Ww2 Bayonne nj women's bike

[Huffy45]

Very interesting bicycle.

A little hard to tell in the photos but looks Olive drab painted. Can you see any areas where there is factory paint showing under the OD?

Would either be black, maroon, or blue most likely.

Looks like G519 fender with a Delta Winner light on the front and Westfield Columbia chainguard. A true civilian bike converted to military use?

Any other clear photos would be greatly appreciated. Also what date is the Bottom Bracket code? I am rebuilding a womens 1944 currently!

Cheers,
Aaron

 

[DaGasMan]

I don't remember, did you post the serial numbers and the build date code from the BB?
I know @Mercian is maintaining a list.

 

[Mercian]

Thanks for the reminder @DaGasMan @bikejunk

I would still be interested in the numbers (by PM if preferred), but appreciate it's a purely voluntary thing.

Thanks

Best Regards,

Adrian

 

[bikejunk]

Thanks for the reminder @DaGasMan @bikejunk

I would still be interested in the numbers (by PM if preferred), but appreciate it's a purely voluntary thing.

Thanks

Best Regards,

Adrian

Will be home in a few days and post the #s

 

[bikejunk]

Very interesting bicycle.

A little hard to tell in the photos but looks Olive drab painted. Can you see any areas where there is factory paint showing under the OD?

Would either be black, maroon, or blue most likely.

Looks like G519 fender with a Delta Winner light on the front and Westfield Columbia chainguard. A true civilian bike converted to military use?

Any other clear photos would be greatly appreciated. Also what date is the Bottom Bracket code? I am rebuilding a womens 1944 currently!

Cheers,
Aaron

Bike is dark grey

 

[bikejunk]

As promised serial number

 

[Huffy45]

@bikejunk - I am on training wheels but I have been studying the VG bikes in depth for a couple weeks.

Westfield Vg295 were marked with a W code. Bikes such as Compax were marked with G.

Your bike is clearly marked MC which is the Marine Corps stamping for the G519... I am very familiar as I own a Westfield MC bike.

This is wild to me. My only theory is that this civilian bicycle was built up for the Marine Corps by Westfield...? What?

Paired with G519 fenders, light and chainguard is even more intriguing.

The serial number lines up to VG production in 1944, but never encountered other than W code. The MC code does not line up with G519 production so the stamp is clearly the standard victory bike serial numbering but has MC in front.

I would love to hear more opinions from the experts on this topic. I will say that the C in “MC” on your bike looks slightly different from standard.

I have attached a photo from cursory research which makes it plausible with the MOTBY connection.

Aaron

 

[Huffy45]

@bikejunk

@Mercian sent me a snippet of his file with these serials when he added my womens Vg296 W61847A / L6 June 1944 frame.

Your serial should fall right in line with the listed W codes for Sports Tourists but instead has the MC.

Aaron

 

[DaGasMan]

This is a surprise.

 

[Mercian]

Hi @bikejunk

As stated ‘This is a surprise ‘ (-:

I’m on holiday, and can’t get to my notes for the next ten days…

So…,

Please can you confirm the L6 date, it doesn’t pick up well on my phone.

Given the origin and history of the bike, I’ve no doubt that it is ex USMC, and that it’s not been fiddled with.

That said, I do think it was originally a W serial number, filed off with MC stamped on instead. This is not in the Westfield font, and since they were stamping MC on the MC bicycles at exactly this time, the stamps were available.

So why stamp this one MC at a later point?

It could be that there was a sudden realisation of a need for ladies bikes, and do this was done ‘off line’ when the bike was delivered to the Usmc.

Or it could be a tidy minded individual in the bicycle stores ensuring all usmc bicycles under their control where marked mc.

Or another option yet to be thought of…

Really we need another to turn up to give an idea of if this was a one off or not. But I think it may be a long time before we see another (-:

Thanks for checking the srizl and pulling up this so far unique case.

I’ll write more when I get back.

Best regards,

Adrian