Mystery Elgin

[Durham27707]

If you look in the Elgin book, the '36 catalog pages show the aqua background badge, and '37 has the black background. But here's evidence as to the change happening mid year. Sometimes a bike surfaces, and we all learn something!

In trying to carefully get back to the orginal paint the badge looks aqua under the top screw and also this baby's been 4 colors lol. Started gloss black, then black with silver brush painted fenders, then black with like seafoam green fenders, then all red

 

[Durham27707]

A few steps further into the process, gently removed 3 eras of paint just to get to the bottom and realize the original black on the fenders was 80% rusted off before they were brushed painted silver, ... and then seafoam green, ... and then red. Think I'm going to get them to a heavy patina polish look then clearcoat them. New grips to match the old seat.
I got it running enough to ride to work this week. I did tell my aging father though, "some poor GI is rolling in his grave from the German tires and Japanese stem I have on it till I find an old Elgin one."