# I need some answers for a vintage schwinn tandem



## rolston12 (Mar 22, 2011)

I bought a vintage schwinn tandem bicycle at a local garage sale for 30 dollars. It needed some work though. So the boyfriend and I worked on it throughout last summer. We took the bent rims/ broken spokes to a bike repair shop. We buffed the rust off the chrome fenders and fixed the chain. In the end we got the bike in working condition and rode it every chance we could. We are wanting to repaint the bike and didnt know the proper way to do it and what color of paint we should paint it. It is a red now but we can see some purple underneath. Is that the original color? Should we keep the original color to keep the value? We would like to keep it red. The serial number is P69386. It is single speed with coaster brakes. We would like to know the year of it too. Could someone please help us?


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## Adamtinkerer (Mar 22, 2011)

First of all, that was a steal of a deal! And it looks to be the violet color Schwinn used in the mid to late 60s. I don't recall ever seeing a tandem that color! Some folks have had good results removing amateur repaints with oven cleaner or vandal mark remover. I'd try that since yes, original paint is more valueable, especially on that rare bird! The tandems had a different numbering system, I'm not sure if you can year date it from that.


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## ratina (Mar 22, 2011)

Heres one I used to own. It was either a 66 or 67.


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## Richard Bresselsmith (Jun 9, 2018)

I ended up with just the frame to the same bike. I put it together with a bunch of parts that I have and I was considering painting it a different color. I was looking for ideas when I saw this posting. Now is this worth keeping what's on there? It's peeling..


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## Freqman1 (Jun 9, 2018)

That would be a frankenbike and I wouldn't spend any more than I had to. V/r Shawn


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## GTs58 (Jun 9, 2018)

Richard Bresselsmith said:


> I ended up with just the frame to the same bike. I put it together with a bunch of parts that I have and I was considering painting it a different color. I was looking for ideas when I saw this posting. Now is this worth keeping what's on there? It's peeling..
> 
> View attachment 821074
> 
> ...





Looks like a cool backyard made Varsity Tandem. If you're going to clean it up and paint it, pick a color you like. And welcome to the Cabe!

This is an old thread, and it looks like the OP never got an answer to her question. Her Tandem is an early January 1966 SN'd bike that was Violet and it's missing one of the letters in the serial that's noted in the serial number list. That's a B, not a P. The only Tandems that had their own serial number was the Town and Country's, the BB4-2 and Twins used the same SN system of the period.


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