# The Green Panther



## Tikibar (Dec 31, 2015)

Years ago, a friend of mine was helping the nuns in the local convent sell some things at their garage sale. He knew I was into old bicycles and called me up to tell me there was an antique bicycle there and I should come over. Turns out it was an early '50's blue on blue Schwinn Panther. Being the nuns' bike, it was naturally a ladies frame. Now I have been interested in bicycles since I was a kid and the ones I had been picking up were usually the Schwinns from my youth, the 1960's and '70's Stingrays, Fastbacks and my daily rider a yellow Schwinn Speedster.

This blue on blue Panther was a whole different animal. It was heavy, slow and a ladies bike' - not really what I'd pictured myself riding around on. Still, it was a neat old bike and the paint was in great shape. The nuns had done a nice job of taking care of it. 

So I brought it home for my wife who fell in love with it. She and I often ride our classic bikes together, on the bike trail or down to the beach. Well, hers being this heavyweight cruiser and mine being a Speedster, they don't really ride together well. The Speedster, as its name implies wants to get up and go fast and the Panther wants to cruise s-l-o-w-l-y. 

So I've been on the lookout for another Panther to pair with my wife's bike, so we could enjoy a cruise together. At first I looked for the blue Panther in a men's frame, but it seems to be pretty scarce in that color. No matter, I love the green on green and have been looking for some time for one I could make into a project. 

Thanks to a fellow Caber I've got this green on green Panther to work on!






It's missing parts, such as the straight bar tank and Delta Rocket Ray light. Some of the other parts don't look to be right such as the metallic green rack and the ladies' seat. Good news is I just got this chain guard from a second Caber and a replacement rack in the correct green is on its way from another Cabe member. It takes a village! Thanks for all your help. If you have parts suitable for an early 1950's Schwinn Panther let me know.





I plan on restoring this for the next few months. With my busy work schedule it will take me some time, but I'll post updates here. Also, I'll review some of the cleaning and lubing products I use and will post which works best. If anything on this build isn't right for a '51, I'd like to hear from you.






From a distance it looks nice, but up close it has the dirt of the ages on it, 50+ years of gunk and debris. I plan to find the missing parts and to completely disassemble it, clean and rebuild it so this cruiser rides like a dream.










Hopefully by Spring, my wife and I will be cruising together!


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## rollfaster (Dec 31, 2015)

Nice man. I remember seeing that one, keep us up to date on the build. Would love great with some clay red tires.


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## Dan the bike man (Dec 31, 2015)

I love my 1953 Green Panther!!! Good luck with your build. You will enjoy it!


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## Tikibar (Dec 31, 2015)

Wow, that is nice. Something to aspire to! Thanks for the photo


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## fattyre (Dec 31, 2015)

Thats a fun project!   Panthers are one of my favorite bikes.  Like you, I'd love to find a blue one.   I found a nice Red 52 a while back and have been doing the same.  Slowly bringing her back to life.  I'd look into that crank. I'm pretty sure a dog leg is not correct.  I've messed around with Old Rocket Rays and found it much easier in the long run to just get a repo for relibility.  Also note that original Panther Rocket Rays have a chrome stripe on the top half.  A pricy detail if you want to get it right on a repo light.  I've tried silver paint and It just doesn't look good.  One more thing- try using an 11 tooth rear cog.  It makes a pretty big difference going up any incline as well as starting from a stop since these bikes are ridiculously heavy.   You will need a longer chain.  I've used double master links for ease of switching from a 10 to an 11.


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## the tinker (Dec 31, 2015)

I love Schwinn panthers no matter what color they are. Nice easy pedaling bike. Of all the bikes I have , this one gets ridden the most. The saddlebags are great for drinks and a snack when I ride up to a cruise night. Always get some compliments like,"Sure don't build them like this anymore".
They sure don't!
Maybe we will run into each other in "CHICAGO LAND". !Have fun Tikibar with your build.


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## Tikibar (Dec 31, 2015)

fattyre said:


> Thats a fun project!   Panthers are one of my favorite bikes.  Like you, I'd love to find a blue one.   I found a nice Red 52 a while back and have been doing the same.  Slowly bringing her back to life.  I'd look into that crank. I'm pretty sure a dog leg is not correct.  I've messed around with Old Rocket Rays and found it much easier in the long run to just get a repo for relibility.  Also note that original Panther Rocket Rays have a chrome stripe on the top half.  A pricy detail if you want to get it right on a repo light.  I've tried silver paint and It just doesn't look good.  One more thing- try using an 11 tooth rear cog.  It makes a pretty big difference going up any incline as well as starting from a stop since these bikes are ridiculously heavy.   You will need a longer chain.  I've used double master links for ease of switching from a 10 to an 11.




Thanks, I hadn't noticed those details on the light and the crank. I wonder what a Panther crank has stamped on it, maybe "AS&CO"? One of my older Schwinns has that and a date on the crank. Nice colors on yours, that red and orange combo is sweet.


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## Eddieman (Dec 31, 2015)

*wall hanger panther*

Good luck with your project, love the Panther. Here's my 1950/51 Green Panther, all original. Another Panther detail is the bottle cap style Schwinn pedals.

Eddie


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## SJ_BIKER (Dec 31, 2015)

*i miss my old panther*

Red and black repaint.... cool bike


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## fattyre (Jan 1, 2016)

Tikibar said:


> Nice colors on yours, that red and orange combo is sweet.





The red faded to orange is because this bike must have sat on display in the sun for a really long time.  Lucky it faded pretty much the entire bike and not just certain areas.  Some days I like it, some days I don't.   Either way I'm pretty lucky to own such a nice bike.


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## danilo1219 (Jan 1, 2016)

My 1952 panther


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## Tikibar (Jan 1, 2016)

*So Many Cool Panthers!*

Nice photos, you guys have outdone yourselves. Really, really beautiful bikes. We should start a Panther club.

------__o
-----_\ <,_
----(_)/ (_)


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## Oldude13 (Jan 6, 2016)

My 54 I restored 18 ys ago
Great riding bike I do have original seat need cover.
And I have better crank for it.


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## Crazy8 (Jan 14, 2016)

I should really finish mine.  Been sitting for about a year now.  Been hoping to find a straight set of springer fork legs.  


As found...




Current status....


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## Tikibar (Jan 15, 2016)

Crazy8 said:


> I should really finish mine.  Been sitting for about a year now.  Been hoping to find a straight set of springer fork legs.
> 
> 
> As found...




That's really nice, great patina. And you've got the tank, seat and headlight which (for me) have been the hardest parts to get.


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## Tikibar (Jan 15, 2016)

I'm in need of a seat and have been doing some research. Thought I'd pass along what I've found so far regarding the correct seat for a '51 Panther.

This advertisement from 1951 says the Schwinn Deluxe had a Mesinger saddle. 





My 1951 Green Panther looks like this red "Deluxe" model, so I think the early 1950's Panther may have had a Mesinger seat, too. The seats on original bikes I've seen so far didn't say Mesinger on them, but did have a metal tag on the back that said Schwinn. Not sure if they all had this tag. The Schwinn literature from this period described the tan vinyl top as Koroseal and the padding as felt. And on the originals I've seen the springs were silver and were not painted.

Appreciate any other info on the correct seat for the '50's Panther ballooner. Did some have crash rails?


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## Crazy8 (Jan 15, 2016)

Mine is a '50.  From what I understand, the seat on mine was used on the '50 and '51 only.  I believe it's called a Faulhaber or something like that.  Bobcycles is the master of these saddles.  Might want to ask him.


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## rustjunkie (Jan 19, 2016)

Great project! 
These spokes look like they'll clean up very well...just don't scrape or rub them with anything abrasive: the original plating will come off and they'll rust up.
A soak in Dawn dish washing soap might loosen the grime enough to wipe off with a sponge.
Some might have a little rust on them, but it they'll be orig and will look better than new stainless spokes.
Seal with some wax and you'll be good.


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## Tikibar (Jan 31, 2016)

I've decided to do two things with this build. The first, is that the Green Panther will be "au naturale". There will be no re-painting and no re-chroming. All of the existing parts will be re-used and refurbished. The missing parts that need to be replaced, will be replaced with as close to period-correct original parts as possible. Definitely, no repops!

The second thing is that usually I do this in the summer when it's nice outside. Smelly or hazardous chemicals aren't a problem as I work on my concrete driveway. But this is my first winter-time build and it's too cold to work outside. So I'm going to stick with cleaners and solvents that are house-friendly. They may not be as strong or effective, but they'll get the job done without polluting my home (or my marital bliss).

The result will be, hopefully, a survivor-type original looking bike that will ride well. It will never be totally original, there are missing parts. But I like the original scrapes and dents. Each imperfection tells a story from the previous owners (mostly boys crashing the bike I assume) and so this one will have a lot of history behind it.

It's not going to be a show bike, but I'll also not have to worry about taking it out for a ride, which was the whole point from the beginning.


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## Tikibar (Jan 31, 2016)

I'm making good progress, but it's been too cold or overcast to take pics outside for the before-and-after. As soon as it gets a little warmer and sunnier, I'll put up more photos to show the progress. In the meantime, here's some indoor pics.

Before and after on the chain.




I used Evapo Rust to remove the rust. Boy, did it do an amazing job! Plus, it doesn't smell at all. After the rust removal, the chain was soaked in WD-40 for a couple of days. The nice thing about WD-40 is that it stops the flash rust from forming and it dissolves away any remaining old grease. After the WD-40 soak, it was polished with 00 fine steel wool lubed with WD-40. The results are pretty shiny, I didn't expect to get it so clean. I think the process may have removed some of the bluing on the inset links, but I'm happy with this.

Before, the chain was rusty and stiff, a few of the links were frozen in place. Now, it's super-flexible and ready to ride. When the time comes to mount it on the bike I think I'll use Phil Wood Bio Lube to oil the chain.

Below are some chrome parts after a date with WD-40 and 00 fine steel wool. Shown here are the top bracket parts and bearings, the AS razor stem, AS seat post clamp, bow tie fender supports, front springer fender bracket and the AS&CO crank.




Only one part, a nut, had to go through the Evapo Rust due to rust. The rest cleaned up nicely with a little elbow grease. The parts were soaked for a couple of days in WD-40. It's amazing how much black gook gets dissolved away. These had decades of old grease and grime to clean. Then some polishing with 00 fine steel wool. I paid special attention to cleaning the bearings and bearing tracks, so the ride will be smoooooth.


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## Tikibar (Apr 5, 2016)

The Green Panther is progressing. While taking apart the crank, I discovered the inside of the crank case was COMPLETELY filled, jam packed with some sort of lubricant, (although calling it a lubricant would be generous at best). It was a thick gunky substance I suspect was a high temperature automobile lube that was the consistency of cold molasses. It would have taken a gorilla with strong legs to have pushed the pedals on this ride!





Next came the fork. It too was covered with 65 years of grime and dirt. The rubber bumper was shot. The pics show how compressed and cracked it had gotten.


 




 



The entire frame has been cleaned and polished. It's ready to start hanging more parts, so stay tuned!


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## rollfaster (Apr 5, 2016)

Wow, great cleanup. Paint looks nice.


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## jimbo53 (Apr 10, 2016)

Very nice resto-looking forward to more posts.


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## Eric (Apr 16, 2016)

Here are mine. Both are 52


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## Tikibar (Apr 20, 2016)

Eric said:


> Here are mine. Both are 52




Wow, those are sharp! 
And I see you went with the red grips on the black Panther. The 1953 Schwinn catalog has pictures of the Phantom with both red grips and black grips. I wonder if the black grips were standard and the colored grips were an option? I'm planning to use green grips on the Green Panther.


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## classic rides with style (Nov 11, 2016)

danilo1219 said:


> View attachment 262324My 1952 panther
> 
> View attachment 262324



U Saling it


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## Crazy8 (Nov 11, 2016)

Kind of finished mine.  Looking to upgrade the fenders, pedals, and left fork arm.  Seat chassis needs some bending or complete replacement.  Big problem with the Faulhaber seat frames is bending.


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## danilo1219 (Nov 25, 2016)

classic rides with style said:


> U Saling it



thank but no saling is one of my babies


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