Found 2 middleweight Schwinns

[horsefarmer]

First the blue spray bomb one

3 speed SA hub, wheels ok with nice chrome, frame ok, bars,front fender & seat whacked bad.

Crank bent to hit frame & kickstand bent so rear wheel could not turn. Must of been in a wreck
Then the black one.

Chain guard says "spitfire" has Bendix coaster and springer. looks to be touched up original paint, wheels ok but front kinda rusty. Also includes old bmx bars with cross brace cut off and wrapped with electrical tape!
There is a decal on the downtube.

Anyone know what it says?

Got 2 new s7 tires and tubes, gonna tackle the black one first, hope the original paint can come back some.

 

[Wildcat]

Nice finds! They are both Chicago Schwinns. The serial numbers should be on the left dropouts. Here's a lookup tool for that.
http://schwinncruisers.com/serial-number.html

 

[horsefarmer]

Both serial numbers decode to 1955 - 1956 and SA rear hub dated 1954.
Any significance to the color of the headbadge? Could the blue one be a Jaguar? I think the blue bike may have had little use (or at least been stored well as chrome rims cleaned up nice). Also the original seat and pedals show little wear (though a little bent up).
I'll have to take a peek under the crappy spray bomb blue paint and hopefully the original paint is still there. The blue bike has a black/white "S" seat - what color/model boys Schwinn middleweights came with this seat, 3 speed SA hub, chrome plated fenders and rear rack?

 

[Wildcat]

The blue bike looks like a middleweight, so it is probably a Corvette. The Jaguar was a ballooner. Maybe the name is still on the chain guard. The Tiger and American also came with 3 speeds and were middleweights in 55, but didn't have chrome fenders.

The Spitfire is a middleweight also, and someone must have added the springer later, the catalog shows the springer not available for the Spitfire, even as an accessory.

From the 1955 catalog:

 

[Wildcat]

The blue bike also looks like someone backed into it in a garage or something. The pedals look original and don't seem to have much wear on the, so it probably hasn't seen a lot of miles.

 

[horsefarmer]

Thanks! I will never know what happened to the blue bike, but it does seem to have had little use before being sidelined. I think the frame is OK so rat material / parts for sure. Some parts from the blue bike will go on the black bike to bring it back.

 

[Wildcat]

I would bring them both back, and try to get the Corvette close to original, maybe make the Spitfire a Klunker of some kind.