Goodyear Mercury Pod bike…Looking for original Pod

[Bikesquirrel]

Hiway Patrol…very cool!
Damn front baskets trashed a lot of head badges over time!

So, there was a unique to this bike rear reflector bracket/ housing that “slid into” the fender stays. The reflector was “spring loaded” to absorb shock and keep it from getting broken when bumped.

I recently acquired the same bike, and it’s missing the reflector housing too!

 

[Tom Carroll]

Yeah not sure the basket got the badge. I will have to look harder at the back end but upon first look there was nothing ever mounted On mine

 

[Freqman1]

Hiway Patrol…very cool!
Damn front baskets trashed a lot of head badges over time!

So, there was a unique to this bike rear reflector bracket/ housing that “slid into” the fender stays. The reflector was “spring loaded” to absorb shock and keep it from getting broken when bumped.

I recently acquired the same bike, and it’s missing the reflector housing too!

That reflector was on the dual pod-not single pod bikes.

 

[Bikesquirrel]

That reflector was on the dual pod-not single pod bikes.

Ah…as I continue to learn!
Thanks Shaun.

That reflector was on the dual pod-not single pod bikes.

 

[Rust_Trader]

That reflector was on the dual pod-not single pod bikes.

Catalog copy shows the single pod as a baser and a more deluxe version with the metal tips and reflector.

 

[NBHAA]

Yeah not sure the basket got the badge. I will have to look harder at the back end but upon first look there was nothing ever mounted On mine

Good Year Hi-Way Patrol (not Hiway Patrol) bicycles made by Murray-Ohio were not necessarily just a Mercury with a different headbadge. Good Year bicycles (no matter who made them) had their own specifications. Don't expect a Mercury to be exactly like a Hi-Way Patrol bicycle.

By the way... we have the literature for BOTH.

Leon Dixon
National Bicycle History Archive of America
(NBHAA.com)

 

[Freqman1]

Catalog copy shows the single pod as a baser and a more deluxe version with the metal tips and reflector.

View attachment 2009170

The literature referred to the single pod bike as "semi-deluxe" and the dual pod as a "deluxe" or a "super deluxe" if it had the speedo.

 

[NBHAA]

AND... while people are busy either attacking me or trying to show off how much they "know" about this bicycle...

Here is an original image from our official 1938 Good Year order catalogue. As you can see... the Good Year Hi-Way Patrol bicycle of 1938 was not identical in every way to a 1938 Mercury. You may even notice that the catalogue does NOT refer to this bicycle as a "Mercury."

Do we know all of the differences and whens and wheres? Of course we do. But we can't say that can we?

But you can ignore this original literature since some CABE troll may pop up and tell you it's uhhhhh... "fake news" or "boasting" some such absurd thing. Then they'll tell you were lying when we say we've had this catalogue and most other Good Year bicycle catalogues since the 1970s. Or they're tell you we're "arrogant" or "boasting." It is not arrogance or boasting if you actually did what you did and have what you have. But go ahead and delete this image if you like...

Leon Dixon
National Bicycle History Archive of America
(NBHAA.com)

 

[Freqman1]

While the banter here is interesting it isn't helping the OP get a pod for his bike. Maybe be better to move this discussion here https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/1936-39-mercury-pod-bikes-observations.184395/page-2#post-1569085

 

[Tom Carroll]

Still looking…..also if anyone has a hubcap available would like to rent it to have a CNC measurement Made….also need to borrow a kickstand to see what needs to be done to have 1 made up