I liked that Hawthorne so much what when I saw another one for sale (only a few months after selling the last one), I had to have it. This one had original maroon paint, and even the original Wards Riverside Mate tires that still held air. I worked the summer at the airport and saved up $600 to buy it. My friends thought I was crazy to spend so much money on an old bicycle. I got it from Zack Sudderth (dlxjaguar) at Musclebike.com/Second Time Around Bicycles in 1998. As pictured, it did not have a seat, and the handlebars were from a different bicycle. The tank was not in the box when the bicycle arrived, but Zack got it to me a week or two later.
Here are pictures of it from the website from which I bought it:
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I installed a larger set of handlebars and bought a seat from Jerry Peters of Chestnut Hollow, through the mail-order catalog. I also installed a vintage license plate, which was an antique store purchase. I cherished the bicycle and put many miles on it every day. I didn't let anyone ride it, but once I made an exception. I let my friend ride it, and he immediately rode it through a puddle. I yelled at him to get off! I installed a working horn, and my father helped me get the headlight to work. It was VERY bright! I remember riding it in the Swiss Days bicycle parade in Midway, Utah. I had so much pride in it. I would also ride it to church and park it next to a 1950s Murray Strato Line that the original owner still had from his childhood (he showed me a picture of it when it was new, and he had his baseball uniform on, in front of a barn where he still worked).
The maroon one was by far the most favorite bicycle I've owned, but when I was 14, I spotted a 1958 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 limousine in someone's back yard, and wanted to drive it when I turned 16 (I already had a 1923 Model T Ford that the farmer next door gave me, but it was far from being drivable). So, I asked about buying it, and the old lady at the door said I could take it and all of the other cars on the property for free. Then an old gentleman came to the door and said, "No, no, she is just joking. I think I would take $2,000 for it." I told him that I had an old bicycle that was probably worth about $1,200, so I would sell it to try to come up with the money, but the man accepted the Hawthorne Comet as a trade. The man owned a gas station, a Buick Dealership that had been in the family since 1909, a towing company, and a motel. He wanted the bicycle for the front window of the Buick dealership, which was now full of vintage cars and memorabilia from the 1930s and 1940s. So, I got the Cadillac, and he got the Hawthorne. (I still have the jacket that I'm wearing in the pictures.)
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My father wasn't too happy about the Cadillac, and ultimately talked me into selling it, saying it would never run without a full engine rebuild. The person who bought the Cadillac put a battery in it and drove it away. The power divider window still worked, and the rear seat still had the plastic over it. As for the Hawthorne, the last I knew it was still in the window of that dealership, but the owner passed away in 2004 and it looked like the place was boarded up for a while and then renovated (with tinted windows, so I couldn't see inside on Google Maps). I'd been wanting to see the bicycle again and hopefully someday buy it back because it has great sentimental value.
The bicycle was in Utah, and I moved to Washington, and then to Arizona. But, I didn't know if it was still around or if I could afford to buy it back. That's the one bicycle I wish I still had. That and an MTD Hi-Lo collapsible bicycle with 16" wheels that I never should have sold. I had many, many bicycles in my younger years. They have come and gone, but the maroon Hawthorne tugged at my heart strings.
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