'53 DX Spitfire

[emanon]

Picked this up a couple of weeks ago from CL after foolishly passing it up at the A2-Saline show a week earlier.Listed as a '61 straight bar it's a DX frame set with a Spitfire badge and nice original paint. Previous owner nabbed the skiptooth crankset & nothing else. With a production date of May 27, 1953 I felt an obligation to get it back on the road by it's 60th birthday. I've never commemorated a bike's "birthday" before; I'm not that much like Pee Wee Herman Lacking an appropriate wheelset, I found a '96 Schwinn ladies Cruiser & stripped it down. A raid on my parts stash & two build sessions later...drum roll please...

Wheels, tires, seat & grips are '96 Cruiser, crankset & BB are '57 Corvette, pedals are '70's Collegiate, bars are older Wald with a 29" span, goose neck is stamped "AS 66", seat post & clamp are Varsity but I have a correct set from '53 somewhere. Bought the springer ages ago as part of a lot of springer parts on eBay, not sure of it's origins, but the steer tube has an S stamped on it.

 

[Wildcat]

Looks great! My 53 Schwinn is the frame and seat stem, everything else has been scrounged over the years. No matter, it's a 53 Schwinn, and that's what counts. I wish mine was a straightbar though.

 

[emanon]

Thanks. I forgot to mention that the chainguard is original I would have kept the fork, but I didn't want to cut it to hold modern axles. It rides as good as it looks, so I'm happy.

 

[emanon]

BTW, this is the kickstand that came with it, seems a little short. Is it original?
Miller with a patent #

 

[Sphinx]

Your pics are gone.

 

[emanon]

Your pics are gone.

Fix'd

 

[emanon]

Looks great! My 53 Schwinn is the frame and seat stem, everything else has been scrounged over the years. No matter, it's a 53 Schwinn, and that's what counts. I wish mine was a straightbar though.

I like your '53 too. I happen to have the complete set of those cereal box license plates--my grandfather collected them all & carefully mounted them on masonite. I don't have the heart to separate them however.