Viking Streamline

[Jay81]

That's a 1937 serial number. Makes sense as the truss rods are the curved type that show up in later 36. And the fork doesn't have the built in truss rod arm supports seen in 35-36.

Thanks, I figured it was right in that time frame, but I'm better at dating Schwinns than other bikes.

 

[Jay81]

Made some progress on the Viking. Sunday I took it apart and yesterday I washed the frame, fork and rack. When I bought it I could tell there were areas that looked like the paint had been touched up. After cleaning years of dirt, dust and grime off, I am disappointed to find that most of the bike has been repainted, although it was done carefully, and they took the time to paint around most of the white accents on the frame. And the other problem is all the paint is dull. I was originally going to try goof-off on the areas that looked like they were touched up.
Now that I have it cleaned up, and can see most of it has been painted (a very long time ago) I'm not sure what direction I want to go. Here's my dilemma:
I love this bike and bought it with the intention of keeping it, but I like to collect only original paint bikes. There are areas that look like nice original paint under the house paint. BUT, there are areas of the frame where all the paint is worn off to bare metal. I'm worried about how much original paint is left if I remove the house paint. Full restoration is out of the question, and I will not repaint any of the painted parts because it won't look right with patina on the rest of the parts.
I could try removing the house paint, and hope that the original paint is halfway decent, and hope there's no other bare spots other than what I can already see.
I could leave the house paint and try to shine it up and just figure its part of the bikes history.
The tank appears to be all original paint, and in nice condition.

here, you can see some original paint where the kick stand was.

In this pic, you can sort of see the white accent on the top bar showing through the house paint.

 

[redline1968]

Oh ya that is a serious looking frame crack to me. Repair it? I think you can but the original paint idea will be tossed out the door and it's possible the lower tube is bent as well with that type of damage. Fork damage is probably the culprit on this one.

 

[Robertriley]

I'd repair it and just touch up the paint where you can and carefully repaint the top darts. You can still see the outline through the faded red paint. I'd also add some rain gutter fenders, correct chainring, maybe some triple drop wheels and ride the crap out of it.

 

[cds2323]

I highly doubt that bike was equipped with either rain gutter fenders or triple step wheels when new. By 37 Westfield was using drop center rims on the bikes I've owned/seen. I've seen triple steps on some 37 low budget base models sold as Elgin's.
I just sold a 37 Westfield #B53715. It had dropcenters. It also had gothic fenders which were new for Westfield in 37. Your bike may have had the crescent fenders used in 36 and early 37, or the gothic style. I've seen aluminum and steel gothic style but the crescent was also sometimes stainless.
Your fenders look to have been replaced. Besides the screws for the braces they are also spaced far apart. Westfield fender rivits are about 1 3/8" apart.
Check with Mr. Columbia to see if he has an image from a 37 Westfield catalog. Should find answers there.
I'd use goof off on the red on the upper bar. You should be able to reveal the white underneath easily.

 

[Jay81]

Oh ya that is a serious looking frame crack to me. Repair it? I think you can but the original paint idea will be tossed out the door and it's possible the lower tube is bent as well with that type of damage. Fork damage is probably the culprit on this one.

One good thing is the tank will partially hide the frame repair so hopefully it won't look too bad.

 

[locomotion]

that frame is done IMO, the fork is badly bent as well
you need a serious blow sideways to rip a tube like that .... never seen that before

if you stand behind the frame, is it aligned, is the headtube perpendicular to the ground?

 

[cds2323]

I still think the frame is repairable. You do need to check the frame alignment to be sure it's not twisted. The repair can be painted over and distressed to match.The fork can also be straightened.

I see you posted a wanted ad for a horn-lite. Looks like all you really need is a cone and horn. I have a correct horn w/tabs for the horn-lite you can have if you go to the trouble to fix the frame and bring this bike back to life. Not many of these later streamlines around. I'm sure you've had PMs on parting it, especially the tank.

 

[bikewhorder]

Repairing the crack looks like an easy fix to me. It might take some tweaking if the alignment is out, and that can get more challenging, but I don't see any wrinkles in the tubes so that's good.

 

[catfish]

You need to find someone who is very good at brazing. The frame is savable. The paint not so much.