Metacotex I think it is very hard to say what came as original equipment on Paramounts as they were bascially custom built bikes. I bought mine from the original owner who bought it from Bens Cycle in Milwaukee WI. The order list for Paramounts was very long with lots of places for options or deletions.
Paramounts were available with custom-built frames but the other options were relatively fixed and specific. For example there were no options for different derailleurs, which were chosen by Schwinn for specific models based mainly on the different gear ranges (P10 vs. P15 for example). In fact for that very reason it would not have made sense to install a wide-range Rally on a P10 since the original narrow-range gearing didn't need it (and if it did as on the P15 they would have installed the GT-300). There were limited options on the P10 for cogs or chainrings, but only within what the specific derailleur for that model (Nuovo Record) could accommodate.
For reference you can see the '73 Paramount order form here:
http://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...n-paramount-brake-info-pics.html#post14713610
Note on the order form where it states:
Only the options listed in this order form can be supplied as stated for each model. If an option is not listed under a certain model, that option is not available for that model.
All of this means that your Rally almost certainly had to be installed by the dealer or previous owner. It was quite common for Paramounts to be customized by dealers or owners at the time, which is one reason truly original ones are so hard to come by. If the dealer or previous owner installed a Rally I would assume they had also changed the rear cogs to something with a wider range than the 14-26T (standard) or 14-24T (optional) cogs (and/or perhaps a triple crankset) since otherwise the change from Nuovo Record to Rally (or GT-300) derailleur would not have been necessary or even desirable.
You told me I was wrong about my having a 1977 Sprint and then said later it was okay because you found one yourself. The catalogs and order books are a guide but not a bible on Schwinns in the 1970s.
Roger I have learned an incredible amount since then! The consumer catalogs are a guide that may not always be accurate, however other internal or dealer-only resources I've collected like the monthly Reporter newsletters, weekly News Flash bulletins, service bulletins, etc. tell a more detailed and in-depth story. All of that plus documenting hundreds of individual bikes have told me quite a bit.
For example there were numerous News Flash bulletins in '73 and '74 concerning Paramounts, which were on allocation and even back order due to that being the peak of the bike boom. In order to keep up with demand options such as full-chrome frames and stand-alone framesets were discontinued. Several bulletins advised dealers not to make order changes and that custom frames would cause further delays. One bulletin indicated that a substantial number of '73 Paramount orders would be carried over into '74 production (the same thing happened in '72/'73). With orders taking 6 months or more to fulfill a dealer would get their hands on any Paramount they could, then customize it to suit what the customer wanted so they didn't have to wait until next year to get it!
Other bulletins covered the the no-longer mysterious '76 and '77 Sprints - detailing the colors, equipment, pricing and even how many were to be available (only 1,500). This type of insider information available only to dealers at the time tells a much deeper, more detailed and accurate story than just the catalogs.