I guess that Evans supposedly may have had two (or more?)
Evanactions.
thecabe.com
Yes... they most certainly did.
Of course we have several NOS Evans-Colson bicycles, saved for many, many years now. I even have a NOS Evans-Colson with "Evanair" tires! Never ridden. I was also the first to collect Evans-Colson Firebird bicycles and had a collection of them that were stolen 22 years ago when I was robbed. My NOS Evans-Colson Olympic was exhibited in 1999-2000 at the Oakland Museum, Oakland, California. You can still see it on the museum tour on NBHAA.com.
I got to know people at Evans Products Company when they were still in business in Plymouth, Michigan and Coos Bay, Oregon. Visited both places and the big plant where they made bicycles in Michigan...WHILE they were making these bicycles. Evans sent me many of their files and 8 x 10 glossy photos from the factory.
I also met Detroit's
Sagebrush Shorty TV personality in the 1950s and have his theme song vinyl record in mint condition. Sagebrush was a spokesperson for Evans-Colson and did their commercials on his TV show. Yes. He was later a Schwinn spokesman.
If you read the first and original newsletter for the hobby many years ago before there was an internet it would have been
Classic Bicycle & Whizzer News. In issue #25 you may have even read the history on Evans-Colson Firebird and saw the original ticket for a Schaefer's Bread auction for a brand new Evans-Colson 1955 Firebird (see attachments for cover). That auction took place at Detroit's old Edgewater Amusement Park which no longer exists.
National Bicycle History Archive of America has prewar and postwar Colson parts books, dealerbooks, advertisements and sales brochures for nearly every year. We also have corporate files and catalogues for everything they made, from wheelchairs to casters to bicycles and tricycles. Likewise we have the parts books, dealerbooks, advertisements, sales brochures and point-of-purchase items for Evans-Colson right up to the end of production. Yes.
Colson experts in all these years the hobby has existed
still don't have this stuff? CABE and Google don't have the info you want? Wellllll? It is tough to find. Of course, everything about everything can't possibly be posted online. However in the meantime, attaching some Colson and Evans-Colson images for your enjoyment. Note the patent image for the second major version of the Evanaction spring fork. The last image shows two original Evans Products employee ID badges from the original Evans-Colson bicycle plant.
Leon Dixon
National Bicycle History Archive of America
NBHAA.com