The 1940 Schwinn Auto-Cycle SPECIAL (ads, reference pics, special features, actual photos, extended to 1941?)

[SJ_BIKER]

Straightbar version

 

[mwolfsheimer]

Ground up resto of a1937 Schwinn Auto Cycle

 

[sarmisluters]

The 1940 Schwinn autocycle special was a simple bicycle and according to literature you needed a few features....standard equipment as follows:
White wall tires
Springer fork
Rear drum brake with special brake lever
Front high flange hub

Fender light front fender - not part of ad list

Along With hanging tank and 6 hole rack
Cantilever models were available along with straight bar and some ladies versions too.

If you feel like sharing post something you got or have come across....
There is one ad that appears to be 1941 bicycle with some special features...just have not seen an ad calling it a special model
View attachment 2192841

What’s funny about this picture is the absence of the horn button hole on the chain guard side of the tank exclusive to the 1940 Schwinn Cantilever Hangng Tank Autocycle making it a one year only tank.

There waa a fellow, @ autocycleplane I think, from north of SF Bay who had a 41 Cantilever Autocycle but with a hanging tank !

Did you know there are 5 different Prewar Schwinn Cantilever tanks ?

 

[sarmisluters]

Love it!
That two tone brown 40 Special sure has made the rounds!
Definitely one of the most circulated bikes in the hobby.
That one traces its lineage all the way back to Eddy Jew.
Anybody know, if he is still around?
Historic bike for sure!
It’s interesting to see each consecutive owner replace the Forebrake, for the Large Flange spool hub, only to realize that it’s suicidal to ride the bike without a Forebrake.
So it gets the spool hub replaced, only to have the next guy swap it back again.
Guys!
It’s not a crime, or sacrilegious to have a Forebrake on a 1940 Auto Cycle Special!

It’s a crime Marty, there I said it.

It is a crime though, to have a rear drum brake only as you now have zero braking ability.

 

[SJ_BIKER]

What’s funny about this picture is the absence of the horn button hole on the chain guard side of the tank exclusive to the 1940 Schwinn Cantilever Hangng Tank Autocycle making it a one year only tank.

There waa a fellow, @ autocycleplane I think, from north of SF Bay who had a 41 Cantilever Autocycle but with a hanging tank !

Did you know there are 5 different Prewar Schwinn Cantilever tanks ?

5 different cantilever smoothie tanks? Care to elaborate? I'm all ears and eyes peeled wide open...

 

[cyclingday]

He never said “smoothie”
The five prewar cantilever tanks are;
1)Hanging switch type deluxe Autocycle.
2) Hanging horn button Special.
3) 41 embossed clamshell, switch type deluxe Autocycle.
4) 41 embossed clamshell horn button type.
5) 41 half embossed Goodrich type with horn button.

 

[kenny_hungus]

He never said “smoothie”
The five prewar cantilever tanks are;
1)Hanging switch type deluxe Autocycle.
2) Hanging horn button Special.
3) 41 embossed clamshell, switch type deluxe Autocycle.
4) 41 embossed clamshell horn button type.
5) 41 half embossed Goodrich type with horn button.

Marty wins a prize for his correct answer!!!

 

[SJ_BIKER]

He never said “smoothie”
The five prewar cantilever tanks are;
1)Hanging switch type deluxe Autocycle.
2) Hanging horn button Special.
3) 41 embossed clamshell, switch type deluxe Autocycle.
4) 41 embossed clamshell horn button type.
5) 41 half embossed Goodrich type with horn button.

I knew that. I thought there were 5 different smoothing Canti hanging tanks.
1) Hanging Canti with EA button horn
2) Hanging Canti for silveray setup
3) Hanging Canti for super deluxe
4) Hanging Canti tank with out any wire ports?
5) Hanging Canti tank of a different size for taller models?

 

[cyclingday]

Negative.
The Deluxe Autocycle and the Silveray equipped models, used the same tank from 1938-1940
I just refer to those as a switch tank, because they had the provision for the light switch in the tank.
The 1940 Fenderlight model didn’t need the switch in the tank, or the external wiring ports, so it just came with an internal horn/battery clip, and a horn button hole on the right side.
1941 introduced the new embossed clamshell type tank, that came equipped the same as the previous years hanging tank, but it also had a specific type made for the Goodrich Streamliner model, that only had half of the embossed wing that the other models had.
So 2 types for 1938-1940 and 3 types for 1941.

 

[SJ_BIKER]

Here's one with out the rear drum
But has the high flange!