In 1937 Murray manufactured a new bike generally sold under the Mercury brand but Goodyear as well. The most notable feature of these bikes was the light and horn sitting atop the handlebars.

Murray produced these bikes with both single and dual headlight ‘pods’. The bikes were designed by Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky a famous industrial designer of the time. Besides bicycles he also designed automobiles, kitchen items, and furniture.

Officially these bikes were known as the Mercury De Luxe (dual headlight) or Semi De Luxe (single headlight) line of bicycles. The pod required a special stem and bracket and was hinged at the front so the top could be lifted to insert batteries. The bikes also featured the first built in kickstand and regular Murray/Mercury bikes did not have this feature.

They were offered in both boys and girls models as well as juvenile versions. The more upscale models had chrome fender tips and a special paint scheme. Literature even shows a tricycle equipped with a pod but I have never seen one of these.  All of the boys pod bikes have tanks while the girls models do not. Both boys and girls versions also have hubcaps which are color keyed to the bike as well as a rear, spring loaded reflector to absorb contact with objects. Some sources say these were made from 1937-39. But from what I’ve seen these were probably produced in 1937 and possibly into 1938. I have never seen any ads other than the 1937 model year. Murray introduced its Pacemaker as the top-of-the-line offering for 1939 and it is unlikely they offered the pod bikes once the Pacemaker was available.  Owner: Shawn Sweeney