# Schwinn 5 speed Corvette    White!



## schwinnbikebobb (Mar 4, 2022)

A friend asked if I wanted to go to a storage auction. Sure never been to one. I was thinking like on TV where you buy the contents of a locker but this was just in a huge room. They had 2 auctions going at the same time, a ton of tool's? On the opposite side from the tools  I catch a glimpse back in the corner leaning against a wall a filthy dirty bike, so dirty you could not even see the Schwinn on the top tube. Tires totally rotted.  So I head over being careful not to really go up to it hopefully throwing the guys off. I see what it is and assume repaint but what little I could see through the dirt looked ok. I was going to win it for sure. Figured I would find the original color when I worked on it. Had a couple of things going for me, the two auctions at a time thing and how dirty it was. 

It went on the back burner for a few months. Some things just seemed odd about it. Paint looked great but dirty. I give it a quick wet sand and polish it.. Much better, but I was still puzzled by it, just seemed too nice and black lettering??  Different color grips? Rear reflector was broke off. Bracket but the pumpkin light was missing, shift cable broken. No problem I have the correct replacements. Had a funky cling like wrap on the seat mast which I gingerly pull off. Still took some of the color off the decal. Finally got around to taking the seat off and up in it was this letter. My jaw hit the floor.

This has a bike shop sticker for long time Schwinn dealer Dishers Bike Shop in Dayton OH. My pure guess is maybe Dishers had the last preview and Schwinn either gave or sold it to them. This seems like it was stored badly but the paint turned out quite good. Only a few scratches down to the red primer.. This whole thing from start to finish is pretty amazing. I’m going to insure it for 10K


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## island schwinn (Mar 4, 2022)

WOW,JUST WOW.
Now we have red,blue,green, black,coppertone,white, and violet. Violet is custom.


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## SoBayRon (Mar 4, 2022)

Beautiful bike. Congratulations!


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## GTs58 (Mar 4, 2022)

Wow! That is flat out amazing!

 And Jeff just posted this week on Facebook that it's the third Anniversary for his 1963 Coppertone 5 speed's resurrection.


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## Jeff54 (Mar 5, 2022)

What, a genuine 1 off? That's too cool.
And were talking 1979 interests in a lowly, at the time, middleweight. Mr. Gray somehow discovered something odd about it, enough to inquire at Schwinn with photos, that's something too.

It makes me wonder: What happened to Mr. Gray to the existent his possessions were abandoned in storage just a year or so ago? Somebody might be able to hunt him down, or family, local to where the unit is located. I mean, where and how he found it too?


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## Lonestar (Mar 5, 2022)

Awesome! With documentation...what a score...


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## Pedalsnostalgia (Mar 5, 2022)

Such a cool find, would love to see some close ups. Congrats Bob.


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## koolbikes (Mar 5, 2022)

AWESOME Find ! ... Get Documentation !
What year is the Frame ? ... Has it been added to the Corvette 5 speed Registry?


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## rollfaster (Mar 5, 2022)

Unreal!!


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## Cam_from_Canada (Mar 5, 2022)

Amazing!


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## OptimusJay (Mar 6, 2022)

congrats Bob!  that's one of the coolest finds i can remember seeing in many years.  So your only "corrections" were adding the S reflector, pumpkin light, and a shift cable?  Would love more pics please.


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## coasterbrakejunkie1969 (Mar 6, 2022)

WOW and wow,wow,wow,wow,wow . . .  and a few more just for good measure wow,wow,wow,wow.


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## STIKSHIFTER (Mar 6, 2022)

*Unbelievable!!!  😮*


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## OZ1972 (Mar 6, 2022)

Very cool & rare bike !


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## Maskadeo (Mar 6, 2022)

Great score. I only find old people’s clothes and kids toys at auction sales!


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## kostnerave (Mar 6, 2022)

Thank you for sharing your find and story. What a beautiful and rare bicycle, with documentation! Being able to check out bikes like this is a privilege and makes me glad I joined the C.A.B.E.


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## schwinnbikebobb (Mar 7, 2022)

This was my present to you guys to help break the winter doldrums. Please take it in the fun spirit I meant and the work involved. With all the kind words I'm feeling guilty for doing it. Maybe should have waited until April 1.  Pretty much everything in my original post was fantasy



. So here is the real story. A black 5 speed showed up within driving distance. The usual “my neighbor said it was worth a lot” but was able to bring her back to earth. Got there and it was a typical old man refurb with paint everywhere but at least he did mask the seat tube decal and the Dishers decal. No chainguard. Driving home I’m thinking it will have to be a repaint of course but so many (relatively speaking) are black. Blue would work but no blue seat in inventory. Then white starts working on me. I like white, the seat would work, would be different, I'd like to see what it would look like, so white it is. I did not want the bright white of the 59’s so blasted the frame and went with Ford Wimbledon White. Not sure when the idea of the back story came into my head but I kept thinking and revising it the whole build. I knew I had a Schwinn letter I could grab the heading and signature off of. I really had a good time doing the bike and letter. More fun than I’ve had doing a bike in a while.



Hopefully you guys will not be upset I led you astray and enjoy the work and a couple of days of thinking it existed.  The bike came out great, I could not be happier with it. I used stencils (no black decals available) for the lettering. Had NOS crossed flag and 1-5 shift decals. So what do you guys think, would a white one have sold? I think my letter idea of a separate color just for 5 Speeds is solid. It has a real nice look to me.


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## coasterbrakejunkie1969 (Mar 7, 2022)

schwinnbikebobb said:


> This was my present to you guys to help break the winter doldrums. Please take it in the fun spirit I meant and the work involved. With all the kind words I'm feeling guilty for doing it. Maybe should have waited until April 1.  Pretty much everything in my original post was fantasy
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I would feel a lot better about knocking that one over in my garage hahaha. I told a couple of people about you.


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## Lonestar (Mar 7, 2022)




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## koolbikes (Mar 7, 2022)

koolbikes said:


> AWESOME Find ! ... Get Documentation !
> What year is the Frame ? ... Has it been added to the Corvette 5 speed Registry?



I had my doubts as you never posted the serial number or added to registry and on the document I feel as if Schwinn knew about the bicycle and had a file, they would have posted the serial number to verify that particular bicycle.
The document looked good, old paper, few tears & stains, but if it was under the seat it would have been folded up a bit more.
Good One ! ... Should have waited until April 1st.
I'm guessing all those other bicycles you have found are "FaKe" too ?
All in Good Fun!


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## kostnerave (Mar 7, 2022)

This is brilliant! The letter was a master stroke. At first, I thought " What an A_ _ hole!" Then, I laughed! It's still a cool bike and, yes, I do think they would have sold.


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## GTs58 (Mar 7, 2022)

Well crap! I thought I was going to be able to add another rare find to the really short existing list! 😉  Beautiful job on this from start to finish Bob. And I'm really starting to like the White too.

Here's the rare list. There are three frames known with the May 61 serial numbers and I have one of them, but it was not built when the other two were built since mine had the standard markings. These May frames were the first Corvette 5's

This one was for sale on the old Pacific Schwinn Bike Forum by member Kbrays. Every single person on that site said this was a total fake and after a few weeks I believe he gave up selling on the site and listed it on eBay. It did eventually sell to a collector, name unknown, and then it was later purchased by Jerry of Memory Lane Classics. The chain guard markings and the seat tube decal are the early proto's. I'm not sure if there was originally a gear shift decal or not or if that was added at some point later.
There are only two of these known and @vincev has the other one. 




















Then there is this one, the only 1963 Corvette 5 speed known. This has an interesting history and one of the previous owners was a homeless beach bum in Florida.

1963 Was the first year any Corvette was available in Coppertone. Owner: Jeff, @Pedalsnostalgia


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## vincev (Mar 7, 2022)

GTs58 said:


> Well crap! I thought I was going to be able to add another rare find to the really short existing list! 😉  Beautiful job on this from start to finish Bob. And I'm really starting to like the White too.
> 
> Here's the rare list. There are three frames known with the May 61 serial numbers and I have one of them, but it was not built when the other two were built since mine had the standard markings. These May frames were the first Corvette 5's
> 
> ...



Mine does not have the gear shift decal.......


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## A.S.BOLTNUT (Mar 7, 2022)

Beautiful job on the bike non the less ,would love to own one like it one day .

Rafael


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## GTs58 (Mar 7, 2022)

vincev said:


> Mine does not have the gear shift decal.......



From all the early pictures I had of these first two 5 speeds, I could not see any gear shift decals when these first appeared. The one on Jerry's was most likely added after Kbrays sold it. I believe Schwinn added those when they designed the other special markings.


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## Freqman1 (Mar 8, 2022)

I'm in the camp that says you should have waited until 1 April. I know that got a lot of people excited though! V/r Shawn


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## schwinnbikebobb (Mar 8, 2022)

I contemplated waiting and kind of wished I had but then the it's a fake people would have jumped on the date thing. That back and forth would have been fun though.  Should have waited in hindsight.  Take note I did date the letter April 11 as a small nod to it.

Koolbikes:   I went back and forth on mangling the letter up more. Same for putting some scratches on the bike but decided not to.  I always planned to post it on Friday and come clean on Monday so decided not to just for a couple day spoof.. Never even thought about a serial number on the letter.


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## nick tures (Mar 8, 2022)

nice job what a find !!


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## Rusty Klunker (Mar 8, 2022)

Good job all around! Probably should have dated it April 2nd as the first was a Sunday. I'm sure that would have added to the fun. ... Then let this run till the first.


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## lee friend (Mar 8, 2022)

koolbikes said:


> I had my doubts as you never posted the serial number or added to registry and on the document I feel as if Schwinn knew about the bicycle and had a file, they would have posted the serial number to verify that particular bicycle.
> The document looked good, old paper, few tears & stains, but if it was under the seat it would have been folded up a bit more.
> Good One ! ... Should have waited until April 1st.
> I'm guessing all those other bicycles you have found are "FaKe" too ?
> All in Good Fun!


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## Pedalsnostalgia (Mar 9, 2022)

Cool restoration, two thumbs up.


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## schwinnbikebobb (Mar 9, 2022)

Thanks Jeff!!  I'm pretty happy with it.  I'll post some new pics on the 5 speed registry as soon as I can.


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## mrg (Mar 10, 2022)

Wow, my previous comments about better left to April 1st. just disappeared?🥺


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## Freqman1 (Mar 11, 2022)

mrg said:


> Wow, my previous comments about better left to April 1st. just disappeared?🥺



I saw nothing wrong with that post. If ya want to play games then accept the consequences. I’m sure a lot of people were peeved. V/r Shawn


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## mrg (Mar 11, 2022)

Freqman1 said:


> I saw nothing wrong with that post. If ya want to play games then accept the consequences. I’m sure a lot of people were peeved. V/r Shawn




I agree, I wasn't peeved, just said would have been better as a April fools post?


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## schwinnbikebobb (Mar 12, 2022)

If this was directed at me     "I saw nothing wrong with that post. If ya want to play games then accept the consequences. I’m sure a lot of people were peeved" I had nothing to do with it.  I took all comments in the spirit they mean't.  Overwhelming positive from this end.   If I had it to do over though I would have done it April 1st as suggested.

I did post some better pics of it in the 5 Speed registry if interested.


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## coasterbrakejunkie1969 (Mar 12, 2022)

I was going to re read the whole post until I realized some posts had been removed. I understand if everyone is done discussing this bike. I have to say anyone who was upset by the original post needs to R-E-L-A-X. It is not like  the OP was offering it for sale and misrepresenting it. I often check myself and realize most of my problems are first world problems like $5 gas in my $70.000  car. Thank you @schwinnbikebobb  for break from the winter doldrums.


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