Painting on a 1913 Henderson

[Bertil Lindahl]

Are the stripes on front fork, tool box, frame and centerstrip on fenders in white on a 1913 Henderson? Same white as on gas tank?
On the fenders there are thinner gold stripes on each side of the white center stripe. Same on rims.
All restored 1913 Henderson I have seen, or bikes that tries to look like a 1913 has all stripes in gold. In my opinion that is not correct.
Am I right? Looking forward to hear your opinion.

[jurassic]

1913

schultz's book has a copy of the 13 brochure it says the finish on the 1913 was royal blue and aluminum.it doesn't mention the striping though.

[jurassic]

[silentgreyfello]

There was an original paint '13 at the Chandler auction a couple years ago. I took some pix. I just have to find them and will post when I do. I also have photos of other 13's, but the orig paint would be my guide. Also, I know Matt Smith has worked on a lot of these over the years.

[silentgreyfello]

I guess I didn't take photos of that bike at the auction, but in looking at the photos of it in the catalog, there isn't a bit of white on the bike. Like Lonnie indicated, the bike should be blue, with silver tank, and it does have silver (or aluminum) stripes. Here is a pic of a friend's '13 that was restored 30 years ago. The paint scheme is the same as on the Chandler bike. I will see if I can take a photo of the picture in the book. I know the gent from Calif that bought the Chandler bike. I will see if I can get a photo.

[silentgreyfello]

Here is one of Mike Smith's restorations...

[c.o.]

He sure did nice work didn't he?

[Bertil Lindahl]

Thank´s for all your help. Photo from Chandler auction bike will be of great interest. Bertil Lindahl

[Barry Brown]

that 13 original paint Chandler bike was mine at one time. I rebuilt the engine. It had a neat little hole in the crankcase where it once threw a rod. Luckily I found another engine locally and inexpensive. My how things have changed! I'll see if I have some photos. it had the original striping on the fenders etc. but the silver part of the tank had been painted over white. The striping on the fenders was faint. The people to contact are Jim Dennie, who is in the roster, he has a killer 13 original paint and of course the guru of Hendersons Steve Ciccalone. There is a Henderson forum called the KJ Exchange, That would also be a good start. good luck with your project, wish I still had mine!

[Barry Brown]

Here is one of Mike Smith's restorations...

Is it a resto or a repop?

[silentgreyfello]

Is it a resto or a repop?

I don't know. He had it at a swap meet in Dixon, CA a few years back.

[chicagohen]

I had the opportunity to work on Jim's 1913 original Hen, owned a beautiful original 1917 Hen and have seen a couple of other really original Detroits. The pin striping on all machines is gold as advertized in the sales catalogs. We sometimes forget that in the old days, there was no gold One Shot or other gold striping paint. The process involved laying down white painting and then dusting over it with bronzing powder to produce the gold effect. Over time, the bronzing powder wore away giving the immpression that the stripe was white. I've seen this as late as Harley VL's.

I had a long discussion with Rich about the frame striping. Although shown clearly in all catalogs through 1917, Jim's '13, my '17 and the other original bikes had no frame pinstriping. I have a good set of photos of Barry's bike and that one was the same. There was striping on both forks, the fenders, tool box, tank (after 1913) and the wheel rims but not on the frame. Rich, Mike and Matt opted to follow the catalog which I find no fault with but I don't think frame striping appeared until 1920 on the K and continued on the Deluxe. I have four sets of photos of extremely nice 1918's but can't remember if there is frame striping. If there is it is probably black but Eric can answer this for '18/19 more authoratively.

[exeric]

Green '18s and '19s would have black striping on the frame. No frame striping on '17s.

[Bertil Lindahl]

Also have a 1917 in original painting. Agree with exeric there are no frame striping. All stripes on bike are gold.
Regarding 1913, in Richard Schultz Henderson book page 37, there are clearly frame striping on that bike. Are there two different series of 1913? A few other things make no sense: Foot brake lever pointing upward on my and Chandlers bike, in sales brochure and book photo it turns down. Stripes on toolbox are different on Chandlers bike and book photo.
My intention is to do a correct restoration as close to the original as possible.
Thanks for your help.

[pfindlay]

In Schultz's book, if you look at the picture of the Henderson brothers and a '13 Henderson and a Winton car, you can clearly see the frame striping. You can also see the brake linkage pointing down, as shown in the catalog drawings. Here is the picture.

winton + henderson.jpg

Peter