birds is on the SN B10 B12 B11 are all very close in age as i have come to the thought that A is the first year of Westfield made elgins B is year 2 and the digits after the letter is the month it was made in. So I think all these bikes were made in late 35 and sold in 36 due to the months they were made. Nick.


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Are you inferencing that the 36 all had no reinforcements and that the brazing is the ultimate sign for a 35. I have to disagree from other people which I know are very knowledgable have pointed out the color and reinforcement changes were a 36's the brazing serves no purpose other than a assembly technique. I have no explanation on the fittings other than they were installed on the late 35's due to the changes. The n code prefix is 35. Whith the alpha numeric change indicates a company change and points to a time after 35 say 36. The B-10 11 12 prefixes are interesting. probably wrong but I feel the represents the month of manufacture since it was introduced 3 months of 35. I.e. B-10 could represent October 1935 and so on.
 
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I'm inclined to agree with Redline here. "N" indicates 1935, "A" 1936, and "B" 1937 according to Mr. Columbia's (Ken) site. This said it would appear that somewhere late '35 Westfield stopped the welds/brazing on the bottom of the tank and added the alemite fittings to the bottom bracket. Joe thinks his is a late '36 which the "B12", if indicating month, would confirm. I would like to see some bikes with lower "B" markings so we could get a feel if this is a month indicator or maybe model? V/r Shawn
 
Shawn....the frame is in storage at this moment in time...i can snap a pix when it begins to be a little lighter out and i'm finishing some cartooning that needs to go out the bathroom window to- daze...
 
Oh and dont forget about the head tube protrusion past the sheetmetal. This may be a first production style considering all the later models dont have this feature.
 
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