# what is going on with this rusty Schwinn I bought this weekend....



## 49autocycledeluxe (Jun 7, 2021)

A51118 serial, bikehistory.org says *Built: 11/28 of 1951. *

wheels are drop center, and the rear has a Bendix hub with a skip tooth gear. never seen a Bendix with a skip tooth,  has a skip tooth Sweetheart sprocket.

I didn't see any bikes with the train light and a skip tooth chain in my searches, and as far as I know these rims were not used after 1948. my 1949 B6 has S-2's, regular chain and a "Phantom" sprocket.

I think it has an admiral head badge.

 the junk in the first picture is what I bought at the Marin Bike Museum swap where I bought this bike, and the Alameda Point Antique show last weekend.🙂

got 4 used Schwinn tires for half of what I paid for two new ones that fit poorly and bounce down the road.


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## bobcycles (Jun 7, 2021)

part it out!

or do a full restore!

early post war b6 46 most likey...some had 1" pitch...

send me the little blue car.


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## GTs58 (Jun 7, 2021)

Better check out the bike real close, that serial was also used in 1946.


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Jun 7, 2021)

I was thinking 46 47 48 due to the wheels. What about the Bendix brake? I thought they used New Departure in these years.


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Jun 7, 2021)

bobcycles said:


> part it out!
> 
> or do a full restore!
> 
> ...



The driver lost his head in the last race. Do you collect rubber cars?.. I don't like parting bikes. I may just dip the chome in evaporust but leave the frame and rebuild everything else. The brake will go on my 49 B6 that I have had for 35 years. Those serial # websites are  not as accurate as I would have hoped. 

Seat post came out as did the handle bar stem. One of my recent buys I was not so lucky. Razor stem stuck in a 1950 lightweight fork. 2 of the reasons I bought it.


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## GTs58 (Jun 7, 2021)

That site with the *Punch In Your Serial Number* is a waste of time, but it's easy. Kinda like pulling the handle down on a slot machine. 

You might have to measure the thickness of your drop outs to figure out the year. With drop centers I'd guess 46, but the stand? 

Here's what @Porkchop measures for thickness

_"Seems to be a 46 based on the vin number. If it’s a 46 it should have thin rear drop outs. Also could have a tapered kick stand or raised AS seat post clamp. How ever it does appear that this bike has had some changes done to it...wheels, crank sprocket, pedals. I just measured both of the rear drop outs on my early bikes and they’re .140 and .130. My 1952 spitfire is.165 and so is my 1954 phantom."_


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## island schwinn (Jun 7, 2021)

My 46 DX had a Bendix hub.


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## Porkchop & Applesauce (Jun 8, 2021)

Hi! The A vin numbers were used in 1946. The fender light housing on that bike is also a 1946. In 46 they used a light housing were the rear screw had a deeper recess than all the other years and this bike has that! Do it have a raised AS seat post clamp and thin rear drop outs.


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Jun 8, 2021)

Porkchop said:


> Hi! The A vin numbers were used in 1946. The fender light housing on that bike is also a 1946. In 46 they used a light housing were the rear screw had a deeper recess than all the other years and this bike has that! Do it have a raised AS seat post clamp and thin rear drop outs.



thanks for all that info. I may have that seat post clamp, it was pretty crusty and I pulled it and dropped in my bucket of Evaporust. I noticed the clamp itself was different but did not notice the AS. I'll have to check the other things when I get home tonight.


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## Porkchop & Applesauce (Jun 8, 2021)

49autocycledeluxe said:


> thanks for all that info. I may have that seat post clamp, it was pretty crusty and I pulled it and dropped in my bucket of Evaporust. I noticed the clamp itself was different but did not notice the AS. I'll have to check the other things when I get home tonight.



I recommend that you save what’s left of the original paint. They turn out really beautiful with a good cleaning and some clear coat. You only get original paint once! Check out the before and after on this 45. You’ll see what I mean. 👍🏻


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Jun 8, 2021)

Porkchop said:


> I recommend that you save what’s left of the original paint. They turn out really beautiful with a good cleaning and some clear coat. You only get original paint once! Check out the before and after on this 45. You’ll see what I mean. 👍🏻




I won't be painting this one. my preliminary inspection of the paint tells me it will not be coming back to anything resembling it's former glory so I am going to more or less leave it alone. it will look a lot like your DX there. I did this lightweight and am still in the process of putting all the parts back on. I could tell after a few seconds rubbing the paint it would come back ..  did this one by wet sanding with 2000 grit, and rubbing compound ... bet I have 10 hours into just the paint .


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## Junkman Bob (Jun 8, 2021)

49autocycledeluxe said:


> I won't be painting this one. my preliminary inspection of the paint tells me it will not be coming back to anything resembling it's former glory so I am going to more or less leave it alone. it will look a lot like your DX there. I did this lightweight and am still in the process of putting all the parts back on. I could tell after a few seconds rubbing the paint it would come back ..  did this one by wet sanding with 2000 grit, and rubbing compound ... bet I have 10 hours into just the paint .
> 
> View attachment 1426455
> 
> View attachment 1426456




I thought the same thing about thinking it was too far gone but I did an OA bath on this 39 DX and I was very pleasantly surprised !! Here are the before and after pics


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## Porkchop & Applesauce (Jun 8, 2021)

Awesome job on those original paint bikes!! Both of you did nice work on your bikes!


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Jun 8, 2021)

this DX would have cleaned up, it is red. I left it crusty, and bought crusty maroon parts to finish it.... I will have to think seriously about the OXY bath for my new B6 after seeing those results.


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## BFGforme (Jun 8, 2021)

Junkman Bob said:


> I thought the same thing about thinking it was too far gone but I did an OA bath on this 39 DX and I was very pleasantly surprised !! Here are the before and after pics
> 
> View attachment 1426458
> 
> ...



Hum, that kinda looks familiar


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## tacochris (Jun 8, 2021)

49autocycledeluxe said:


> this DX would have cleaned up, it is red. I left it crusty, and bought crusty maroon parts to finish it.... I will have to think seriously about the OXY bath for my new B6 after seeing those results.
> 
> View attachment 1426487



Thank you for not parting your new bike!  That thing is beautiful as is and will make an amazing cruiser!


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Jun 8, 2021)

tacochris said:


> Thank you for not parting your new bike!  That thing is beautiful as is and will make an amazing cruiser!




if I part a bike out it is parts for my own projects. I have a ladies 1950 "World" and the wheels, forks and handlebars will go on a '53 men's frame I have. I may make a men's frame out of it using a bent mens frame I have.... or I may build the ladies frame into an "old bike" with later parts that are not as rare as the 50 parts. I never throw anything away someone else can use. they stopped making old bikes a long time ago, so we need to preserve these relics.

cars are different. I parted out a 51 and 53 Chevrolet, and a 1960 El Camino. NOTHING a person could use went to the scrappers. all 3 were junk and could never be rebuilt. I bet I had 150-200 ebay auctions for each of those cars. for the hours it took to do it all I could have made more money working evenings at Wal-Mart, but where's the fun in that?


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## Porkchop & Applesauce (Jun 8, 2021)

49autocycledeluxe said:


> if I part a bike out it is parts for my own projects. I have a ladies 1950 "World" and the wheels, forks and handlebars will go on a '53 men's frame I have. I may make a men's frame out of it using a bent mens frame I have.... or I may build the ladies frame into an "old bike" with later parts that are not as rare as the 50 parts. I never throw anything away someone else can use. they stopped making old bikes a long time ago, so we need to preserve these relics.
> 
> cars are different. I parted out a 51 and 53 Chevrolet, and a 1960 El Camino. NOTHING a person could use went to the scrappers. all 3 were junk and could never be rebuilt. I bet I had 150-200 ebay auctions for each of those cars. for the hours it took to do it all I could have made more money working evenings at Wal-Mart, but where's the fun in that?



If your interested in letting that bike or any of its pieces go….I’d be interested


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## tacochris (Jun 8, 2021)

49autocycledeluxe said:


> if I part a bike out it is parts for my own projects. I have a ladies 1950 "World" and the wheels, forks and handlebars will go on a '53 men's frame I have. I may make a men's frame out of it using a bent mens frame I have.... or I may build the ladies frame into an "old bike" with later parts that are not as rare as the 50 parts. I never throw anything away someone else can use. they stopped making old bikes a long time ago, so we need to preserve these relics.
> 
> cars are different. I parted out a 51 and 53 Chevrolet, and a 1960 El Camino. NOTHING a person could use went to the scrappers. all 3 were junk and could never be rebuilt. I bet I had 150-200 ebay auctions for each of those cars. for the hours it took to do it all I could have made more money working evenings at Wal-Mart, but where's the fun in that?



Ive parted two bikes in my life and both were scuttled together bikes in the first place so i didnt feel too bad and both went on to become whole bikes again by the folks who got the frame and fork.
Im a bit of a Mother Theresa to old rusted things for some reason...maybe its in my personality or whatever but I tend to save and hang onto things I know others would part out.  Im about to go save a car that we found in a ravine and its half buried sideways.  I plan on putting it back on the road to rescue it but also to silence those who say it will never see road again.


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## Porkchop & Applesauce (Jun 8, 2021)

tacochris said:


> Ive parted two bikes in my life and both were scuttled together bikes in the first place so i didnt feel too bad and both went on to become whole bikes again by the folks who got the frame and fork.
> Im a bit of a Mother Theresa to old rusted things for some reason...maybe its in my personality or whatever but I tend to save and hang onto things I know others would part out.  Im about to go save a car that we found in a ravine and its half buried sideways.  I plan on putting it back on the road to rescue it but also to silence those who say it will never see road again.



Oh THANK GOODNESS!!! I was have chest pains for a minute!! Lmao!!


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Jun 8, 2021)

Porkchop said:


> If your interested in letting that bike or any of its pieces go….I’d be interested



so far I have a good pile of rust chips, two useless tubes and two even more useless tires. there could be some rusty spokes I won't be using.  also anything that breaks taking it apart is up for grabs. I do have one unique part you don't see too often, the bolt for the stem/wedge is not a long bolt, but threaded rod with a nut on top. I bet that's pretty rare... make me an offer.🤪


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## tacochris (Jun 8, 2021)

Porkchop said:


> Oh THANK GOODNESS!!! I was have chest pains for a minute!! Lmao!!



Lol Ive heard a baby aspirin a day can help with those.


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## Porkchop & Applesauce (Jun 8, 2021)

49autocycledeluxe said:


> so far I have a good pile of rust chips, two useless tubes and two even more useless tires. there could be some rusty spokes I won't be using.  also anything that breaks taking it apart is up for grabs. I do have one unique part you don't see too often, the bolt for the stem/wedge is not a long bolt, but threaded rod with a nut on top. I bet that's pretty rare... make me an offer.🤪



So glad that bike is keeping all of its useable parts! I also have a 46 that wasn’t that lucky! So in all honesty I was ready to save any and all of it!! Can’t wait to see what it looks like when it’s done!!


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## Porkchop & Applesauce (Jun 8, 2021)

Does your frame say “world imperial “ on the lower bar? Your bike has all the options that the world imperial came with. The world imperial bikes were also sold with out the tank.


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Jun 8, 2021)

Porkchop said:


> Does your frame say “world imperial “ on the lower bar? Your bike has all the options that the world imperial came with. The world imperial bikes were also sold with out the tank.




I'll have to have a look when I get home. I am not 100% sure there was ever a tank on it, so that would explain that.


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Jun 8, 2021)

just did some World Imperial searching.. this bike has an Excelsior Badge, looks like the world bikes had World badges


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## Porkchop & Applesauce (Jun 8, 2021)

Yup! That’s true!


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## Porkchop & Applesauce (Jun 8, 2021)

Badge on mine


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## Jive Turkey (Jun 9, 2021)

Porkchop said:


> Badge on mine
> 
> View attachment 1426596




I've got prewar DX with that badge, do you happen to know where they were originally sold at?


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## Porkchop & Applesauce (Jun 9, 2021)

Jive Turkey said:


> I've got prewar DX with that badge, do you happen to know where they were originally sold at?



I believe that it was a marketing thing. “World standered for bikes”


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## Porkchop & Applesauce (Jun 9, 2021)

For Schwinn


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Jun 10, 2021)

...no tapered kickstand. maybe 47? 48?


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## Porkchop & Applesauce (Jun 10, 2021)

I’ve seen them without the tapered kick stand. I would measure the thickness of the rear drop out. That will tell ya for sure


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## Paramount (Jun 12, 2021)

Where do you by that clear coat. Is it from a hobby store like Michael’s?


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## Porkchop & Applesauce (Jun 12, 2021)

Good morning Paramount! This is the clear coat that I’ve been using. I’ve been buying it from an auto parts store. I’ve been very happy with this product.


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## Porkchop & Applesauce (Jun 14, 2021)

Jive Turkey said:


> I've got prewar DX with that badge, do you happen to know where they were originally sold at?



Hey Jive Turkey! I found this on the internet!


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