Firestone/Monark Century 200 Cruiser

[Oilit]

I picked this up in Smyrna GA from the grandson of the original owner. He said his granddad rode this to work everyday at the Lockheed plant and lived to be 97. The fork is bent but it's pretty nice otherwise. The tires are middleweight (Cordovan Deluxe - Made in USA) and fit the fenders so I'm guessing this is '55, '56 or '57. There's a number stamped in the bottom bracket that must be a serial, but it looks like it was stamped through the paint, but maybe that's what Monark did after they stopped using the I.D. plates. There's another on here sold by @IngoMike back in 2020 that's nearly identical which makes for a good comparison, but I've also seen pictures of late '50's Firestone "Century 200's" built by Snyder and AMF and the common factor seems to be the Bendix manual 2 speed.

Sold - 50's Firestone Special Cruiser - CHEAP! | Archive (sold or withdrawn)

50’s Firestone Special Cruiser with Bendix 2-speed. The chain guard is marked Century cruiser “200”. This bike arrived as a middleweight in disguise. I changed out the saddle, bars, tires, pedals and rebuilt the frozen front hub. The rest of the clean-up is for the new owner to decide. The rear...

thecabe.com

 

[Oilit]

The Snyder built version (from a FBM listing) and the AMF version (old auction listing).

 

[razinhellcustomz]

The Snyder built version (from a FBM listing) and the AMF version (old auction listing).

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Nice looking Cruiser 200 Oilit. Looks to be they all were slight differences during the short run of these bikes. Enjoy. Mark.

 

[Oilit]

Nice looking Cruiser 200 Oilit. Looks to be they all were slight differences during the short run of these bikes. Enjoy. Mark.

Thanks Mark! And you're right, it seems like they tried a lot of different details on these bikes, and early middleweights in general.