BF GOODRICH The orig. paint comes out **New Pics**

[heyslugger]

I was hoping someone could shed a little light on this one for me. Maybe give me an idea on a fair price if I was to re-sell it minus the sweetheart sproket (frame fork fender only).

I got this yesterday and posted it in the fresh finds. I looked up the Serial and it said June of 50. The ad said it was a Panther and the head bage says BF GOODWRICH. I know it's a schwinn built bike but did they build a Panther branded bike for BFG? The darts on the forks and frame seem differrent that what i could find online - shorter and less ornate on the frame especially/ Any thoughts? Facts? Thanks!

dan

 

[dougfisk]

Re: BF GOODRICH Panther?

The paint is not original, look at the steer tube. Anything built by Schwinn called a "Panther" would have chrome fenders and a springer fork. The key parts necessary to give it a "model name" are not there. What is there can be finished out as any number of different "models" offered in it's production year.

 

[heyslugger]

Re: BF GOODRICH Panther?

Thanks Doug!

 

[dougfisk]

Re: BF GOODRICH Panther?

You can research it's manufacture date based on the serial number. There are several sites on the internet where the Schwinn serial numbers can be decoded. Once you identify the date of manufacture, you can research the straightbar frame models that were offered for that year. Once again, there are scans of Schwinn catalogs posted on a couple sites. There is not as much available to be found about Goodrich badged models. Sometimes Goodrich bikes were identical and used the same model name decals as the Schwinns. Sometimes they had different model name decals.

If yours were Schwinn badged, I'd say it most likely said "Hornet" on the chainguard. Which chainguard it had would depend on the year (and model). Yours being Goodrich badged, I have seen some say "Challenger" on the tank.

 

[outskirtscustoms]

Re: BF GOODRICH Panther?

Still a very cool frame.

 

[heyslugger]

Re: BF GOODRICH Panther?

Look what the house paint was hiding!













Neighbor fixed my DESTROYED JC HIGGINS Beehive Fork last night too. It's giving up a little of its Colorflow...I mean Colorful history too. So far I have Red Blue White and Black. Looks like the original was white with Blue stripping.

 

[LowpowerD]

That looks real good. What method are you using to clean off the house paint?

 

[heyslugger]

That looks real good. What method are you using to clean off the house paint?

Little steel wool. I tried a bit of acetone as that was suggested with sorta, Meh, results. It helps that there are TONS of dings to bare metal so I don't have to really be super careful with the wool. Thanks for checking it out/.

 

[Ozark Flyer]

Yea, paint scheme is saying 1950 Hornet or Spitfire. Panthers did not use that paint scheme that I know of. Both Hornet and Spitfires were badged with BF Goodrich badges with Schwinn Built in small script below and i agree they used the Challenger name on the tank. I could be wrong but the two top end bikes for Schwinn were the Panther and Phantom and the badges for those two models that were built for BFG had Schwinn in large letters and BF Goodrich in small script at the bottom which is just the reverse of the badge in your photo. I'm fairly sure that on those, they kept the Schwinn names of Panther and Phantom. I theorize Schwinn was trying to keep the Schwinn name dominant on their higher end product.

 

[heyslugger]

Hey OF, thanks for the solid information. Now comes the hunt for a tank...and by hunt I mean hunt for the cash for a tank. Again great info!