Wartime Schwinn New World Bikes - We Know You Have Them - Tell Us About Them!!

[GTs58]

Dang it, I was hoping to get pictures of my other New World purchase from the Portland swap before the list got updated. Was saving it for show and tell Sunday. With a 51 New World, I nearly put bookends on the list.

The 1950-1951 models were just named World, but they did have the new world head badge. @rennfaron has a list of the model changes that I believe was for the 1950 model year.

 

[Miq]

I know there is continued interest in Defense vs Victory bikes so I was looking at some of the info we have gathered so far. Back in May @RustyHornet pointed out the gun bluing used on his seat post.

In the big "New World War Model" ad in American Bicyclist and Motorcyclist I believe we got from @HUFFMANBILL I noticed a call out for the Bluing

They call it Opalescent Gun Metal Finish as used on the handlebars. Sorry it's burry but I think it's ledgible.

We know these finishes changed over time and these initial specs don't apply to every Victory bike but it is cool to see that they were continuing to develop chrome replacements on some parts. They list the cranks as chrome plated and the pedal sprocket (chainring) as black finish (blackout). They list the War Quality tires but they also still show rubber blocks for the pedals.

In tiny text at the bottom it shows the parts that were eliminated and that Chrome was no longer going to be available. These tell tales help identify Wartime Victory bikes:

No kickstand
No chain guard
Lightweight mudguards with a short rear guard with a single wire brace (often blacked out)
Painted (Ivory) rims
Blackout and other non-chrome finishes

Also, at the bottom of this Specs section it mentions the "new Government weight restrictions". Many of the tell tales listed above helped meet this. @cyclingday Marty posted some more detail on this

Its pretty clear that the model with the best chance of meeting these restrictions would be the New World.

When looking at the How Light Is Your Lightweight chart I remembered a short conversation with @49autocycledeluxe about the weight of his Victory New World. Even with full size mudguards and added kickstand, his J serial bike weighs 32 lbs. (without the Klaxon ).

For comparison my 41 H serial and @Just Jeff 's 42 Defense model I serial bikes weigh 36 lbs.

Jeff's Defense New World

Defense Bikes did not have the tighter restrictions. The only black out parts on Jeff's bike above were the bottom bracket cups. It has a chainguard, full size mudguards, chrome rims, a kickstand etc. These things were still allowed at that time.

@cyclingday Marty also posted this great spec sheet and costing for the Defense bikes:

we also saw this from October 1941

I also wanted to add this important quote from @HUFFMANBILL about how Schwinn was able to submit a special appeal to produce bicycles during the War and distribute reamining stock on hand as of Sept 1, 1942.

Hello Miq and others,

This is some more information that I have relocated in my records. It may be of some interest to those that collect WWII Schwinn '' Victory'' lightweight bicycles and are wondering about their wartime production.

According to Amendment 2 of the War Production Boards ( WPB ) Limitation Order L-52 regarding wartime bicycle production, dated Sept., 2, 1942 only Huffman and Columbia could with limitations continue to produce and distribute bicycles for the duration. However, upon special appeal other bicycle manufacturers may be authorized under specific limitations to sell remaining stocks of already produced bikes and produce limited quantities of new bicycles for limited periods of time.

In a copy of a declassified document from my records, dated 1946 National Archives, I found the following regarding Schwinn bicycles. Schwinn produced 13,000 bicycles in late 1942, 10,000 cycle trucks in 1943 and 10,000 cycle trucks in 1944. In addition they were able to distribute remaining stock on hand as of Sept., 1, 1942. Apparently, Schwinn submitted a special appeal to continue bike sales, which evidently was granted for at least 1 order of 13,000 new bikes in late 1942, production of which may have stretched into 1943. As of this time I have found no further documentation that further orders were granted.

As of Sept., 23, 1944 the Office of Price Administration ( OPA ) announced an industry wide restoration of bicycle production with some limitations. So as of this date all bicycle manufacturers could, with some limitations, restart new bicycle production.

I trust that this information will be helpful to those interested in wartime civilian bicycles.

Regards,
Bill Strong

This statement makes sense with that in mind:

The idea of Defense bikes looks to me to be starting in very late 41 even before Pearl Harbor through the beginning of 42, but quickly the Victory bikes start and take over. We see the Victory full page ad in Sept 1942.

The end of this restricted period is Sept 1944 with the announcement of the restart of production for all manufacturers.

 

[Miq]

The initial War Production Board Limitation Order L-52 that @HUFFMANBILL refers to in his posts is available in this PDF: Federal Register March13, 1942

On Page 1980 see Part 1104 Bicycles and Bicycle Parts Limitation Order L-52

So when I read it a few things stick out. It is broken into a couple of timed parts. There is an initial "Restricted Period" that takes place from the effective date (March 11, 1942) to March 31, 1942. The first 20 days of effectivity.

During those first 20 days the bike weights could be up to 47 lbs. Basically, Schwinn could continue making bikes including Balloon tire bikes for the restricted period.

Then they have a second limitation period called out from the beginning of April to the end of June where further weight restrictions and geometries are defined. Clearly if Schwinn was going to comply with this it was going to have to be a New World bike. Narrow tire size, allowing the chrome on the cranks, and removal of the chainguards and kickstands is mentioned as well.

Here is the appeal process that we know Schwinn used to petition to allow them to continue bike sales and make New Worlds in addition to any cycle trucks.

I will try to find some of the ammendments that were made to this Limitation Order L-52. Still building a timeline that makes sense:

Oct 1941 - Schwinn reports that the use of Chrome and Nickel will be limited on their bikes.
Dec 1941 - Pearl Harbor - US Enters WWII
Early 1942? - Defense Models are Announced
March 11, 1942 - War Production Board Limitation L-52 Issued
March 11 - March 31, 1942 - Restricted Period with 47 lb weight limit
April 1 - June 30, 1942 - Second Limitation Period with 31 lb weight, diamond geometry, and accessories restrictions.
Sept 2, 1942 - War Production Board Limitation L-52 Second Ammendment - Only Huffman and Columbia could build bikes
Sept 23, 1944 - Office of Price Administration ( OPA ) announced an industry wide restoration of bicycle production with some limitations. All bicycle manufacturers could, with some limitations, restart new bicycle production.

 

[Miq]

First amendment April 4, 1942

Ammendment L-52a - No more delivery of adult bikes to anyone unless they were in transit on April 2, 1942.

 

[Miq]

Second Amendment Sept 2. 1942

Starting Sept 1942 only Westfield and Huffman may manufacture bicycles.

Oct 1941 - Schwinn reports that the use of Chrome and Nickel will be limited on their bikes.
Dec 1941 - Pearl Harbor - US Enters WWII
Early 1942? - Defense Models are Announced
March 11, 1942 - War Production Board Limitation L-52 Issued
March 11 - March 31, 1942 - Restricted Period with 47 lb weight limit
April 1 - June 30, 1942 - Second Limitation Period with 31 lb weight, diamond geometry, and accessories restrictions.
April 4,1942 - War Production Board Limitation L-52 First Ammendment - No more delivery of adult bikes to anyone unless they were in transit.
Sept 2, 1942 - War Production Board Limitation L-52 Second Ammendment - Only Huffman and Columbia could build bikes
Sept 23, 1944 - Office of Price Administration ( OPA ) announced an industry wide restoration of bicycle production with some limitations. All bicycle manufacturers could, with some limitations, restart new bicycle production.

 

[Oilit]

Miq, Thanks for putting a time-line together. I hadn't thought about it but it makes sense that the restrictions weren't imposed all at once. Hindsight is 20/20, but going forward you have to adjust as the situation develops, and there's no way they could know what we know now. Nice work!

 

[Miq]

Miq, Thanks for putting a time-line together. I hadn't thought about it but it makes sense that the restrictions weren't imposed all at once. Hindsight is 20/20, but going forward you have to adjust as the situation develops, and there's no way they could know what we know now. Nice work!

Thanks @Oilit ! Crawling through the stacks of Federal Register PDFs at the fedgov.gov is kind of painful. I can see why no one other than @HUFFMANBILL has been combing it. I took a deeper dive this morning. The past few posts have been really old document intensive. I will try to condense this stuff down as much as possible, but this is still going to be dense without any bike pics :

The Federal Register published an annual index every year. These are searchable for keywords once you download them as a PDF. Here are the War Production Board entries from 1942 for "Bicycles and bicycle parts"

These identify what page to look for these War Production Board entries in the Federal Registries published throughout the year.

Page 1980 is the Initial Limitation Order L-52 from the March,13 1942 issue:

Two periods set up with up to 47lb bike manufacturing and sales for 20 days, and further restrictions like 31 lb weight limit, diamond frames and no chainguards/kickstands starting in April.

Page 2696 the Order starts to be modified, pretty quickly in the April, 4 1942 issue.

Looks like after the first 20 days, they decided there would be a pause on selling and delivering adult bikes.

Page 2679 the frame size restriction is changed to allow a shorter 17" seat tube dimension. April 8. 1942 issue:

This was the original 19" call out that was changed:

Page 3547 from the May 14, 1942 issue has an interesting call out:

It is now allowed to sell bicycles to people with Office of Price Administration certificates. We have seen a few Part C final copies of these certificates, here's one from June 1943 for a K serial New World:

and @dogdart 's J serial Sept. 1942 New World certificate with envelope with hand written note from the original owner saying her New World was called a "Victory Bike" :

Page 5509 in the July 18,1942 issue:

This one does some updating and refining of the Limitation order. Now that it is July, the second half of the year restrictions are getting clear and the rules from the past few months get extended.

Subparagraph b4 is the section on the restrictions called out as the 3 months ending in June. This makes it clear that these restrictions (less than 31 lbs, diamond frame, 17" Seat tube, etc.) are in effect from April 1 onward.

Subparagraph b5 is the section for Parts Manufacturers and it also gets changed to be effective for every three months after the initial 3 months ending June 30th.

New subparagraphs (7 & 8) are added at the end of the Limitation Order. These call out the quantity of bicycles a manufacturer could be allowed to manufacture from July 1 to Aug 31. During July and Aug 1942 the quantity of bikes built had to be less than 2 times 32% of the Average Monthy Manufacturing Quantity from 1941.

Paragraph 8 calls out the end of production work on any bicycle related stuff effective Sept 1, 1942. This sets the stage for the final change in Sept.

Page 6934 Federal Register Sept. 2, 1942 issue:

This is the Second Amendment and we have already seen that this was the call out to Huffman and Westfield to build Victory Bikes. We also know from the Advertisments in Amercian Bicyclist and Motorcyclist that Schwinn had petitioned to also get approval (that was granted) to build victory bikes. The centerfold Ad for the New World War VW1M Model came from the March 1942 Issue:

And also in the September issue, around the time the Second Amendment was published in the Fed Register listing Huffman and Westfield as the only allowed bike manufacturers.

Defense and Wartime Bicycle Timeline
Oct 1941 - Schwinn reports that the use of Chrome and Nickel will be limited on their bikes.
Dec 1941 - Pearl Harbor - US Enters WWII
Early 1942 ? - Defense Models are Announced
March 1942 American Bicyclist Magazine Centerfold Ad for New World War Model VW1M
March 11, 1942 - War Production Board Limitation L-52 Issued (Page 1980 Fed Register March 13 issue)
March 11 - March 31, 1942 - Restricted Period with 47 lb weight limit
April 1 1942 and onward - Second Limitation Period with 31 lb weight, diamond geometry, and accessories restrictions.
May 14, 1942 - OPA Certificates Allowed (Page 3547 Fed Register May 14 issue)
July 18, 1942 - War Prod. Board L-52 First Ammendment - July and Aug quantity limits, Sept No More Bike Manufacturing. (Page 5509 Fed Reg July 18 issue)
September 1942 American Bicyclist Magazine Ad for New World War Model VW1M for War Work and War Transportation
Sept 2, 1942 - War Production Board Limitation L-52 Second Ammendment - Only Huffman and Columbia could build bikes (Page 6934 Fed Reg Sept 2 issue)
Sept 23, 1944 - Office of Price Administration ( OPA ) announced an industry wide restoration of bicycle production with some limitations. All bicycle manufacturers could, with some limitations, restart new bicycle production.

@cyclingday @Mark Mattei do you know when Schwinn sent out the information on the Defense Models? It would be nice to have that date here.

 

[GTs58]

@Miq
This was the time of year when Schwinn began the normal planning and change over process for the next year.

The other material Marty posted... > #880

 

[Miq]

The other material Marty posted... > #880
View attachment 2069056

Yea sometimes I get lost in the complexity of this thread too. Thank you for the reminder. That puts a nice order to it.

Defense and Wartime Bicycle Timeline
Oct 1941 - Schwinn let's dealers know that by order of the Office of Price Management only Defense Models will be manufactured (including New World Model W3MFC).
Dec 1941 - Pearl Harbor - US Enters WWII
March 1942 American Bicyclist Magazine Centerfold Ad for New World War Model VW1M
March 11, 1942 - War Production Board Limitation L-52 Issued (Page 1980 Fed Register March 13 issue)
March 11 - March 31, 1942 - Restricted Period with 47 lb weight limit
April 1 1942 and onward - Second Limitation Period with 31 lb weight, diamond geometry, and accessories restrictions.
May 14, 1942 - OPA Certificates Allowed (Page 3547 Fed Register May 14 issue)
July 18, 1942 - War Prod. Board L-52 First Ammendment - July and Aug quantity limits, Sept No More Bike Manufacturing. (Page 5509 Fed Reg July 18 issue)
September 1942 American Bicyclist Magazine Ad for New World War Model VW1M for War Work and War Transportation
Sept 2, 1942 - War Production Board Limitation L-52 Second Ammendment - Only Huffman and Columbia could build bikes (Page 6934 Fed Reg Sept 2 issue)
Sept 23, 1944 - Office of Price Administration ( OPA ) announced an industry wide restoration of bicycle production with some limitations. All bicycle manufacturers could, with some limitations, restart new bicycle production.

 

[GTs58]

It took me 30 minutes of searching Marty's posts before I remembered it was posted in this thread.