1953 SCHWINN PANTHER

[Rat Rod]

Thought I'd throw this one out here in case folks didn't dig to see it.

Earlier in the week I saw an ad on the CL pop up in the middle of the day for a "Vintage Schwinn Ladies Bike - $XX". In the ad there was a really dark photo of the bike in pieces...forks and front wheel separated from the frame. Immediately I saw the springer and the chainguard and the adrenaline started to flow. Ad said to come get it quick before they move out of town in 2 weeks.

I gave them a call and the guy said that it was his wife's bike when she was a child and that it had been in her parent's attic for the past 30 years. Her Grandparents bought it for her new back when they all lived in Kansas.

I cruised over after work and was in shock to see that it was complete and in very good shape. We chatted for a while and then I gave her the money and left for home with a big smile on my face. :mrgreen:

I plan to give it a thorough cleaning and detail and then maybe sell it at some point down the road. The vintage Ward's tires are mint still!

Here's how it looked when I brought it home:

After a quick bath and waxed a spont on the chrome:

 

[Manny Moons]

What did you use to clean the fenders? steel wool, scotch-brite, chrome polish, or other?

Night and day! they shine bright!

 

[Rat Rod]

What did you use to clean the fenders? steel wool, scotch-brite, chrome polish, or other?

Night and day! they shine bright!

I used some 0000 steel wool and WD40. The purists will get onto me for using steel wool instead of brass wool because supposedly it embeds microscopic shreds of steel into the chrome which is supposed to rust later on down the road.

 

[Larry]

I used some 0000 steel wool and WD40. The purists will get onto me for using steel wool instead of brass wool because supposedly it embeds microscopic shreds of steel into the chrome which is supposed to rust later on down the road.

It won't rust if you keep it lathered in wax. I can't wait to see it after you give it the once over.

 

[wahoonc]

After the 0000 steel wool I polish mine up with Turtle Wax Chrome polish. Brass wool is hard to find around here for some reason, as are decent small brass brushes. I used to buy them at the local Lowes home center but the stopped carrying the brass wool and the brushes now come from china and only have about half as much brass in them as the old Lincoln brand that were made in Mexico....

Aaron 8)

 

[Rat Rod]

Just found out that the bike is actually a 1953 model. :mrgreen:

 

[Rat Rod]

Thought yall might get a kick out of what I found inside the tank.

No telling how long they have been in there.

 

[Markm]

cool!! leakproof 'eh?

 

[ricksterr1221]

Haha thats sweet, Original batteries were in my panther tank 2

 

[CCR]

cool!! leakproof 'eh?

the duracells in my wife 2C headlight didnt last overnight before tey leaked, whatever happened to those guaranteed batteries :lol:

 

[Rat Rod]

Here we go!!!

Hope it sells. :shock:

http://cgi.ebay.com/1953-SCHWINN-PANTHE ... dZViewItem

 

[Lightfoot]

You're gonna make a killing on that thing! It's absolutely gorgious! and anyone bidding will have no question as to what they are trying to buy.
Great job on the documentation. I showed the bike to my wife and she was oooohing and aaaawing. hehe

If I may offer one criticism, the file size of your jpgs are extremely large causing the page to take a long time to load. I took the liberty of downloading one and resampled it using Irfanview and was able to cut the file size nearly in half without deteriorating the image appreciably.

Here is the resampled version:

Dennis