My dad's first bike.  And now it's mine.  How cool is that?  To have a beautiful, og Schwinn and it's your dad's hand-me-down to boot.  It was his birthday present in August, 1959.  The bike is actually a '55 model Schwinn Deluxe Hornet, and it has been tucked away since the late 60s.  All I plan on doing is to disassemble it for a thorough cleaning, buff out the og paint (which is alread coming along quite nicely) and replace the missing stuff:  horn tank, seat, and the light pod.  Overall, it's in amazing condition and still sports the Western Flyer speedo he added in the early 60s which shows 2,612 actual miles.  Even still has the og key in the steering column lock.  He loved this thing.  I cleaned it up after digging it out of my grandmother's garage about 15 years ago, and it's just been sitting in his garage ever since.  I finally talked him out of it a bit ago and hopped in the bus and drove all the way up to his place and snagged it up over the weekend.  Tires are holding air.  They are some NOS Schwinn Typhoon wide whites that I put on it back when I cleaned it up in '96.  My new favorite material object...  

What do you guys think?  

"SHOCKS, PEGS, SWEET" napoleon dynamite

but it will keep you from sliding off!!!

EEEEWWWWW......


You guys are gross....


Polished out the frame last night... it looks all pretty and shiny now... 

Found a little treasure for this old gal yesterday evening while I was waiting for the meeting to start.  Pics later... let's just say that luck was there for me.... 


Gotta swing by and see a man about a seat and a new stem today at lunch.  This thing may be done even sooner than I was thinking.   

Today's lunch score....

an og horn tank, correct style, just a couple of pinholes, horn still mostly there, easy re-finish to the red and black... from the East Town antique Mall.

And, from Best Bicycle Shop in East Ridge, a set of correct handlebars, a new stem, Schwinn comfort grips, and a seat (not the correct one, but it will still look fine for now... and a lot more comfy than what I have now...  )






Frame came out nice....

Definitely one to be proud of!

Looking good there Bud.  Reminds me a lot of my '49 Schwinn Phantom .Black,Red, chrome with  cream pins strips, front wheel brakes, heavy duty spokes and best of all a 3hp Whizzer motorbike engine. I loved that thing and its blazing 35mph top speed just before she tossed a rod. Power out and push it home.   Lots of fun for a 13 year old.

Started tossing it back together last night, got it sitting back on it's wheels.  Need to pull the frot hub back off, though... it's seperating in the center, need to see what's up with that.  Doesn't look a whole lot different in a pic, but in person, the difference is pretty big.  It's shiny for the first time in years, and a whole lot cleaner.  Still have to clean up the seat, pedals, rack, and get the tank painted up for it, but it's going really well.  Looking forward to riding it.   

fenders, before...



Fenders mounted up, going back together.  Check out how clean the undersides of the fenders were after just wiping them off....



And, back on the ground, correct handlebars, seat installed...