1965 Phillips Manhattan Girls Bike - Patina and Stripes

[greek_tony]

Haven't posted in ages (used to have a Basman, fixed up my first mountain bike as a Guvnor/Clunker hybrid), but I thought it was about time I showed you my latest project. Wanted something special for the girlfriend for Christmas and her birthday (2 weeks apart), so decided to find her a bike (to replace her horrid foldable thing) to fix up.
Found a 1965 Phillips Manhattan in the local adds with great patina.

It was a bit beat up, but I wanted to keep the original paint and stickers but make it more comfortable and suitable for hills too. Sooo... the parts ordered looked like this (out goes the low budget idea ):
1. Schwalbe Delta Cruisers in Cream
2. Sturmey Archer front drum hub and rear 5 speed drum hub
3. China special Chrome headlight (metal rather than plastic)
4. NOS (with storage damage) chain guard
5. Brooks aged ladies saddle (can't remember the number off the top of my head)
6. Cork grips
7. Tektro FL-750 levers
8. Rear bullet light
9. Cheap vintage pedals (still stink of diesel after 2 months , quality product)
10. Ended up changing the rims as they were bent and rusty.

So tear down and polish all the chrome. And took everything to my friend at the LBS.

1965 Phillips Bike[/url] by Tony, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

[greek_tony]

It was always the plan to have some pinstriping done on the bike. A friend of mine who builds custom motorbikes and does some pinstriping wasn't able to do any with his time schedule. So I'd been thinking about starting for years (actually had a brush and a few colours I'd bought a couple years ago but ended up doing 500 straight lines and stopping when life got in the way), and thought it would be the perfect opportunity as I had a month and a half to build the bike
So the finished bike, minus the striping and the saddle.

 

[greek_tony]

So, after practicing every night after work for 3 weeks, I embarked on the adventure, I took it slow (very very slow), drew a center line where needed and went for it:

Note to self, pinstriping on chrome is HARD, the reflection plays silly buggers with the eyes...

 

[greek_tony]

I forgot to mention, this was all done in secret in order to give it to her as a surprise.

So on Christmas I gave her the saddle (she thought it was for her foldy bike ) and then gave her the bike. She liked it a bit
Cue a ride:

 

[greek_tony]

And a week ago, I did the front fender too

(sorry for the mess, parts for my 53 Oval Ragtop restoration are stored in the garage )

 

[Roscoe Clyde]

Nice stripes.

 

[greek_tony]

Nice stripes.

Thanks!!!!