War time Westfield/Columbia Elgin J70L

[toby weidner]

Can anyone tell me what the "W.S.B" means under this serial number? Ive already identified it as a 1945 Columbia "Elgin", I assume it was sold by Sears with the Elgin Head badge, but other than that badge she's ALL Columbia, doesn't even have the "Elgin" coaster and "Air cooled" hubs.

 

[Mercian]

Hi Toby,

It's a Westfield made bicycle, Columbia was the main house brand of Westfield, and they badged bicycles thus.

Westfield did make bicycles under contract to Sears at times, and they would be badged Elgin in this period, as you say.

The serial number J111937 shows it to be one of the last Westfields made in 1945. The final number was J114781 made 31st December 1945, so yours just a couple of days earlier.

I have seen several thousand of the Westfield BB's from this period, and it is the first with W.S.D. I can only guess it is the owner's initials, or W... School Board, or somesuch.

Can we see photos of the complete bike please?

Thanks,

Best Regards,

Adrian

 

[toby weidner]

Hi Toby,

It's a Westfield made bicycle, Columbia was the main house brand of Westfield, and they badged bicycles thus.

Westfield did make bicycles under contract to Sears at times, and they would be badged Elgin in this period, as you say.

The serial number J111937 shows it to be one of the last Westfields made in 1945. The final number was J114781 made 31st December 1945, so yours just a couple of days earlier.

I have seen several thousand of the Westfield BB's from this period, and it is the first with W.S.D. I can only guess it is the owner's initials, or W... School Board, or somesuch.

Can we see photos of the complete bike please?

Thanks,

Best Regards,

Adrian

The only reason I said Columbia first (I never do, always Westfield) was that I saw a '45 "Columbia" add with the exact identical bicycle on it, I assumed not much else was offered during the war and you were lucky to get that.

 

[Mercian]

No Worries, Toby. I hate correcting people, most know far more than I do (-:

Thanks for the pictures, it helps build the listing I keep.

Faded, but tidy (-:

It is the last on my list of known survivors due to my self imposed 1945 limit. (-:

Thanks for sharing it.

Best Regards,

Adrian

 

[toby weidner]

No Worries, Tony. I hate correcting people, most know far more than I do (-:

Thanks for the pictures, it helps build the listing I keep.

Faded, but tidy (-:

It is the last on my list of known survivors due to my self imposed 1945 limit. (-:

View attachment 2149159
Thanks for sharing it.

Best Regards,

Adrian

Thank you Adrian, I see you've added ours already, it's kinda an honor to have her on that short list of only 8, she is a survivor, still has her very rideable original Goodyear all weather tires on her, we're proud of her

 

[Mercian]

Just corrected Tony to Toby, sorry about that...

 

[toby weidner]

Just corrected Tony to Toby, sorry about that...

Happens often, I've been called much worse so NO problem

 

[toby weidner]

Hi Toby,

It's a Westfield made bicycle, Columbia was the main house brand of Westfield, and they badged bicycles thus.

Westfield did make bicycles under contract to Sears at times, and they would be badged Elgin in this period, as you say.

The serial number J111937 shows it to be one of the last Westfields made in 1945. The final number was J114781 made 31st December 1945, so yours just a couple of days earlier.

I have seen several thousand of the Westfield BB's from this period, and it is the first with W.S.D. I can only guess it is the owner's initials, or W... School Board, or somesuch.

Can we see photos of the complete bike please?

Thanks,

Best Regards,

Adrian

You don't think it's possibly "Westfield . Sold . Bicycle ." Do you? Like I said other than head badge it's ALL Columbia, no hubs no brake, and I'm not sure Sears actually sold any bicycles during war time, I couldn't find any in Sears catalogs during the war years, only the "Columbia built" ad, maybe Westfield was just using up "Elgin" head badges?

 

[GTs58]

The war was over by Sept. 1945 with Japan's official surrender and it appears the restrictions were lifted, and very possibly sometime much earlier than that. Schwinn's records state they built/shipped over 98,000 bikes in 1945 and none of these were Cycle Trucks. @Mercian , is there a record of how many Westfields were made in 1945?

Schwinn's production numbers.
1942-112,859
1943-16,385
1944-18,929
1945-98,185

 

[Mercian]

Hi Gary @GTs58 , Toby @toby weidner ,

Restrictions had been lifted quite a bit earlier (I cannot find the date right now), but certainly Westfield were building civilian balloon tire bikes again from October 1944, if not earlier (that's the earliest I have listed).

Westfield's production numbers.
1942- 95,425 (12,794 Military, 6,300 Defense Aid)
1943- 82,277 (25,417 Military)
1944- 85,109 (6,684 Military)
1945-109,781 ( Small number Military)

The Elgin brand was changed to JC Higgins in 1947.

I have no other Westfield Elgin 1945's listed, but it could be there were 1946's (I have only noted to the end of 45).

Murray were another big supplier of Elgins prewar, and it seems they were supplying again in 1945 and 46 at least, see this conversation: https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/what-year-is-this-elgin-skiptooth-bicycle.99324/

It may be that Sears were obtaining what they could from different makers to supply immediate postwar demand.

Best Regards,

Adrian