Check it out. Tank frame bicycles like this were very popular from the 30s (I think) to the early 60s. Bicycles like these were basically standard issue to every kid in America. Only rich snobby kids had English Racer 10 speeds.
I was born in 53, so I only got in on the tail end of the tank frame era, because something was about to happen in 1963 that rocked the world, and that was the invention of the Schwinn Sting Ray. Immediately after that if you were still riding a tank frame, you were nerdiest nerd ball on the block LOL. Every kid who was anyone had a Sting Ray. My parents were poor, and I had to suffer like a dog for over a year before I could talk them into buying me one. After that it was Sting Ray, or the highway as far as I was concerned.
Now I look back after all these years at both kinds of bikes, and all I can think is, WTH was I thinking. I guess I owe an apology to all those nerd balls I made fun of. Sting Rays came and went, but tank frames are timeless. Then after many years without a bicycle, the first bicycle I picked to ride was a modern, but not quite, version of a tank frame. The styling seemed to appeal to me on a sub conscious level.
I didn't know it at the time, but because of this bike, memories from my earliest recollection of bicycles were being awakened, after many years of riding motorcycles, and not thinking much about bicycles.
So now I find myself in a position where I can buy any bicycle I would ever want. And what bicycle would that be. A tank frame of course. Possibly one of the greatest tank frames ever made.
As far as I'm concerned, tank frames will rule forever.