Possible war time production original Elgin

[bikesnbuses]

They made a "Deluxe equipped"with a truss mounted wedge light and brake light/tail light seat bottom mounted pod..
And an "equipped" like mine (shown below)

 

[Freqman1]

Its an "equipped" like mine..Thy made a "Deluxe equipped"with a truss mounted wedge light and brake light/tail light seat bottom mounted pod..
View attachment 2257864

View attachment 2257866

I believe his is a deluxe missing the stuff @rustjunkie pointed out. Notice the different paint schemes.

 

[bikesnbuses]

I believe his is a deluxe missing the stuff @rustjunkie pointed out. Notice the different paint schemes.

Yup sorry..I jumped the gun on that.. I edited my post..sorry guys..I was rushing..fixed my typos too..

 

[cyclingday]

Yep!
The hole at 10 O’Clock in the back fender is a dead giveaway that this one had the pod brake/tail light.
So it would’ve had the trussrod wedge light as well.
There are faint remnants of the painted handlebar pinstripes still visible.
Super cool bikes!

 

[rustjunkie]

I believe his is a deluxe missing the stuff @rustjunkie pointed out. Notice the different paint schemes.

& fender design

 

[Miq]

My first purpose was first to determine the bike’s year of manufacture and then how it may relate to the war efforts - if at all. Freqman1 it sounds like you believe this is a 1942? I kind of assumed it could be a 1942 from older posts, but I don’t know. I know little about war time restrictions on bikes, that is why I posted, to learn more. Some thoughts / questions I was wondering:

- did they use less chrome before they got to the bare bones bike mandates? Were there partial reductions of certain materials like chrome at first?
-I thought the painted head badge was interesting (in lieu of typical metal sheet) but maybe that was must decorative and had nothing to do with any metal restrictions?
-Were all of the manufacturers still making bikes in 42?
-Was there any mandated reduction of production?

Just seems like an interesting time for bike production. I can search online, maybe someone has done some articles on bike production in this period.

Schwinn produced the New World bike even during the strict restrictions period. We have discussed this a fair amount in the Wartime New Worlds thread. Please take a look if you want to learn more about what restrictions were in place. We learned about these restrictions slowly over time so its not all in one post. I started to put together a simplified timeline in this post and the final version is listed here.

By April of 1942 all bikes sold needed to be 31 lbs or less and diamond frame style. This Elgin does not meet those requirements.

 

[Freqman1]

Schwinn produced the New World bike even during the strict restrictions period. We have discussed this a fair amount in the Wartime New Worlds thread. Please take a look if you want to learn more about what restrictions were in place. We learned about these restrictions slowly over time so its not all in one post. I started to put together a simplified timeline in this post and the final version is listed here.

View attachment 2257889

By April of 1942 all bikes sold needed to be 31 lbs or less and diamond frame style. This Elgin does not meet those requirements.

Except for military contract bikes-Huffman and Westfield

 

[Miq]

Except for military contract bikes-Huffman and Westfield

Right. I'm talking about the restrictions on civilian bikes. You needed to have a signed Office of Price Administration certificate to be able to buy a new civilian bike.

 

[MDave]

View attachment 2257865

Thanks for posting the ad. Certainly looks the same! Interesting that the ad reads that the handlebars were painted (three coats of white elginamel!). I wondered about that - I wonder if they were originally painted on my bike and maybe delaminated? Looks like some other great info added, thanks much! I have to catch up reading.

 

[MDave]

Schwinn produced the New World bike even during the strict restrictions period. We have discussed this a fair amount in the Wartime New Worlds thread. Please take a look if you want to learn more about what restrictions were in place. We learned about these restrictions slowly over time so its not all in one post. I started to put together a simplified timeline in this post and the final version is listed here.

View attachment 2257889

By April of 1942 all bikes sold needed to be 31 lbs or less and diamond frame style. This Elgin does not meet those requirements.

Veryinteresting, and great info!