Another Story, even farther back... maybe 35 years ago. Ha, ha, ha... Yes, and I can tell you about the Civil War , too.
I first started messing with old cars and parts- and would travel around to different towns and hit the old Junk Yards, metal salvage companies, etc.
I went by this place on several occasions but finally decided to stop and ask if they`d let me look around. I had a small bike collection too at the time, maybe 8-10 bikes, all rough as found. Had a Phantom Rider- miss that Bike...
I parked out in front - the guys house was in front of the junk yard. I went around to the back of the house. A gruff little man burst out of the back door, and said my car was parked in the wrong place. He was maybe 70, but was a tough, muscular little guy- and was tan like old weathered leather- his chest poked out like Popeye. He asked me what I wanted. I told him that I liked old bikes, and car parts and pedal cars- and asked him if I could look around. He calmed right down- and said yes, he had some old bikes around. So, first I moved my car, then went exploring. His yard was maybe 12-15 acres. I probably was there a couple of hours. I found a nice little Champion Pedal Car (missing a wheel) and a Boy`s Columbia Goodyear Highway Patrol Bike (no tank or rack- but had the knee action and nice paint on the frame). I took those things back up to the house. He said $10 on the little car, and $5 on the bicycle. I paid him and thanked him and started to leave. He said, "there`s another Old Bicycle over there" and pointed behind me . I looked but didn`t see an old Bike.
I looked and saw only a large pile of glass windows with aluminum frames leaning up against some pine trees. I looked at him with questioning eyes. He said " It`s behind those windows- under them..." So, I carefully started stacking those safely over to one side. For the longest time, I still couldn`t see it. Finally, it appeared.
I had never seen anything like this bike in person-- I remember my exact words when I finally stood it up, "Damn , The BATBIKE !!!" It was rough and missing pieces, but it was a "35-36 BLUEBIRD". I think I had seen that original ad from the Sears Catalog- so I knew what it was. It still had the Elgin Tag on the front. But keep in mind that there was no Internet- No books on Bikes that I had found at that time. I just liked Old Bikes- didn`t realize that people paid big money for them. Well the Old Guy sold me that bike for $5 , too. But I didn`t really know what I had. Old Bluebird was rough, tank was almost broken in two in front of the seat, had wrong seat, missing rear fender and rack and cover for the battery box. Cleaned up, it was a pretty blue gray color. I kept it for a couple or more years, knew by then that it had some value- but what about condition?
I met a guy in Charlotte at the Auto Fair who traveled down to look at it. He talked the bike down bad... and we finally got together at $300. I later found out that he resold it the same week for $1500, to one of the BIG BICYCLE BOYS up North. Who cares? He bought the bike that day- but he didn`t buy the memory... So, I have owned a Bluebird. And Yes, I got slickered- I`ll tell you the truth every time. God, it was fun finding that though!----Cowboy
It was the first old bicycle that I ever sold...