First Build (1963 Schwinn American)

[yelbomeel]

I recently started my first build. I currently own a couple of vintage bikes but they officially belong to my kids. That makes it an easier sell to the wife Nah she doesn't mind my interested in the old bikes. My girls have a '66 Western Flyer Buzz Bike, and a '76 Murray High Jinks. I recently found a 1963 Schwinn American at an old bike junk pile in my hometown. It looked pretty rough, but the frame was there. Here are some pictures of it on night 1.

Once I finally got the thing torn down the paint was so bad that I needed to sandblast it and it was pretty pitted. I did a lot of sanding and fillings and sanding and filling.....

Finally I got her pretty smooth and I primed her up pretty good.

Next I painted her light metallic blue with a few layers of clear.

After the paint I tried my best to hand stencil the logos back on and they turned out ok.

Let me know what you think so far. I will add more soon.

 

[450redrider]

Looks good Like the color Keep up the good work

 

[X-RAY]

your hand painted stencils came out "ok"? i cant even write my own name that nice! great job, and on the rest of it as well! 8)

 

[carvingbike]

Nice job on the lettering!! Looks great so far!!

 

[FOUND OBJECTS]

Cool! Your doing a great job thus far!

 

[yelbomeel]

Thanks guys. I will try to post some more info. tonight. Thanks for the encouragement!

 

[mecha-paladin]

Awesome job on the lettering- you nailed it. Good looking paint job also.

 

[yelbomeel]

After twisting and prying, beating and framming, PB Blasting and greasing, hitting and slamming, I finally got all of the parts separated. Many of the parts including the forks weren't salvageable, so after a lot of thinking I decided to go with springer forks and a few other "non-Schwinn" items. I know that's not the popular things to do sometimes, but that's why I'm on RatRodBikes.com instead of a professional vintage bike restoration site. Check out the progress.

 

[OUTLAW]

nice job.

Outlaw

 

[SCHWINNRAY69]

Your hand stencils look GREAT :shock: :shock: Keep up the good work

 

[Fireproof]

Let me know what you think so far.

You got that bike with only half a seat???????? I think you are doing a GREAT job saving it!!!!!!
Keep up the good work!

 

[yelbomeel]

Well, Here she is in all her glory :lol:

 

[Jimmy65]

The bike is over the top,and that bus is SWEEEET!

 

[carvingbike]

They look really great together!! Nice job!!

 

[FOUND OBJECTS]

NICE! Turned out great!

 

[SCHWINNRAY69]

Clean and simple... I like it 8) Great job

 

[phusion x]

Cool style. the colors look fresh

 

[d.rock]

Where did you get the banana seat? I'm doing a 26" Hollywood for my wife and a white seat and chrome bar would look sick! Real nice bike man, sweet bus too!

 

[Lugisland]

Awesome job! I love the color, and your lettering is top notch! Tom

 

[yelbomeel]

d.rock,
I got the seat from niagra cycle works.

Thanks for the comments.