USN Cushman model 32

[Niek Baecke]

Hi all,

Since our Dodge WC52 "Michigan" is nearly done, i went and found myself another project to work on.
I had been looking for a Cushman for some time now. The airborne Cushmans are a bit out of my budget range, but i've managed to find a 1944 model 32.
This is a civillian model, but also used by the US army, US navy and USAAF.
The model 32 uses the 4HP Cushman ''Husky'' engine. It does not have a gearbox. The engine is connected to the rear wheel using a centrifugal clutch.

When i collected it, it was a basket case of parts. Today i loosely assembled it to see what was missing.
All in all, it's quite complete. Only missing an oilbath aircleaner and some smaller parts (gaskets, tyres,bolts,...).
 I had to make 1 front fork out of 2 bad ones.
Engine has good compression but will disassemble it anyway, just to be sure. Rear brake assembly and centrifugal clutch need sorting out.

Also removed the crudely welded non original footboards.
Some welding will need to be done to the frame and floorplate.
Body work is in decent shape for its age. Trunk lid and side panels have a couple of dents but nothing too bad.
Throttle handle is stuck and will need fixing.

Plan is to recreate a military model 32, i'm not 100% sure yet of color/specification.
Will post more updates as the restoration progresses.

Edited February 1, 2022 by Niek Baecke

[Cushman 53]

Nice project, will be watching this with interest. We restored a couple of 53s a few years ago.

[Niek Baecke]

After loosely assembling the cushman, we started to break it down again.
We now have a bare frame. Seems a different engine was mounted in the frame, this might explain the excessive wear on the rear wheel sprocket.

We had lots of problems removing the tyres. Water had gone inbetween the rim halves and created a crust of rust. The inner tyres were stuck to this crust. After a lot of effort and swear words, they came loose.

Normally the series 30 only have 1 spring on the rear suspension swing arm frame (at the end of the frame). This suspension type proved to be too weak and after the war the series 50 had double sideway mounted springs. 
It appears at some point in time the single spring suspension broke and one of the previous owners welded double spring mounts onto the frame. I will try to bring the suspension back to the original configuration.

Unfortunately the original floor is beyond saving. However Carpenter Cushman makes replicas. A new one is on it's way to Belgium.
 

Edited February 12, 2022 by Niek Baecke

[Niek Baecke]

Apparently this Cushman is less civillian then I initially thought. Underneath layers of paint i managed to find a USAF-number. The USAF wasn't created until 1947. The Cushman series 30 stopped production in 1945, which must mean it was in the United States Army Air Force before 1947.
I wonder if it would have been olive drab originally and post war painted yellow. I can't find any traces of olive drab or any other wartime markings.

Also started removing the floor. Which was a good decision. Lots of mud and rust underneath it.

Edited February 12, 2022 by Niek Baecke

[Le Prof]

Hi @Niek Baecke

I did some research on USAF colours for a WW2 Westfield Columbia G519 bicycle painted green/yellow/blue.

The full discussion is here:

USAF G519 Bicycle

My own contribution is as Mercian, from post 4.

In summary, during WW2 at least some USAAF vehicles were painted yellow, presumably for flightline visibility, and probably not in 'active' areas.

The blue colour on your Cushman may be the Strato Blue used by the USAF post February 1950. You can compare it to the bicycle in the thread.

I hope this is of interest.

Best Regards,

Adrian

Edited February 13, 2022 by Le Prof
To figure out how to add links correctly.

[RayT]

Some jeeps used on the flightline were painted yellow. I just spotted a picture on Facebook but can't find it now though.

[Niek Baecke]

Some more pieces of the puzzle of this little Cushman's past uncovered.
I was searching for more markings underneath the paint. I was surprised to find black paint underneath all the yellow.
It was another registration number, but to my surprise it did not start with USAF but with USN.
After lots of careful sanding i managed to find the whole number; USN 205943.
The very first layer of paint turns out to be grey, which I guess is US navy grey, then overpainted in yellow with the USN number in black paint. I think during WW2 this Cushman must have been used at a Navy air station. Which later became part of the USAF once it was created in 1947, this could explain the 2 registration numbers I have found.
 

Edited February 23, 2022 by Niek Baecke

[jpsmit]

impressive archeology!

[Le Prof]

Hi @Niek Baecke

Well, you got your money's worth for a non military vehicle (-:

It would be interesting to know where the bike was found.

I've had a quick look through Naval Air Stations, and there seems to be only one that was an NAS during WW2, and was transferred to the USAF from the Navy in 1948.

 Naval Air Station Banana River in Cocoa Beach, Florida was originally opened and operated from 1940 to 1947 as  a USN airfield. It was then deactivated as a naval installation in 1947 and placed in caretaker status until it was transferred to the Air Force in late 1948.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Space_Force_Base#Naval_use_in_World_War_II

You can check the rest of the list to make sure I've not missed anything:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Navy_airfields

Although several others ransfer to the USAF and USAAF, they all seem too early or too late to account for the 1944 date of your bike, or the colours of the paint.

I guess Banana River would go well with a yellow paint scheme (-:

Best Regards,

Adrian

[Niek Baecke]

@Le Prof
Thanks for your research. I bought the bike in the Netherlands. However it was imported into the EU from Indiana, US.
I've did some research too. I managed to find an Ex US naval air station about 200 miles from where the bike came from. The Naval air station is now called Grissom Air Base but it was originally named US Naval air station Peru in  1942 and changed name to Naval Air Station (NAS) Bunker Hill in 1943.
It was used by the US navy as a training centre from 1943-1946, later the buildings were leased to civillian contractors but  during the korean war it became an active USAF air base again. Unfortunately I haven't found any other markings to prove my theory.

Edited February 23, 2022 by Niek Baecke

[Le Prof]

Hi @Niek Baecke

Yes, I think I saw that one, but discounted it because of the yellow paint.

This should have been applied in the period before 1950, especially with a USAF number applied on top of the yellow. and so is unlikely to have happened during civillian use. By the Korean war it would have been pianted Strtos Blue, so there would ave been no yellow paint layer.

But it's all just guesswork, we'll nver know. And it is a most excellent find, what ever it's history.

Best Regards,

Adrian

[Niek Baecke]

Another day working on the project. Started with welding the surplus holes in the frame.
The frame is now ready for sandblasting. Once that is done, we will weld the new floor on.

This week i've made a new wooden base for the seat and painted the seat springs. These are now gone to get reupholstered, curious to see the end result.

Most period pictures of model 32/34 Cushman's show them being fitted with a horn. A couple of weeks ago i managed to find such type of horn on Ebay, it arrived from the US this week. It's in  good working condition, but needs a new coat of paint.


 

[Niek Baecke]

Some period pictures of USN Cushman's in service. Found on google and various FB groups. 
 

 

Edited February 27, 2022 by Niek Baecke

[Niek Baecke]

Frame and rims are off to the sandblasters.

Meanwhile some work on the body. Mostly panelbeating and getting the side louvres back in shape.

I also had some time to look at the engine. The dataplate says it's a 17M71, which would make it shortly post war, most likely from a series 52 or 53A. The original would have been a 15M71. Biggest differences are the kickstarter, vent shroud and cylinder head. Luckily there was a correct cylinder head and kickstarter included with the engine, so i just have to swap them over. Carpenter Cushman also make the correct shroud, so no big deal to put it back to correct specs.

Before i disassembled the Engine, i checked if it had ignition. It had a good spark at the plug so the ignition coil should be ok. The ignition is a 6V rotating flywheel ignition made by WICO. Later Husky engines are 12V and have 3 coils (ignition + lights), this one only has 1 coil and uses a separate generator to power the lights. This generator is powered by a belt running from the clutch.

I pulled the cylinder head off the engine to take a look at the piston and bore. Fortunately it looks really good. Valves also look good. The piston is +30 oversize. Looks like it'll only need new seals/gaskets and a good clean.

Expecting some parts to arrive from the US soon, including a new 47 tooth sprocket for the rear wheel.

Edited March 21, 2022 by Niek Baecke

[David Herbert]

There is a shortage of a spark plug hole in the left hand cylinder head. Won't this make the engine difficult to start ? 😁

David

[Niek Baecke]

9 hours ago, David Herbert said:

There is a shortage of a spark plug hole in the left hand cylinder head. Won't this make the engine difficult to start ? 😁

David

On the wartime Husky engines, the spark plug hole is located at the side of the cylinder head.

[David Herbert]

Ahh, now I see it !

David

[Niek Baecke]

Happy days!
Seat arrived back from upholsterer. Really pleased with the end result.
Couldn't help it, I also put on the lubrication chart to see how it would look.
Now stored away because I won't need this part until the last steps of the project.

[Niek Baecke]

Not much new to report unfortunately. Still waiting on a call from the sandblasters...
Box of parts arrived from the US, along with the new NOS rear sprocket.
Paint arrived from Jeepsudest (France), compared it to the original paint I found on the front mudguard and it's a really close match.
Also managed to find a complete sidecar, which i will be collecting this sunday.

Edited March 21, 2022 by Niek Baecke

[Niek Baecke]

Swap meet day!  Ktr-beurs in the Netherlands, which means an early start...
Collected the sidecar and some other goodies for the project.
I found a rare Cushman oilbath airfilter on E-bay. It appears they were also used on briggs and stratton model N stationary engines. I managed to get the correct elbow for mounting the filter to the carb today.
Also got a nice replica rear mudguard, I didn't know they had rear mudguards untill i had a look at the parts list. Seems like most restored ones are missing this piece because i've never seen one fitted on pictures.

 

Edited March 27, 2022 by Niek Baecke

[Niek Baecke]

Got a call from the sandblasters today. Collected the parts and we put them in a layer of primer.
Now we can fabricate the rear suspension and weld on the new floorboard.
Parts for the engine should arrive tomorrow.
Lots of work to do, so hope we have some process to report by the end of the weekend.

Edited March 29, 2022 by Niek Baecke

[Niek Baecke]

Also found this interesting photo, seems to be from the Cushman works.
I'm not sure if it's an original color photo or colorized.
A female worker busy working on a series 32. Interesting to see are the 32 series Navy bodies standing in the back.
The stencil font is the same as i found on my Cushman. Also note that these don't seem to have holes for the taillight, while the civillian bodies do have the taillight already fitted.
On most wartime pictures you can see the glass taillight lens missing or broken . Maybe they stopped fitting them later on?
This might explain why mine had some crudely drilled holes and a '37 Harley taillight fitted.

Edited March 29, 2022 by Niek Baecke

[David Herbert]

Great find !

It is interesting that the numbers are stencilled onto the navy bodies before they were built up into complete machines. This would suggest that there is little possibility to work out the military registration from the frame number.

Looking at the woman's shirt I think that the colours are genuine. Certainly colour film was widely available in America at that time, much more so than in the UK.

David

 

[Niek Baecke]

On 3/30/2022 at 11:18 AM, David Herbert said:

Great find !

It is interesting that the numbers are stencilled onto the navy bodies before they were built up into complete machines. This would suggest that there is little possibility to work out the military registration from the frame number.

Looking at the woman's shirt I think that the colours are genuine. Certainly colour film was widely available in America at that time, much more so than in the UK.

David

 

There is indeed no way to figure out the registration number from the frame number.
From what i read, the problem also is that Cushman did military production and civilian production at the same time as can be seen on the color picture.
For example: frame number 30000 could be a military series 32,  30001 could be a civilian series 32, while 30002 could be a military 53 Airborne scooter,... There are no records on frame numbers as far as i know.

Edited March 31, 2022 by Niek Baecke

[Niek Baecke]

Well, some minor progress today. Painted all the areas that are underneath the floorboard. If all goes well we should weld the new floorboard on tomorrow.
Then had a look at the front forks. Like i previously mentioned the throttle handle was stuck. After use of various tools (including numerous swear words), heat and WD40, the throttle still wouldn't budge. So we had to revert back  to ''old trusty'', the angle grinder. Luckily replacement throttle handles are available, seems like i'm not the only one who had this problem...