Unique parts to the first-year 1954 Corvette

[Nickinator]

Did a search and didn't see any specific or detailed threads on this yet, tho I know it's been parced here and there in various threads, would be nice to have all the info in one thread. I just picked up another '54/55 Vette, and what I thought were anomalies or swapped parts have appeared on all 3 of the first year Vettes I've found, so maybe that's how they came. Would love others to chime in on their observations, especially Gary @GTs58

1. Bars- the bars appear to be lightweight bars, 18" vs the later years' 22'. Also have "pinched" bends. Similar (or the same) as early 50's Conti bars.

2. Pedals- look like those on the early lightweight Racers, waffle block style not the screw-type bow pedals of the later 55-58+, also what seems to be shown on the Schwinn ads.

3. Seat? One-year-only, and such hen's teeth I've never had one, but seen two, one was posted on CABE- the brown balloon tire style beehive spring seat (not to be confused with the brown or red lighter weight 1955/56 seat).

4. Front rack- '54/55 extends out further across the top of fender, don't have the msmts as all the bikes I've had were missing the rack.

5. Seat clamp ~ old style ballooner heavy cast clamp with the 1/2 circle AS bolt. Tho have seen this style clamp on a few as late as '56.

54 stamped SA 3 speed hub.
S/N on this one is L87327 = 8/7-8/8/54

Any other differences I missed?

Lets keep this thread on point for the first gen Vettes, 54/55-58. Pics welcome!

Darcie

View attachment 394538

 

[Nickinator]

Here is an early girl's Vette with S/N L15204 = 2/9-2/12/54, with that real early ballooner style seat. Does appear to have screw type bow pedals.

Op was asked to post a pic of S/N but never did, so can't confirm it's legit.

http://thecabe.com/forum/threads/1954-schwinn-corvette-3-speed-girls.74086/#post-459013
Darcie

 

[Nickinator]

No S/N on this one, posted on Dave's Nostalgia.
Darcie

 

[Nickinator]

Would like to know when exactly this photo was taken, it's referred to as "The First Look- 1954 Corvette" but it does not have the ballooner style seat on it. Wonder if they used both styles early on.
Darcie

 

[spoker]

any parts look familiar? sear,pedals,upsied down shifter with window,brake handle etc

 

[Nickinator]

Ballooner Jag, yeah some parts do look familiar. Seems the very early Vettes had parts sourced from a number of established models, makes you wonder if the Corvette was rushed to production, or they just needed to use up parts. Guessing probably the latter. Schwinn was known for being, uh....frugal shall we say.
Darcie

 

[spoker]

seats were left over panthers,came with one single or 2 side crash rails,schwinn seemed to use up overstock parts on new modles,narrow bars and some other parts are from a travler,i sold a traveler to robin with some of those parts on it and a ballooner jag with som of those parts,first model runs of schwinns seem to have alot of different parts,they seem to normalize later on in the run,seems to be cost effective to not tool a bunch of new parts untill the model is a sucess

 

[GTs58]

Before we get too far into this topic I would like to clarify the years you mentioned. To my knowledge there were no 1954 model year Corvettes but there were 1954 serial numbered 1955 model Corvettes. Schwinn undoubted started the new 1955 Middleweight production much sooner than the ongoing models for the 1955 model year. And it's quite possible that the first production run of the 1955 middleweights made their debut at dealers in the late months of 1954, but I haven't been able to verify that yet. Normally the new model year change over started with the bikes stamped with a November serial number but I've seen 1955 middleweights with serials much earlier than November, similar to the new 1957 Jaguar that was introduced in late 1956. Over the years there were some mid year entries like the 63 Sting Ray and 61 Corvette 5 speed, but I wouldn't consider any of the new 1955 middleweights a 1954 model due to a possible early release or the serial number date.

1. The 55 & 56 model bars were narrower, had sharper bends and the bar ends went straight back. I do believe these bars were also used on some of the lightweights.
2. All the original Corvettes I've had/have and seen had bow pedals with screwed on blocks. These pedals were also used on earlier lightweights so it's not like a newly added Schwinn part in limited supply for the first middleweights.
3. Can't comment on the 1954 serial numbered bike's fender widths, never came across one first hand.
4. The boys & girls model had the one year only brown vinyl lightweight style spring saddle although there have been some original girls models equipped with a brown/tan Mesinger saddle.
5. The 55 models had the aluminum Mayweg rack, a one year only, with the long tongs that are 3" long overall running down the sides of the
fender.
6. The 55 seat clamp is the ballooner style with the AS D bolt. Not sure if the Corvette clamps changed to the longer clamp with the round AS bolt sometime in 56 or for the 57 model year.

7. Chain guard.The 55 model middleweights shared the same chain guard with the lightweights. This guard has been used for years on different models and then was used on the Corvette and the other middleweights thru 1958. But again, the 55 guard (and earlier) was different with a few small details. The mounting brackets on the 55 and earlier guards were riveted to the guard further forward bringing the guard further back than the 56 and later models. And since this style guard was used on the geared lightweights, it seems Schwinn had an over abundance of these already made since nearly all the 55 boys Corvettes had a riveted on cable clip that was not used. This is one detail I have never understood. The earlier men's model Traveler had the rear brake cable routed to the chain guard and then up to the caliper but this routing was changed prior to the production of the middleweights.

 

[cds2323]

Would like to know when exactly this photo was taken, it's referred to as "The First Look- 1954 Corvette" but it does not have the ballooner style seat on it. Wonder if they used both styles early on.
Darcie
View attachment 394694

I was able to find this photo in a number of different places. None had a specific date, only that it was 1954.

Here's a page from the Christmas 1954 Chicago Cycle Supply dealers catalog. This would seem to indicate that they were available before Christmas 1954. I would think the catalog would have been available to dealers early enough to place orders for Christmas sales.

And another image credited to 1954.

 

[Nickinator]

Great ads!
Darcie


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