DAHLQUIST CYCLEWORKS
  • Home
  • Bicycle Stories
    • Story of America in 2 Bicycles
  • American Bicycles
    • American Bicycles >
      • 1890s Columbus Bicycle
      • 1892-93 Stover
      • 1893 Elliott Hickory
      • More American Bicycles >
        • 1895 Columbia Model 45 C.A. Fudge
        • 1895 Gormully & Jeffery Rambler No. 12
        • Patee Track Bicycle
        • 1895 Patee Gents'
        • 1895 Patee Ladies' Loop Frame
        • 1895 Sterling (As Ridden by Bobby Walthour)
        • 1896 Buffalo Soldier Bicycle
        • 1897 American-Made Humber Roadster
        • 1897 Crescent No. 9
        • 1899 Sterling Shaft-Drive
        • 1899 Monarch
        • 1900 Gormully & Jeffery American Bicycle Co. Rambler
        • 1902 Columbia Model 92
        • 1902 Sears Kenwood
      • Some More American Bicycles >
        • Teddy Roosevelt 1904 Campaign Bicycle
        • 1907 Cruso Double Bar Semi-Racer
        • 1908 Tribune Blue Streak Racer
        • 1909 Sears Peerless
        • 1912 Elgin King
        • 1914 Crown
        • 1915 Sears Chief Motorbike
        • 1915 Truss Frame
        • 1916 Mead Ranger Coaster Brake Special
        • 1919 Haverford Black Beauty 'Pacer' Arch Bar
        • Tyger's 1918 Mead Racer
        • 1918 Columbia Military Model
        • 1920s Mead Ranger Motorbike
        • 1923 Mead Racer
      • Even More American Bicycles >
        • 1923 Iver Johnson Model 90
        • 1926 Columbia 50th Anniversary Motorbike
        • Supplee Hardware Suhaco Special Crown Wannabe
        • 1920s/30s Greyhound Semi-Racer
        • Marshall Field Tricycle
        • 1930s/40s Drysdale Special Track
        • 1936 Schwinn Liberty First Generation Klunker
        • 1936/37 Iver Johnson Model 90
        • 1937 Schwinn Paramount Track
        • 1938 Shelby Hiawatha Airflo Rat Rod
        • 1939 Mead Ranger
        • 1939 Schwinn Superior Sports-Tourist
        • 1939 Shelby Airflo
        • 1940s Schwinn New World (Admiral) Track
      • Additional American Bicycles >
        • 1943 Dayton Military Bicycle
        • 1949 Schwinn Paramount Sports-Tourist
        • 1954 Mead Ranger/Schwinn New World
        • 1956 Schwinn Paramount Sports-Tourist
        • Mead Coventry Flyer
        • 1972 Schwinn Super Sport Custom Coffee Bike
        • 1983 Trek 850
        • 1985 Schwinn Voyageur Custom
      • Further American Bicycles >
        • French Gray Mead Crusader
        • Napoleon and Josephine
        • 1987 Schwinn Paramountain
        • Iver Johnson Lightweight Touring Mens' & Ladies'
        • Schwinn Paramount Tricycle
        • Tyger's Teesdale
      • Extra American Bicycles >
        • 1983 Moulton-Made John Howard
        • 1986 Schwinn Sierra
        • 1986 Schwinn Mirada Mixte
        • 1992 Schwinn Paramount S.A.S.S. Buell Mountain Bike
        • 1997 Rivendell Road Standard
        • 1981 Jeffrey Bock Light Touring
        • 1981 Trek 950
        • 9/11 Yellow Schwinn Tribute Bike
        • 2017 Rivendell Appaloosa
    • American Balloon-Tire Bicycles >
      • 1935 Schwinn Excelsior Double-Diamond Clunker
      • 1940s Schwinn Excelsior Clunker
      • Scotty Bandito Cowboy Bike
      • Roadmaster Rat Rod
  • Austrian Bicycles
    • 1948 Norwegian Styria
  • Belgian Bicycles
    • 1930s Delfa
    • 1940s Sieber
    • 1950s Jean Aerts
  • British Bicycles
    • 1895 Humber Path Racer
    • 1897 Humber Tandem
    • 1907 Full-Nickel BSA Path Racer
    • 1910 Raleigh Superbe Cross Frame
    • 1911 New Hudson Imperial
    • Unique & Unity Juvenile Bicycle
    • WWI Humber British Army Postal Service Bicycle
    • 1920s Hercules
    • 1920s New Hudson Cross Frame
    • Hercules NFS & Humber Messenger Bicycle
    • More British Bicycles >
      • 1930s Royal Enfield Roadster
      • 1930s Special Sunbeam
      • 1932 Royal Sunbeam
      • Humber Bermuda
      • 1936 Hetchins Brilliant No. 2
      • 1940s Maclean Featherweight
      • Robin Hood Camping Bicycle
      • 1947 Humber Roadster
      • 1947 Raleigh Loop Frame
      • 1949 Paris Tour de France
    • Even More British Bicycles >
      • Bicycle Institute of America Mystery Racer
      • The Double Bar Humber Number
      • 1952 Humber Sports
      • 1952 Carlton Silver Clubman
      • 1967 Marshall Field Raleigh 5 Speed Sprint
      • 1970s Bob Jackson
      • Ephgrave No. 1
      • Dahlquist Cycleworks Delivery
      • Teens Era BSA Path Racer
  • Canadian Bicycles
    • 1926 CCM Motor Bicycle
    • 1940s CCM Flyer Track Bicycle
    • 1976 Marinoni "Quebec" Special
  • Chinese Bicycles
    • Tiananmen Square Tribute Bicycle "Forever"
  • Dutch Bicycles
    • Netherlands Raleigh City Bike
    • Netherlands Raleigh Prestige
  • French Bicycles
    • 1903 Peugeot Roadster
    • 1903-1910 Tour de France Racer
    • 1910/Teens J.B. Louvet Truss Frame Racing Bicycle
    • 1920s L' Automotion
    • Automoto Champion du Monde
    • Bobet's Bicycle
    • 1961 Rene Herse Touring
    • Bobet Cyclo-Pedia Touring Bicycle
    • Blue Bobet
    • 1955 Peugeot PHX-10
    • 1960s/70s Peugeot UO-8 Juvenile
    • Motobecane Wine Bike
  • German Bicycles
    • 1939 Durkopp Track Bicycle
    • 1940 Achilles Gents & Ladies Roadsters
    • 1940s/50s Durkopp Diana Sport
    • 1940s/50s Durkopp Diana Loop Frame
    • Repurposed WWII German Military
  • Italian Bicycles
    • Bianchi Military Bicycle
    • 1940s Bottecchia
    • 1941 Legnano Tipo Campione Del Mondo
    • 1949 Gloria Garibaldina Extra
    • More Italian Bicycles >
      • 1950s Fausto Coppi
      • 1950s Legnano Tipo Roma Track Bicycle
      • Gino Bartali Team Bike
      • 1961 Bianchi Specialissima - T. Johnson's
    • Even More Italian Bicycles >
      • 1961 Olmo Special
      • 1961 Bianchi Rekord
      • Early 1960s Legnano Gran Premio
      • 1950s Legnano Tipo Roma Road Bicycle
  • Italian Bicycles II
    • 1967 Torpado
    • 1970s Eddie Merckx Colnago
    • 1970-71 Pogliaghi Italcorse
    • 1974 Carlsbad CA Masi Gran Criterium
    • 1976 Pogliaghi Selection
  • Japanese Bicycles
    • Miyata Mister
    • Kyokurei Post-War Roadster
    • Post War Maruto Deluxe "High Class" Roadster
    • 1960s Five Speed Fujicycle
    • 1973 Schwinn World Voyageur
    • 1973 Fuji S-10-S Special Racer
    • 1974 Schwinn Voyageur II
    • 1985 Fuji Opus III
    • 1987 Team Fuji Funny Bike
    • 1987 Bridgestone T 700 Atlantis Prototype
    • 1988 Team Fuji Time Trial
  • Klunker Bicycles
    • Klunker Dan
  • Swedish Bicycles
    • 1930s/40s Hermes
    • 1947 Crescent Roadster
  • Scottish Bikes
    • 1959 Flying Scot
  • Poetry
    • A bientot mon ami
    • Bicycle Haiku
    • Bicycle at Rest
    • Bill Harley and Major Taylor
    • Four Sunflowers
    • ​Mile-a-Minute Murphy
    • Neruda: Wrong on Bicycles
    • Tribute to Tyger
    • On a Mountain Road in Virginia
    • More Poetry >
      • Forever Bicycles
      • The Humber Chainring
      • What I'll See on that Bicycle Ride
      • 1940
      • The Aging Athlete Reinvents Himself for John Howard
  • Events
    • 6/11/2022 Dream Team Presentation
    • 7/19/22 25th Anniversary
    • 8/26/222 Auburn Vintage Bike Show
    • I Sold My Rat Rod
    • John Howard Visits Missouri
  • About
  • Contact

1914 Crown Model 66


​I first laid eyes on this bicycle over twenty years ago. It was hanging from a hook in a lean-to attached to my friend Real Le Bel's garage in Quebec, Canada. It was a Crown, made some time in the teens by the Great Western Manufacturing Company in La Porte, Indiana, considered the largest independent bicycle concern in the United States by the turn of the previous century. It had lost most of its original black paint. But when Real paused by the bike and ran his hand along the distinctive curly truss frame, I could see that my friend held it in high esteem. I had already filled the trunk of our car and the rack on the back with vintage bicycles, so I didn't even ask Real whether the Crown was for sale or not. But I never forgot it: the curly truss frame Crown was a work of art.

Another twenty years would pass until I saw the bike again. My friend was gone, so I couldn't ask him why the "restored" Crown was now repainted in a 1980s shade of metallic green, with clumsy spear point darts where they shouldn't be. Real had excellent taste, so there is no way to explain the amateur restoration. I decided that this time I would bring the bike home and give it the paint it deserves. Note: The first photos show the bike before I attached the badge. In the closeup of the beautiful Crown head badge you can see, on the headset, a vestige of the green metallic paint. The fresh spear point darts are improved, but still incorrect. We're getting closer.

As of this writing, my Model 66 Crown is one of only eight known survivors.

Catalog page image courtesy of Richard Peglow, Great Western Mfg. Co. historian
1914 Crown ©Daniel Dahlquist
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Bicycle Stories
    • Story of America in 2 Bicycles
  • American Bicycles
    • American Bicycles >
      • 1890s Columbus Bicycle
      • 1892-93 Stover
      • 1893 Elliott Hickory
      • More American Bicycles >
        • 1895 Columbia Model 45 C.A. Fudge
        • 1895 Gormully & Jeffery Rambler No. 12
        • Patee Track Bicycle
        • 1895 Patee Gents'
        • 1895 Patee Ladies' Loop Frame
        • 1895 Sterling (As Ridden by Bobby Walthour)
        • 1896 Buffalo Soldier Bicycle
        • 1897 American-Made Humber Roadster
        • 1897 Crescent No. 9
        • 1899 Sterling Shaft-Drive
        • 1899 Monarch
        • 1900 Gormully & Jeffery American Bicycle Co. Rambler
        • 1902 Columbia Model 92
        • 1902 Sears Kenwood
      • Some More American Bicycles >
        • Teddy Roosevelt 1904 Campaign Bicycle
        • 1907 Cruso Double Bar Semi-Racer
        • 1908 Tribune Blue Streak Racer
        • 1909 Sears Peerless
        • 1912 Elgin King
        • 1914 Crown
        • 1915 Sears Chief Motorbike
        • 1915 Truss Frame
        • 1916 Mead Ranger Coaster Brake Special
        • 1919 Haverford Black Beauty 'Pacer' Arch Bar
        • Tyger's 1918 Mead Racer
        • 1918 Columbia Military Model
        • 1920s Mead Ranger Motorbike
        • 1923 Mead Racer
      • Even More American Bicycles >
        • 1923 Iver Johnson Model 90
        • 1926 Columbia 50th Anniversary Motorbike
        • Supplee Hardware Suhaco Special Crown Wannabe
        • 1920s/30s Greyhound Semi-Racer
        • Marshall Field Tricycle
        • 1930s/40s Drysdale Special Track
        • 1936 Schwinn Liberty First Generation Klunker
        • 1936/37 Iver Johnson Model 90
        • 1937 Schwinn Paramount Track
        • 1938 Shelby Hiawatha Airflo Rat Rod
        • 1939 Mead Ranger
        • 1939 Schwinn Superior Sports-Tourist
        • 1939 Shelby Airflo
        • 1940s Schwinn New World (Admiral) Track
      • Additional American Bicycles >
        • 1943 Dayton Military Bicycle
        • 1949 Schwinn Paramount Sports-Tourist
        • 1954 Mead Ranger/Schwinn New World
        • 1956 Schwinn Paramount Sports-Tourist
        • Mead Coventry Flyer
        • 1972 Schwinn Super Sport Custom Coffee Bike
        • 1983 Trek 850
        • 1985 Schwinn Voyageur Custom
      • Further American Bicycles >
        • French Gray Mead Crusader
        • Napoleon and Josephine
        • 1987 Schwinn Paramountain
        • Iver Johnson Lightweight Touring Mens' & Ladies'
        • Schwinn Paramount Tricycle
        • Tyger's Teesdale
      • Extra American Bicycles >
        • 1983 Moulton-Made John Howard
        • 1986 Schwinn Sierra
        • 1986 Schwinn Mirada Mixte
        • 1992 Schwinn Paramount S.A.S.S. Buell Mountain Bike
        • 1997 Rivendell Road Standard
        • 1981 Jeffrey Bock Light Touring
        • 1981 Trek 950
        • 9/11 Yellow Schwinn Tribute Bike
        • 2017 Rivendell Appaloosa
    • American Balloon-Tire Bicycles >
      • 1935 Schwinn Excelsior Double-Diamond Clunker
      • 1940s Schwinn Excelsior Clunker
      • Scotty Bandito Cowboy Bike
      • Roadmaster Rat Rod
  • Austrian Bicycles
    • 1948 Norwegian Styria
  • Belgian Bicycles
    • 1930s Delfa
    • 1940s Sieber
    • 1950s Jean Aerts
  • British Bicycles
    • 1895 Humber Path Racer
    • 1897 Humber Tandem
    • 1907 Full-Nickel BSA Path Racer
    • 1910 Raleigh Superbe Cross Frame
    • 1911 New Hudson Imperial
    • Unique & Unity Juvenile Bicycle
    • WWI Humber British Army Postal Service Bicycle
    • 1920s Hercules
    • 1920s New Hudson Cross Frame
    • Hercules NFS & Humber Messenger Bicycle
    • More British Bicycles >
      • 1930s Royal Enfield Roadster
      • 1930s Special Sunbeam
      • 1932 Royal Sunbeam
      • Humber Bermuda
      • 1936 Hetchins Brilliant No. 2
      • 1940s Maclean Featherweight
      • Robin Hood Camping Bicycle
      • 1947 Humber Roadster
      • 1947 Raleigh Loop Frame
      • 1949 Paris Tour de France
    • Even More British Bicycles >
      • Bicycle Institute of America Mystery Racer
      • The Double Bar Humber Number
      • 1952 Humber Sports
      • 1952 Carlton Silver Clubman
      • 1967 Marshall Field Raleigh 5 Speed Sprint
      • 1970s Bob Jackson
      • Ephgrave No. 1
      • Dahlquist Cycleworks Delivery
      • Teens Era BSA Path Racer
  • Canadian Bicycles
    • 1926 CCM Motor Bicycle
    • 1940s CCM Flyer Track Bicycle
    • 1976 Marinoni "Quebec" Special
  • Chinese Bicycles
    • Tiananmen Square Tribute Bicycle "Forever"
  • Dutch Bicycles
    • Netherlands Raleigh City Bike
    • Netherlands Raleigh Prestige
  • French Bicycles
    • 1903 Peugeot Roadster
    • 1903-1910 Tour de France Racer
    • 1910/Teens J.B. Louvet Truss Frame Racing Bicycle
    • 1920s L' Automotion
    • Automoto Champion du Monde
    • Bobet's Bicycle
    • 1961 Rene Herse Touring
    • Bobet Cyclo-Pedia Touring Bicycle
    • Blue Bobet
    • 1955 Peugeot PHX-10
    • 1960s/70s Peugeot UO-8 Juvenile
    • Motobecane Wine Bike
  • German Bicycles
    • 1939 Durkopp Track Bicycle
    • 1940 Achilles Gents & Ladies Roadsters
    • 1940s/50s Durkopp Diana Sport
    • 1940s/50s Durkopp Diana Loop Frame
    • Repurposed WWII German Military
  • Italian Bicycles
    • Bianchi Military Bicycle
    • 1940s Bottecchia
    • 1941 Legnano Tipo Campione Del Mondo
    • 1949 Gloria Garibaldina Extra
    • More Italian Bicycles >
      • 1950s Fausto Coppi
      • 1950s Legnano Tipo Roma Track Bicycle
      • Gino Bartali Team Bike
      • 1961 Bianchi Specialissima - T. Johnson's
    • Even More Italian Bicycles >
      • 1961 Olmo Special
      • 1961 Bianchi Rekord
      • Early 1960s Legnano Gran Premio
      • 1950s Legnano Tipo Roma Road Bicycle
  • Italian Bicycles II
    • 1967 Torpado
    • 1970s Eddie Merckx Colnago
    • 1970-71 Pogliaghi Italcorse
    • 1974 Carlsbad CA Masi Gran Criterium
    • 1976 Pogliaghi Selection
  • Japanese Bicycles
    • Miyata Mister
    • Kyokurei Post-War Roadster
    • Post War Maruto Deluxe "High Class" Roadster
    • 1960s Five Speed Fujicycle
    • 1973 Schwinn World Voyageur
    • 1973 Fuji S-10-S Special Racer
    • 1974 Schwinn Voyageur II
    • 1985 Fuji Opus III
    • 1987 Team Fuji Funny Bike
    • 1987 Bridgestone T 700 Atlantis Prototype
    • 1988 Team Fuji Time Trial
  • Klunker Bicycles
    • Klunker Dan
  • Swedish Bicycles
    • 1930s/40s Hermes
    • 1947 Crescent Roadster
  • Scottish Bikes
    • 1959 Flying Scot
  • Poetry
    • A bientot mon ami
    • Bicycle Haiku
    • Bicycle at Rest
    • Bill Harley and Major Taylor
    • Four Sunflowers
    • ​Mile-a-Minute Murphy
    • Neruda: Wrong on Bicycles
    • Tribute to Tyger
    • On a Mountain Road in Virginia
    • More Poetry >
      • Forever Bicycles
      • The Humber Chainring
      • What I'll See on that Bicycle Ride
      • 1940
      • The Aging Athlete Reinvents Himself for John Howard
  • Events
    • 6/11/2022 Dream Team Presentation
    • 7/19/22 25th Anniversary
    • 8/26/222 Auburn Vintage Bike Show
    • I Sold My Rat Rod
    • John Howard Visits Missouri
  • About
  • Contact