Schwinn Tank Springer

[54shadow]

Picked up a new project bike tonight. On a lark, stopped in the local Goodwill and found this, 1953 Schwinn bike with tank and springer fork. The front sprocket looks to be a replacement, but, looks OK by me. Someone painted it a baby blue. The original color was a more, candy blue. Put some batteries in the tank to try the horn, doesn't work ... for now, but, it will. Here are a few pics of the pick. Thanks to, deorman and RustySprockets, helping me nail down some info on this puppy. http://www.ratrodbikes.com/forum/index.php?members/rustysprockets.18664/
http://www.ratrodbikes.com/forum/index.php?members/deorman.5996/

 

[54shadow]

Did a little rubbing and this is what came through on the chain guard.

 

[A.S.BOLTNUT]

 

[Toadman]

Try some Lacquer Thinner it works great for taking off spray / house paint , just go slow

 

[Wildcat]

Nice find! It looks like it was just given a quick spray without any prep or disassembly. That's good, the original blue should look good.
I looked in the catalog to see if I could post a pic, it shows all the Hornet's as having a straight bar frame, but the catalogs are known to have discrepancies on the illustrations. Are you sure of the 53?

 

[54shadow]

Got the Schwinn back to as far as I think it could take without taking away any more. Did 40 hours total of, lacing spokes, pounding out dents, scrubbing off all the rust from the rims and hand rubbing off the rattle-can paint that was on everything. Somewhere in its life, the fork took a hard hit and is a little knackered, did not want to readjust it too much. There is a vintage Goodyear tire on the back and I put a vintage Schwinn Westwind tire on the front. So, here is a before and after pics. I was hoping to flip this tanker and use the proceeds for another project. In your humble opinion, what would the wholesale and retail price for this bike, I am new at the "tanker" bikes, so, I am a blank slate. Thanks in advance.

 

[A.S.BOLTNUT]

A.S.BOLTNUT Likes this.

 

[Wildcat]

It came out very nicely! Made Oct 07, 1958. The number has one letter and 6 numbers in it. A 53 would have 5 numbers. I looked again at the 53 catalog and couldn't find it, but the colors matched, so I looked again. From the 58 catalog:

 

[54shadow]

It came out very nicely! Made Oct 07, 1958. The number has one letter and 6 numbers in it. A 53 would have 5 numbers. I looked again at the 53 catalog and couldn't find it, but the colors matched, so I looked again. From the 58 catalog:

Thanks for the year of make, I thought something was askew with the paint color, just to modern for an early 50s, this nails it down. I was thinking of pricing it at $150, too high?

 

[RustyGold]

I'd ask more...you can always come down, going up is much harder. The only thing I don't like about this bike is the chainring...everything else is tooooo coooooool

Jason

 

[54shadow]

I'd ask more...you can always come down, going up is much harder. The only thing I don't like about this bike is the chainring...everything else is tooooo coooooool

Jason

Thanks again for the info! Going to get this baby listed for sale!

 

[Wildcat]

I'd ask more...you can always come down, going up is much harder. The only thing I don't like about this bike is the chainring...everything else is tooooo coooooool

Jason

Agreed. It's a 1958 Deluxe Hornet, Not completely original, but you can get more for it. I'd set the price at $350 and see what happens.

 

[54shadow]

Agreed. It's a 1958 Deluxe Hornet, Not completely original, but you can get more for it. I'd set the price at $350 and see what happens.

I set the sale price lower than 350, due to the fact that I am an honest sap to a fault. The springer fork is probably toast, the headlight and the rack are missing, not the original chain ring. Posted it for sale on CL at 7:00 AM and by 10:00 AM, it was sold. Thanks for all the help and info that was passed along to me here on the forum, again, it is a very valuable tool.

 

[Wildcat]

$350 would have been an honest deal. But we all hope we are on the receiving side of a good deal. I picked up my 46 CWC for 50 bucks, it was worth at least a hundred.

Now you can buy more bike stuff!