# Refreshing an old lady Shelby



## Ernbar (Jan 3, 2021)

I couldn’t resist the price so got this 51 lady Shelby from fellow caber Kirk Thomas. I’m hoping to get the wife motivated into riding it but something tells me I will doing most of the riding on this one.
The gooseneck, truss rods and rims were painted over with a metallic grey greenish paint that polishes up almost like chrome. Using lacquer thinner I removed the paint from the gooseneck and truss rods revealing good chrome underneath.










I may strip the rims later on to remove the paint but wonder how the chrome will be under it. Right now it doesn’t look bad at all. Using Flitz the paint polishes up to almost a chrome like finish.









The paint is simply in amazing condition. Unfortunately a knuckle head in the past used a bunch of reflective tape covering up the hand painted pin striping on the fork. I read a thread here in the CABE about using a heat gun to remove the tape.





Using my heat gun and a plastic spatula the tape came off really easy. I then used Lift Off to remove the sticky tape residue .


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## nightrider (Jan 3, 2021)

I was drooling over that bike! The price was right, too! Glad it's not getting parted out.
Johnny


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## Ernbar (Jan 3, 2021)

More tape to remove





The pesky tape came off muy pronto using the heat gun. I also polished up the tail light a tad.





The paint will get a rub and some wax .


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## Ernbar (Jan 3, 2021)

The seat is gorgeous


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## Ernbar (Jan 6, 2021)

Soaked the pedals in Evaporust and came out looking great. They had just tad of rust so nothing big. The ball bearings were replaced with new ones since some were either missing or rusty. I picked up new ones  and a new chain at my LBS.
The rubber blocks got a soak in Simple Green as did the grips. The SG took off a ton of junk off the rubber blocks and the grips are nice and clean now.
I forgot to take before pictures but this is how the disassembled pedals look like and the clean white grips on the bar. I put on some old spare pedals I have just to ride around the block to check things out. I also serviced the front hub and the crank will be next.


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## Ernbar (Jan 18, 2021)

I’m still playing around with this one. I matched the paint and touched up 4-5 nasty chips. The rest of the paint is in very good condition.
The chainguard had some of the chrome flaking off so I decided to strip the chrome and will paint the chainguard cream, blue and red pin stripes to match the tank and frame art. I really debated doing this but I felt the flaking and scratched chrome took away from the bike.
I replaced the chain and serviced the front hub and pedals. The New Departure rear coaster works and brakes perfectly so I just put some 30w motor oil in the small oil hole and closed it up.
The hub bearings looked new so I cleaned them and regreased them. The pedal bearings were shot so I got new ones at my LBS ($8) and re assembled the pedals and are like new now. The bottom bracket bearings will get serviced next.


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## Ernbar (Jan 18, 2021)

The tires look to be in great condition. Any idea how old these tires are?


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## Shawn Michael (Jan 19, 2021)

Great work so far. What type of chain did you use as a replacement?


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## Ernbar (Jan 19, 2021)

Shawn Michael said:


> Great work so far. What type of chain did you use as a replacement?



I have only two  bike shops in my area and both only sell KMC chains.


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## Freqman1 (Jan 19, 2021)

Nice save. Sometimes you just need a little vision--and a lot of elbow grease! V/r Shawn


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## Ernbar (Jan 20, 2021)

The inside of the tank looks very good and tried to get the horn to work but no luck.  I sanded clean the battery contact areas and the wire is attached.Any tips to trouble shoot it?


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## Ernbar (Jan 28, 2021)

The chrome on the chain guard was not in the best condition so I stripped it and paired it to match the frame colors. I like it better this way than the tired looking chromed version. The red pin striping added to the chain guard are not uniform in thickness just like the ones on the frame and fenders.









The frame paint is in great shape and has a few chips and scratches so I added a couple of chips on the chain guard to match the wear of the frame.


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## srfndoc (Jan 28, 2021)

Nice work.  I love it when the ladies bikes get saved instead of parted out.


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