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Sold RESTORED 1938 COLSON IMPERIAL- pic heavy, description heavy, a 'grail' art-deco prewar bicycle---F/S

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bobcycles

Riding a '38 Autocycle Deluxe
Price reduction ..
Bike as listed and described below 3800 with the Lobdell Horiz saddle
2900 with the Long spring Chrome chassis M-1
plus shipping



Long time project that needs some minor finessing/finishing. Pretty much a fully restored bicycle with most of the
plating work done aside from an as-found NOS front WD New Departure front brake that was nice enough to lace up
as is. The project took me many years to get to this level and it's 'almost' there. The elusive 'mouse' tail light never
became available for the Gothic fenders so the Colson FireFly will have to suffice. The plusses....nice bones
and excellent original Gothic Aluminum fenders that shine!. Rare Northeast Tool & Die Colson torpedo light I
had to buy an entire bicycle to acquire. The light itself took some serious time and effort to completely

disassemble, restore, and put back together... many hours. Original restored Tubes and slats rear carrier, correct Colson drop
stand. Restored original Persons Majestic teardrop pedals with some chrome flaking, one pedal looks
to be nickel plated, the other chrome, legible for the most part and could stand a rechrome to be super.
Expensive and rare reproduction Colson stem that was very expensive and a dead on work of art, gave
up finding an original. Super Wider prewar shim bars with original "pointy" grips. Incredible
NOS CORNELL CLIPPER White Wall tires look amazing. Restored original
Lobdell saddle that had the stitched trim binding glued, restored 10 years ago before Jim was welding
the perforated skirts to these seat pans, still looks good with correct fine pebble grain leather and
fully rechromed original chassis. Somewhere I have an original waterfall head badge for this bike
but at present it is MIA....hopefully not lost...If I do locate the badge it will go to who ever ends up with the
bike at No charge, in the mean time a very real looking reproduction is on board.
The only things to note are as shown the bicycle has a snap tank, I have been informed that 38 tanks
tho identical, were screw together, not snaps. The fork is also a 1937 waterfall fork, 38 forks
are fairly common with very little difference other than a subtle 'crown' or peak to the shoulder
of the fork. Lastly... the frame would not accommodate either the narrow or fat diameter
Lobdell seat posts, even with a substantial shim variety I had available no luck, so as she sits with the
narrower diameter post on board, it will not tighten down tight. I will include a Large diameter Lobdell seat post that has been plated...
it's is only SLIGHTLY too wide to fit the hole. I think this could be stripped and replated and fit just
fine, possibly the plating was too thick making the diameter of the post slightly larger than the pit.
Offering the bike as shown with the Horizontal saddle on board for 4700.00 OBO
With the option to down grade to a NICELY restored Troxel M-1 with the chrome chassis and
long spring Bee hive deluxe chassis for a discount on the bike to 3700.00...The M-1 was how these bicycles
were offered originally, I liked the look of the Horizontal Spring saddle so went with it.
So 2 options on the table. I believe the M-1 would fit the frame with no issues as it would have
the Lucky 7 Colson style seat post they used. One of my very favorite Prewar Bicycles design wise and one of
the very rarest prewar bikes as very few Deluxe 38 Imperials are out there. Plenty of the cheaper version.
I do not want to disassemble the bike so shipping could be spendy shipping complete...
Lastly....curious to know how many of this model exist in collections? I think they are
exceedingly rare bikes.
Plenty more pix on request...


PM here or
[email protected]


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