Official Firestone - Fleetwood Supreme Thread

[Nostalgic Dave]

One thing to note on these Fleetwood Supremes, is the distinct chainguard for these models.
These bikes tend to get pieced together, since complete originals are few and far between, and the pesky little 3 rib Firestone chainguard is one of the hardest parts to find.
The bracket that clamped around the chainstay was just held on to the guard by a spot weld, and once that gave out, the original owners tended to just remove the guard altogether.
So, finding one of these bikes with its original guard intact, is a major stroke of luck.
Since it’s more likely, that you’ll be looking for one of these guards, note the difference between the Firestone Fleetwood Supreme guard and the Firestone Twin Flex Cusioned guard.
The Fleetwood Supreme has a sharp angle to the rear of the chainring cutout, and the Twin Flex type has a rounded corner to the rear of the chainring cut out.
View attachment 1858347

View attachment 1858348
Many restored Fleetwood Supremes ended up getting the Twin Flex type guard as they are a little easier to find.
It’s a subtle detail, that often gets over looked, but just one of the many features that make these Fleetwood Supremes unique.

I bet the "Seafog Gray" was the silver typically seen on the Twin-Flex. Just makes sense that this would be it. It was offered, but maybe none were produced, or it's exceptionally rare? The Fleetwood Supreme I restored years ago in silver with red was inspired by the Twin-Flex with fenders reversed, so they were red with silver. That was Paul Genaro's idea, and the bike came out really cool I think!

 

[cyclingday]

My only reservation to that theory, is that to my knowledge, there hasn’t been a single original paint grey/silver Fleetwood Supreme ever found.
Plus, the literature doesn’t list green as a color choice, but several original paint green bikes have been found.
The literature for the 37/38 Fleetwood Supreme lists three color choices,
Black, Red, Gray.
The only conclusion we can make, is from the actual as seen in reality record.
That record shows Black, Red, Green.
No Gray, so the only logical conclusion is that what they call “Seafog Gray” in the literature, was actually the opalescent green color that was being used at the time, and has been seen on original paint bikes of record.
I’m always open for a new school of thought, so if an original paint gray Fleetwood Supreme ever turns up, I’ll be as excited to see it as anybody.
It does make sense that it would’ve been one of their color choices, as gray/silver and red seem to be Firestones colors.
It does turn up quite a bit on other Firestone models, just not on the Fleetwood Supreme as of yet.
This is exactly why you can’t go by restored bikes when researching an obscure model bike.
Lots of assumptions get made in the process, and although they may look good, and make sense at the time.
They typically are not accurate to what was actually built and produced.

 

[Freqman1]

I agree with Marty on this one. The secondary color was white and if they were referring to the silver I would have think they called it out for being different than the secondary color on the red and black bikes. I'd like to see what the Firestone lit called the colors on the TF and other silver/red bikes.

 

[Nostalgic Dave]

My only reservation to that theory, is that to my knowledge, there hasn’t been a single original paint grey/silver Fleetwood Supreme ever found.
Plus, the literature doesn’t list green as a color choice, but several original paint green bikes have been found.
The literature for the 37/38 Fleetwood Supreme lists three color choices,
Black, Red, Gray.
The only conclusion we can make, is from the actual as seen in reality record.
That record shows Black, Red, Green.
No Gray, so the only logical conclusion is that what they call “Seafog Gray” in the literature, was actually the opalescent green color that was being used at the time, and has been seen on original paint bikes of record.
I’m always open for a new school of thought, so if an original paint gray Fleetwood Supreme ever turns up, I’ll be as excited to see it as anybody.
It does make sense that it would’ve been one of their color choices, as gray/silver and red seem to be Firestones colors.
It does turn up quite a bit on other Firestone models, just not on the Fleetwood Supreme as of yet.
This is exactly why you can’t go by restored bikes when researching an obscure model bike.
Lots of assumptions get made in the process, and although they may look good, and make sense at the time.
They typically are not accurate to what was actually built and produced.

That sounds plausible to me. I went back and looked at the catalogs again, and indeed no mention of green. I could have sworn I remember "seafoam green" but I may have seen that in some non Firestone advertising.

 

[cyclingday]

There aren’t many cosmetic differences between the 1937 and 1938 model, Fleetwood Supreme.
Just a few subtle things to note, is the change in headbadge design, and the fork crown.

The 1937 headbadge had The Archer, with just the name, Fleetwood below it.

The 1938 headbadge had the same, Archer, but with the names, Firestone and Fleetwood below it.
BUT!
What isn’t clear, is was this change in headbadge design only used on the new models for 1938, like the newly introduced Twin Flex Cushoned model, or did all of the Firestone models get the new headbadge design?
My personal opinion is, that there haven’t been enough original as found 1938 Fleetwood Supremes to say for sure.
My gut feeling is, that the 38 Fleetwood Supremes also just got the same, Fleetwood only badges that the 37’s had.
BUT!
The 38 badge is way cooler looking, so if you have a 38 model, and you want to upgrade your bike with the new and improved headbadge, I say, go for it!
Since there weren’t many differences between the two model years, another way to tell which year you have, is by the profile of the trussrod tangs, and the date code stamped on the back of the fork crown.
See the example below

The yellow arrow is pointing to a 1938 trussrod tang, and the red arrow is pointing to a 1937 trussrod tang.
The 37 is flat in profile, and the 38 has a pronounced pyramidal ridge to it.
The date code on the back of the fork crown will tell you the month and year of manufacture.

The yellow arrow indicates the 5th month of May, and the red arrow indicates the last digit of the year, 1938.

 

[cyclingday]

One of the big mysteries of this hobby, is what’s with the 1938 Firestone catalog, and the Fleetwood Supreme model that’s described within?

The description is very clear!
They describe the 38 model as “The New Supreme.”
With the “ Safety Streamlined Frame”
Pretty cool!
BUT!
To date, not one of these new model Fleetwood Supreme’s has ever been found.
Of the few bona fide 38’s that have been found, they all had the straight rear stays that the 37 model year had.
So, the conventional wisdom, is that none of these New Supreme’s with the Safety Streamlined frames were actually ever built.
BUT!
Why be so specific in the catalog, about something you never actually brought to market?
No one knows the answer to that, so my hope is that there is an actual 38 Fleetwood Supreme with the Safety Streamline frame hiding out there, just waiting for one of us lucky bastards to find it.

This image in the back of the 38 catalog shows the traditional Fleetwood Supreme, so who knows?
All you can do, is go by the actual record of the bikes that have been found to date, so as for now, the 38 Safety Streamline Fleetwood Supreme doesn’t exist.

 

[cyclingday]

One of the other intriguing features in the 1938 catalog, is this little accessory bicycle compass.
Here is a discussion from another thread, about this elusive little gem, that is just about as rare a find as is the bike it bolts on to.

Just another unique feature, that these amazing bikes are known for.
So, happy hunting!
I hope you find what you’re looking for.
Good luck

 

[cyclingday]

Bicycles with your own initials!
Wow!
How cool is that?
No discussion about Firestone bikes would be complete, without mentioning one of the unique features they offered in the late 1930’s.
An initial tray area was embossed into the front fender, so that the owner could personalize their bike.
In the beginning, this was a Huffman exclusive, built for Firestone, but in 1938, with the introduction of the Twin Flex Cusioned model, and the problems they had with that initially. (Pun totally intended) Ha Ha!
Firestone thought it would be wise to contract with several other manufacturers for their bicycle line.
The Cleveland Welding Company, and the Colson Corporation were the chosen few, in addition to their already standing contract with the Huffman Manufacturing Company.
So with that change, came the confusion of who’s fenders are who’s, with the stamped initial tray.
As a rule of thumb, all fenders with the initial tray are Firestones, but not all fenders with the initial tray are Fleetwood Supreme’s.
Huffman Mfg. was the only company that built the Fleetwood Supreme model.

Here is an example of a Huffman type initial tray

And some beautifully made letters from John.

OMG!
Is right!
These letters were unobtainium until John made these.
Thank you, @John !

Here is an example of a Cleveland Welding Company fender that was made for Firestone.

The best way to tell the difference between these and the ones made for Huffman mfg.
Is by the little notches in the side of the tray
See the example below

Here is an example of a Colson fender tray that was made for Firestone.
See example below.

Notice that both the Colson and CWC fender trays have the notch on the sides.
I think they were identical with eachother, but I can’t say that for sure.
The screw hole spacing would tell the story there.

In summary, if it’s a Fleetwood Supreme, it was made by Huffman.
But, just remember, that not all initial tray fenders are Fleetwood Supreme fenders.

 

[Freqman1]

So a few things about my bike. I know some noticed the rack and said “looks ‘38”. Well my badge is a ‘37 and fork crown is marked “6 7” along with the ‘37 style truss stand offs. While mine has stainless fenders I believe @John has one with aluminum fenders. I have since added a compass although mine has a cut down mast which can be easily remedied.

 

[cyclingday]

One more thing that separates these bikes from the rest, is the rear fender reflector.
The correct factory equipped reflector for the 1937/38 Firestone Fleetwood Supreme, is the Persons Majestic model number 331.
Affectionately known as,
“The Tombstone Reflector.”
BUT!
Not just any model 331 Tombstone.
There was an automotive application and a bicycle application.
See the example below, for the correct mounting bracket used on the Fleetwood Supreme.

It has fasteners above and below.
The automotive type just had one heavy bracket that just mounted from below.
And to confuse things, there were two sizes of Tombstone Reflectors that both had automotive and bicycle applications.
This example below shows the two sizes of automotive type Tombstone Reflectors.

Here is an example of the smaller one for bicycle application.

Notice, it too has the fasteners above and below.
This type reflector was an exclusive on Huffman’s flagship model, the Dayton Super Streamline.
But, was never used on the Fleetwood Supreme.

Only the larger type “Tombstone” Persons Majestic model 331 was correct for the Firestone Fleetwood Supreme.