The Colson Corporation was headquartered in Elyria, OH and manufactured bicycles from 1917 to 1953. In 1954 the Evans Products Company bought the bicycle division from Colson. Evans produced bicycles badged as Evans-Colson until about 1958 although Evans continued to offer bicycles until 1962. The serial numbers on the pre 1932 bikes were on the head tube. From 1933-53 the serial number was underneath the bottom bracket. This chart does not include the Evans-Colson numbers as I’ve not yet been able to make sense of these.

Pre 1932

As shown in Fig 1. The serial number runs parallel to the head tube. These early numbers have not been studied and determining the exact date may not be possible. Although Colson began manufacturing in 1917 of tricycles, sidewalk bikes, strollers, and wheelchairs, along with other products there isn’t any hard evidence they produced full-sized bicycles until the latter part of the 1920s. Until more examples surface this period of Colson production will remain a mystery.

Fig 1. Pre 1932 example of Colson serial number.

1933-35

The serial number sequence for this period will start with the last number of the year followed by a letter designating the month and a serial number consisting of 2-4 numbers (Figs 2-3). It is important to note Colson did use the letter “I” to designate September in its numbering sequence.

Fig 2. October (“J”) 1933 serial number.
Fig 3. December (“L”) 1934 serial number.

1936

For an unknown reason Colson changed their serial numbering for 1936. The serial will generally start with four numbers followed by a letter. This letter may designate the month. I have yet to see a 1936 serial number going beyond “L” which would indicate December. See Fig 4. for an example of a 1936 serial number.

Fig 4. April (“D”) 1936 serial number.

1937-41

The serial number for this period is a three to five digit number with a month/date code stamped underneath (Fig 5.). Like previous numbers these are large, hand-stamped numbers/letters. Colson produced bicycles under contract to both Goodyear and Firestone which have special designators. Goodyear contract bikes will have “GY” (Fig 6.) while Firestone bikes will have “F_C” (Fig 7.). Additionally, Firestone used a different code for each year from 1939-1941; 1939=FAC, 1940=FBC, and 1941=FCC. A note about these designators; I have seen original Goodyear bikes with a Firestone designator and vice versa. Apparently, in a pinch, Colson would use frames from one contract to fulfill the other.

Fig 5. Example of a 1937-1941 serial number. In this case June (“F”) 1937.
Fig 6. Good Year (GY) contract frame (October “J” 1941).
Fig 7. Firestone contract (FCC) July “G” 1941.

1949-1953

Colson was a little late getting back into production after the war. The numbers revert back to an earlier format of last number of the year followed by a letter for the month and three to five numbers after that. The postwar numbers have a smaller font and generally are more uniform than the pre war numbers (Fig 8.).

Fig 8. Example of post war serial number July (“G”) 1951.

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