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Dilemma on 2 red phantoms.

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56 Vette

Wore out three sets of tires already!
Having a hard time deciding what route to go with the red phantoms I picked up. 1st is a 56 that was a barn find, paint will clean up Ok, missing lots of the good parts. 2nd is a 52 that is mostly complete and original, paint will clean up real nice, fender, tank and handlebars are crusty, rims are straight but no chrome left. My first thought was to take the crusty parts off of the 52 and make a ratty one out of the 56. Then put repop fenders tank, rims and seat on the 52 for a pretty nice example. Would I be hurting myself in the future if I decide to sell them, I kinda prefer riding the middleweight bikes, but couldn't pass these up. I'm more worried about ruining the 52 by removing the original important parts. Any opinions or advice is appreciated! Thanks Joe.
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keep the 52

Having a hard time deciding what route to go with the red phantoms I picked up. 1st is a 56 that was a barn find, paint will clean up Ok, missing lots of the good parts. 2nd is a 52 that is mostly complete and original, paint will clean up real nice, fender, tank and handlebars are crusty, rims are straight but no chrome left. My first thought was to take the crusty parts off of the 52 and make a ratty one out of the 56. Then put repop fenders tank, rims and seat on the 52 for a pretty nice example. Would I be hurting myself in the future if I decide to sell them, I kinda prefer riding the middleweight bikes, but couldn't pass these up. I'm more worried about ruining the 52 by removing the original important parts. Any opinions or advice is appreciated! Thanks Joe.View attachment 181988View attachment 181989View attachment 181990
part out the 56 for the funds to finish the 52
 
Personally, I wouldn't swap parts around. Run the '52 as a survivor bike. Roll the rear fender, straighten out the rack. Replace the wheels if needed. Get some yellowed whitewalls. I get that the chrome is pretty rough and won't clean up all the way. But if you put repop parts on there then the original paint will likely look poor by comparison. And then it will look like a pieced-together bike instead of a survivor original. I like the way it looks with all the age on it, lots of soul.

The '56, hey, full license to get creative with that one. Pull the fenders, slap on some light alloy wheels with light high-pressure tires, make a fast rat bike. Or whatever.

Great scores.

Cheers, Geoff
 
phantom dilemma

Thanks for all the input, I guess the right thing is keeping the 52 all together, is it still a good idea to blow it apart and clean the paint and rust as much as possible, or leave the rust? The rims are still solid and mostly true, so I wouldn't mind keeping them on there, just very little chrome left. I would be as careful as I can around decals and on the tank, just to make it more presentable. I like the yellowed whitewall idea and straightening the fenders also, I have a month or so til I am able to work on either, redoing a 72 suburban and and a 75 copper varsity for my sister and brother in law for xmas right now. The chainring on the 56 will come off, I picked up a deluxe last week, so that probably would be something I would sell. And both do have locking forks, the 53 has the AS key and does work, the 56 has no key but the guys at Memory Lane said they could fix me up. Once again, thanks for the replies and opinions, glad I came to this place!!! Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Joe
 
I mite be interested in 56 frame, after you get what you are going to use?
Mitch
 
Thanks for all the input, I guess the right thing is keeping the 52 all together, is it still a good idea to blow it apart and clean the paint and rust as much as possible, or leave the rust? The rims are still solid and mostly true, so I wouldn't mind keeping them on there, just very little chrome left. I would be as careful as I can around decals and on the tank, just to make it more presentable. I like the yellowed whitewall idea and straightening the fenders also, I have a month or so til I am able to work on either, redoing a 72 suburban and and a 75 copper varsity for my sister and brother in law for xmas right now. The chainring on the 56 will come off, I picked up a deluxe last week, so that probably would be something I would sell. And both do have locking forks, the 53 has the AS key and does work, the 56 has no key but the guys at Memory Lane said they could fix me up. Once again, thanks for the replies and opinions, glad I came to this place!!! Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Joe

I like to break them down and derust everything then oil and polish to preserve. Some are rust junkies (no offense to the member with the same name) and like to leave them a-la-natural. I would work the dents out, go with the yellow white walls, and ride the heck out of it. It's a cool bike. Wes also does a good job making keys for the other fork if you need one.
 
phantom dilemma almost solved.

Thanks for all input and advice! Pretty sure when I have the chance to tear into the phantoms, I'll leave the 52 with original parts, and clean it up and regrease it and look for some aged whitewalls, will be a very cool bike when done. I can only imagine what that bike did for some lucky kid in the 50's. Thanks again and I'll post pics of progress when it happens! Joe.
 
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