# 65 murray missile standard?



## oninoronin (Sep 9, 2011)

serial number : mo5 067225N5863873

serial is stamped on the front tube ( the one that the forks go through ), and the n in the serial is really hard to read so it could be a different letter.

the bike is currently undergoing a stripdown and restoration, but here are the current pics







backstory on the bike is as follows : 

at approximately 8 years old, my alcoholic grandfather gave me a bike and told me it was a schwinn.  this bike had pitted red paint, loose pinstriping, the fenders and chainguard rubbed, and the rims were nowhere near true.  as an 8 year old i really didnt care about the looks or condition as long as i could ride it so i did...and in typical 8 year old fashion i put the bike through holy hell. ( i grew up in the mountains so no paved roads for me )

anyways, 2 years later i moved to california and was in an apartment with my dad and his wife.  after about a year of carrying this bike up 3 flights of stairs i wanted something lighter.  that christmas my father got me a 10 speed schwinn and we hung this bike up in the garage at my grandmothers house.  i was 10 when we did this.

now im 28 and about 3 weeks ago i decided that i need a bike and id like to ride my old "schwinn" again with my wife and my daughter.  i pulled the bike down and began inspecting it to see how much work i would have to do in order to get it road worthy again.  the hubs need to be rebuilt, the crank case needs to be rebuilt, and the front tube ( forks and handlebars go through it) also needs to be rebuilt due to excessive play and chatter.  i also decided that since the fenders were dinged to holy hell and the paint had several spots that were rusted and missing pinstripes, i would strip it and repaint it.

none of the serial numbers were visible at this point, so a positive id was not possible.  when i started stripping i started at the serial number locations for schwinn, but found nothing, so i continued stripping until i found them.  they are too light to get a rubbing of them and i cant seem to get a clear pic of them   after much searching about vintage bike serials i doscovered that it was a murray (m05 gave it away) and have been trying to positively id it since.  while stripping the old housepaint that my grandfather used to paint it before i got it, i discovered that the original paint was red ( possibly scarlet red ) and that it originally only had pinstriping on the fenders. i know that it may have lost value when i started stripping it, but im not keeping it fo rmoney reasons, purely nostalgia.  also with as much paint as my grandfather put on it i dont think it would have been worth much anyways. 

i do not have the original 2 tone seat, and its possible someone cut a line in the tube to get a new seat post to fit, although even with the clamp it wont stay at a given heights ( it just sinks back down ).  the pedals are what appears to be original or original style replacement ( black plastic with metal housings ) and its missing the badge from the front of the bike.

if anyone can help me identify the bike and/or confirm my suspicions as to the model it would be greatly appreciated.

Richard


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## Adamtinkerer (Sep 10, 2011)

MO5 is 1965 Murray. I thought they didn't move the serial number up until the 70s, but ok!


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## oninoronin (Sep 11, 2011)

thanks for the year confirmation adam.   can anyone confirm the  model? i dont really care wha tit is, but it would be cool to know.  like i said i think its a missile standard due to the catalog picture i saw online somewhere, but it didnt have any ordering numbers or anything, just a list of available paint colors and options ( wheel size and so on... ).  anyone else have a missile standard that i could see pics of to compare?

i tried to do a rubbing of the serials this morning, but they are too light to show up in the rubbing...any tips on how to get a hard copy of the serials for my records?


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## Barkeep (Sep 11, 2011)

Heres my 66 murray missle. Ill post my serial if its a help, just let me know...


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## oninoronin (Sep 11, 2011)

thanks for the pic  looks like mine may indeed be a missile standard ( the standard didnt have a light in the catalog that i saw ) just out of curiosity where is your serial located on that bike?


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## Barkeep (Sep 12, 2011)

on the rear dropout. M06 then the serial on mine for 66


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