John H’s 1978 E. J. Korvette Power King 10 Speed

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‘Tis the season of the department store! Therefore I think it would be appropriate to dedicate the week to the OTS in it’s truest form, the department store OTS. Leading off is John H’s E.J. Korvette branded Power King. The Power King is an OTSG First and is the store brand of the now defunct E.J. Korvette. The Power King is to Korvette what the Ted Williams was to Sears, and crossed over between products.

John, to correct what you heard about the name, according to Wikipedia the stores did not get their name from a group jobless of Korean War veterans.

Hello, This is my daily commuter and weekend road warrior. It’s a 1978 Power King that I rescued from a dumpster. The frame is in remarkably good shape though it is a bit bent/twisted. Not a lot of corrosion and still using the original cables. Replaced the tubes and tires due to rot, and bar tape was chewed. Judging by the wear on the cogs and chain wheel she hadn’t seen much action. Apparently the Power-king was an in-house brand for a now defunct department store called Korvetts. Korvetts as I understand, was started by a group of Korean war veterans, hence the name, because they had trouble finding work upon returning home from service. Doesn’t it seems a little odd that they would be selling a Korean made bike? If any of your readers knows anything about the bike or Korvetts store or anything surrounding the plight of the veterans at that time I would really appreciate hearing about it. As a side note my son added the ammo can as a fathers-day present.

John H.

Related posts:

  1. Michael S’s 1980 Coast King 10-Speed
  2. Jeff W’s Coast King Transtar
  3. John W’s Rudge Royale 10-Speed
  4. John’s Spartan 10-Speed
  5. Mahan’s Coast King Regent
  • BeaterRezQ

    Now there’s a man after my own heart!
    Finds himself an odd-one-of-a-kind-old bike, customizes his rig with his own personal bomb-proof bike trunk (no pun intended), doesn’t worry too much about the “right” brand, frame material, build of components….weight. And then, commences to ride the crap out of it, 7 days a week.
    My Man!
    “…biking should be fun!”
    BRQ

  • Ryan Surface

    Love the Ammo box “trunk bag” ! and the “boomerang” kickstand stabilizer plate is pretty awesome too.

  • Jimbo

    Supposedly, “E.J. Korvettes” doesn’t stand for “eight Jewish Korean Vets” … I read that somewhere, but you have to really wonder. It was somewhat like a blend of Caldors, Kohl’s, Sears, etc. They probably went out of business about 30 years ago. They also had Power King lawn mowers and other privately labeled items. I remember the one on the Post Road Near the Bronx, NY border. We also used to head up to the one on the Post Road (U.S. 1) in Port Chester, NY. A Kohl’s is now in the Port Chester location. Not sure what’s in the other location. I had a Power King 3-speed knock-off English Racer as a kid. Probably cost about $29 in 1969. My mom had a woman’s version that went for about $25 in 1968. Mine had a Shimano stick shift on the top tube.

  • Motiheal

    I remember Korvettes well. We had one in Bayshore NY, and my entire family would go there. I would head downstairs to look at the bicycle section. They had many Power Kings; while yours is a 26 inch wheel, they also had 27 inch wheel ones, sort of an electric powder blue, with lugged frames. I remember comparing these to the bike I eventually bought at a local bike shop, a Peugeot UO8. The blue Power Kings had steel rims, and were beautiful. Good luck with yours!

  • Justin

    I recently purchased a Power King myself in Queens, NY. The guy said he acquired it from someone in Long Island. Mine also has considerable rust and the sidewalls of the tires are coming off, but I’m still going to use the tires for now =). Mine, however, is white, and came with a carrying rack on the back. For some reason, the fact that I saw it was made in Korea (and it’s also grained on the some parts that it’s made in Japan) made me feel it was a good buy; no luck in finding the bike in a dumpster though, hehe. 90 bucks out the pocket. Good buy?