# Schwinn Mark II Jaguar



## rcommbikes (Oct 31, 2010)

First, I would like to thank everyone who has responded to my previous posts. Here's another bike for your opinions as to value. Quite a few scratches, especially on the chain guard, some rust on bars. Hub says 60 so I think it's 1960. The bike is complete as far as I can tell.


----------



## militarymonark (Oct 31, 2010)

best to get the exact year using the serial number on the left rear drop out also about value, obviously its in great shape, I've seen these go for several different amounts ranging from 100 to 300 depending on the day possibly more in better shape I would guess you have a something in the middle 175-200. If you had a few more options such as a front and rear rack in the same shape prob the higher around 300. you might be able to find those parts for a reasonable price and are usually common. Def make the bike stand out a little better, You could also find a tank and do a era correct custom but dont get me wrong most likely this bike didn't have a tank judging by the 3 speed. Once you find the exact date you can take a look in those catalogs which Im sure someone on the site prob has one and see if any of those options were available for the bike.


----------



## Larmo63 (Oct 31, 2010)

The bikes you are posting and asking about are getting better! These bikes, circa 1960 sounds about right, are getting a lot more popular with riders and collectors as the really old stuff is being gobbled up and is unobtainable. These usually are shown with a rear rack, and a front rack. With a bit of straightening up, it could get $225+ on Ebay.  (???)


----------



## militarymonark (Oct 31, 2010)

the chrome should clean up great and those look like stainless fenders which are a great option


----------



## zoggynog (Nov 7, 2011)

This is a Mark IV Jaguar, not a Mark II.  Just an observation.  The "V" on the chaingaurd is just a little worn.


----------



## HARPO (Nov 7, 2011)

Here's my black Mark IV.....

fred


----------



## Schwinndemonium (Nov 7, 2011)

*Mark IV Jaguar.*

Your bike is nice, but it is missing quite a few critical, and somewhat hard to find components. Most of which are not being reproduced. That said, it would not take much to make it into a very nice rider bike, though. To try to find all the period correct missing parts for the thing, it is possible,but I can all but guarantee it is going to cost you at least another $500.00 in parts, alone to get it back to original complete condition.

With all due respect, Patrick, Mark IV Jags are my specialty. They ALL came with front and rear racks, full frame tanks with horn, battery operated  ball headlights by different makers, depending on the year your Mark IV was built. The mark IV Jag was built from model year 1959 through model year 1962. They also had deluxe made in Germany bow pedals, and Schwinn Westwind whitewall tires, when new. They also came with that now famous teardrop shaped monogramed "S" reflector on the standard equipment stainless steel fenders. They were quite beautiful, but abeit expensive bikes in their day. Even more so nowadays, if one wants to do a period correct restoration of one that is missing alot of it's parts.

In 2010, I found this very rusty, tired, BUT COMPLETE, (except for the CEV Italian made original equipment headlight unique to 1959 models) September of 1959 Mark IV Jaguar in Radiant Blue, just like your bike, and over the course of the next 10 months, proceeded to track down replacement parts for the tired mechanical parts, decals, tires, as well as paints to do a partial repaint of the original paint on the tank, chainguard, as well as parts of the frame where the paint was just too scratched up to make it presentable the way it was. I did an overhaul of the parts as needed, cleaned everything on a part by part basis, replaced any bad parts as needed. I reassembled the bike this past July, and the pictures that I'm about to post are the results of the work. This bike is absolutely 100% correct in its rebuilding and restoration, if you will. It looks like it did the day it came out of the bike dealership for Christmas of 1959. 

The first image, or two is the way the bike was when I got it on September 11, 2010. The rest show it the way it looks, now.

Jim.


----------



## richtrix (Nov 7, 2011)

Hi Jim,  Since Jags are your forte I've got a 58 that has the Austrian 3 speed but it has an S/A shifter is this correct? It's got the Italian headlight and seems to be all correct otherwise.


----------



## panther boy (Nov 8, 2011)

*jaguar*

Jim,
thanks for your treatise on the Mk IV. I remember seeing one in '62 and thinking how expensive it was compared to my first real bike, a 52 Panther. The hi-tech (for the day) look and feel are brought back by your wonderful restoration. 
tom


----------



## zoggynog (Nov 8, 2011)

That is one sweet bike Jim.

Were the brake cables striped like that originally, or did you add a little something extra?  Either way it looks amazing.

I have a 58 MkII Jag I am beginning to work on, but it's in pretty bad shape and missing many of the important parts.  I'm looking to put the cash in it though, I love the Jaguars.


----------



## Schwinndemonium (Nov 8, 2011)

richtrix said:


> Hi Jim,  Since Jags are your forte I've got a 58 that has the Austrian 3 speed but it has an S/A shifter is this correct? It's got the Italian headlight and seems to be all correct otherwise.




Richtrix, 
I said that *1959 through  1962* model year *Mark IV* Jaguars are my specialties. Not 1958 model years, and earlier. Model years 1957 and 1958,(Some 1956's were made) are the Mark II Jaguars. They, in my eyes, are a completely different looking bike, and not quite as ornate looking. These bikes, in my eyes are not as near attractive to me as a Mark IV one. It looks like a "Phantom wannabe", with its Phantom style rack in the back. They are nice bikes, but just not my style, (the MkII's, that is).

If your bike is a true 1958, from what I remember reading on the old PAC forum, and the SchwinnBikeForum, either a complete Sturmy-Archer setup was used, complete with a Sturmy-Archer shifter, or the Austrian unit was used, complete with a chrome plated "egg" shaped Austrian made shifter with the words "Schwinn Approved Made In Austria" embossed on it. They did not come from the factory,as far as I know with an Austrian made hub, with a Sturmy-Archer shifter on the bars of the same bike. Sometime during your bike's lifetime, the shifter must have broke, and was replaced with the S/A unit it now has.

I'll try and see if I can find a decent looking picture of a nice correct and complete 1958 Mark II Jaguar, as they are so much different looking than the 1959, and on up Mark IV models. I will put it on this very post.

Here is an image of very nice bike owned by SchwinnBikeForum member,"Phantom Rick", as he just bought this bike, and he completed the necessary corrections to the bike to make it 100% period correct for a 1958 Jag.

Jim.


----------



## Schwinndemonium (Nov 8, 2011)

*Mark IV Jaguars, in brief*

The Schwinn Mark IV Jaguar was introduced as a 1959 model in the fall of 1958. It replaced the Mark II model, which I think was built between 1956 to the middle of 1958. There never was a Mark III Jaguar. The first Schwinn model to be called a Jaguar was built in 1954 as a balloon tire model, with three speeds, and no tank. The total time frame for the Mark IV model was model years 1959 through 1962. In 1963, the Jaguar became a Mark V, and the tank was reduced in size to what is now called a "slimline" tank. The Mark V Jaguar was made in 1963 through 1964, and they had a springer front fork. The last year for the Jaguar nameplate on Schwinn middleweight bikes was 1965, and these were Mark VI models, the only year,(of course) this designation was used. 

Jim.


Note; This is a reposting that I did, from my document archives for a thread over on the now defunct PACSchwinn forum when someone over there asked me about all the different Jags that Schwinn originally built in the 1950's-1960's.--Jim.


----------



## Schwinndemonium (Nov 8, 2011)

zoggynog said:


> That is one sweet bike Jim.
> 
> Were the brake cables stripped like that originally, or did you add a little something extra?  Either way it looks amazing.
> 
> I have a 58 MkII Jag I am beginning to work on, but it's in pretty bad shape and missing many of the important parts.  I'm looking to put the cash in it though, I love the Jaguars.




That stuff is called cablewrap. Back in the day,when these bikes were new, it was a very popular aftermarket add on. Generally speaking, you got it in the color that closest matches your bike's color. Memory Lane Classics,(ask Lisa bout it), and Zagar_Axe (Ron), on eBay sells the stuff. Ron sells the new stuff made by Speedway. MLC sells the original new old stock stuff.

It is easy to apply even on cables that are on the bike. You just spiral the stuff on.

Jim.


----------



## Schwinndemonium (Nov 8, 2011)

panther boy said:


> Jim,
> thanks for your treatise on the Mk IV. I remember seeing one in '62 and thinking how expensive it was compared to my first real bike, a 52 Panther. The hi-tech (for the day) look and feel are brought back by your wonderful restoration.
> tom




I think that's neat that you do remember, and rode these bikes when they were new.  I learned to appreciate them well after the fact. I was not even 1 year old, yet, in the fall of 1958 when these redesigned Jags came out. I fell in love with these bikes, after they were already considered to be old, obsolete pieces of scrap metal, and not worth anything to anyone, anymore. This was back when I was a young teen in the early 1970's, when I saw a blue Mk IV, in much similar condition at the time as my blue bike was at the time that I bought it in 2010. Everyone thought I was nuts, back in the 1970's, when I started collecting these old bikes, as at the time they were considered practically worthless!! Now who's laughing?

Jim.


----------



## zoggynog (Nov 8, 2011)

Awww why the MkII hate?

Looking like a Phantom isn't that bad...in fact...I thought the MkII was considered pretty top of the line in 58.  Plus, finding parts is somewhat easier considering all the Phantom stuff.

Regardless, I can vouch that the 58's do have a S/A 3 speed shifter, that isn't egg shaped.

This gentlemen has a few glamor shots of his 57, which has the same shifter.

NOTE:  It's hard to tell but that shifter is chrome, red, and black.  The pic makes it look sort of white.

http://www.trfindley.com/pgjaguar.html

EDIT::  Thanks Jim for the info on cable wrap!  I guess I can forgive you laughing at my MkII!


----------



## Schwinndemonium (Nov 8, 2011)

I didn't say I hated it.
It's just not my style.
The rear rack that is on that Jag was originally designed for the B-6,"Autocycle", and later on used on the Phantom in 1949, and on up. When they put it on the new middleweight Jag bikes in 1956, that big heavy looking rack on that bike makes the back end of the thing look kind of tail heavy. But that is just my opinion. 

If everybody thought the same way about everything, the world would be a boring place!

Here is that "egg" shaped shifter that was used on three speed Schwinns that had the Austrian made hubs. This is from an eBay auction that is currently running right now. It looks like, though, the handlebar mount clamp is broken off on this unit, unfortunately. These Austrian made units were not made by Sturmy-Archer. Schwinn was in the habit, back then of using both setups on their bikes. If they ran out of the one kind, they would use the other, and vice-versa. Sturmy-Archer was/is made in England. I really do not believe that Schwinn  would mix a S/A shifter with a different manufacturer's hub. The original hub's shifter probably broke, and since it is alot easier to find Sturmy-Archer parts, they just slapped this Sturmy-Archer shifter on the bike in question, here, so the S/A shifter must be compatible with the Austrian made cable and hub.

Oh, by the way, how can I laugh at something that I have never seen??

When I said, "Now who's laughing?", I was referring to those then kids, and other people in the early 1970's who made fun of me for starting to collect these already old bikes, then. If I would talk to them, today, if I could, they would probably realize that I was not as nuts as they first thought.  A 5 speed Corvette that I got for free in 1975, because the owners thought it was worthless, is now probably worth about $600.00, conservatively speaking. Yep, I still have that same bike. Thirty-six years, now. 

Jim.


----------



## zoggynog (Nov 8, 2011)

Ya got me there!

I plan on taking some pics of it before too long, just purchased from Craigslist a few days ago.  This is my first jump into classic bikes.  I have to admit though, right now it truly is in laughable shape.  I have no idea where I'm going to find a front light for this thing.  I over paid I'm guessing and it's pretty darn stripped (no tank, back rack, and wrong light).  I had to have it though, after looking at the pictures of other Jags online.  Quite the project I have ahead of myself. 



Schwinndemonium said:


> Oh, by the way, how can I laugh at something that I have never seen??


----------



## phantom (Nov 26, 2011)

*My 57 Mark II*

Could use a real nice Cadet


----------



## spoker (Nov 26, 2011)

*jag balloners*

the 2 yrs they built the balloner jag it had that egg shifter ans a 3 speed  rear hub generally speaking,cause bikes didnt always the same


----------



## spoker (Nov 26, 2011)

*jag*

Meant to say aluminum rear 3 speed hub


----------



## gregv (Nov 27, 2011)

richtrix said:


> Hi Jim,  Since Jags are your forte I've got a 58 that has the Austrian 3 speed but it has an S/A shifter is this correct? It's got the Italian headlight and seems to be all correct otherwise.




Jim will know more than I, but I've personally only seen the Austrian hub on '59's, but I'll bet there could have been some overlap between the model years. I've also only seen them with the matching "egg" shifter, but again since the shifters on both types are interchangeable (along with all of the parts) it's possible. Maybe Schwinn was using up what it had in the parts bin. As far as I can tell the Austrian license built S/A AW hub was used to fill the resultant lack of hubs that occurred when the "new & improved" S/A SW didn't work out.

greg v.


----------



## rollfaster (Feb 2, 2013)

*jaguar*

jim,that 59 is very sweet.i have a 59 radiant blue i just picked up. i have a rear rack coming but will need that headlight.has a tcw 3-speed coaster on it with front caliper brakes.im going to convert it to a 2-speed red band kickback wheel.will also be looking for a horn for the tank.not bad i dont think for 140.00.


----------



## MAD BRAD (Apr 4, 2015)

Just got a 58 markII need a rear rack red  and light. Thanks BD


----------

