To be honest, I don't know if it's an Elgin. The fella I bought it from thought it was, but I don't think he was too sure either. I haven't been able to find an Elgin that looks like this one. I have found similar Higgins, Schwinns and perhaps a couple others. He did mention that it had a skiptooth drive when he started working on it. I would guess the age could be in the 1930 to 1950 range.
If you have any knowledge of bikes in this era, I would be all ears.
I would love to do an in frame tank and drum brake. I think the drum is more of a neccessity. The coast really doesn't cut it at the speed this bike is capable of.
I have a Worksman front drum that I absolutely love. I will describe my experience this way. Basically for me, the drum by itself works about as good, maybe a tiny bit better, than the coaster does by itself. The two together will stop on a dime. So the drum by itself is fine for routine stops, and saves the knees from the impact of using the coaster brake. If you need to stop a little quicker, use the drum and the coaster together. This is just my experience, yours may be different. The Worksman drum is steel, the Sturmey drum I believe is aluminum, which is probably a bit lighter. I got the wheel complete with the drum, and my wheel weighs 18lbs, so if weight is a concern, perhaps go with the Sturmey instead of the Worksman, if weight is not a concern, Most likely go with the less expensive option. I got my Worksman for $35 used, so neither price nor weight was a concern for me. Either way, good luck.