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1940 Prewar Schwinn New World – Ladies Step Thru – Large Flange Hub – Cream color

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rennfaron

Wore out three sets of tires already!
If there was one New World color to go after it would probably be this one (for me...). From what I know this color was not offered for long and I rarely ever see it pop up on New Worlds. These lighter colors also typically do not age well, but this one is in great condition. It may look white but it is more of a cream color in person. And the gold pin striping really ties in well with the paint and the decal. The serial number would place this around 1940.

Overview:
  • The paint is in really nice condition considering the age. As stated above it is a cream white with gold box pin striping. The fenders and chain guard are painted to match and are equally nice condition. The wire fenders have a black enamel like finish on them. (I had just pulled this out of the box and did not mount the fenders all the way yet).
  • The down tube decal is gold lettering with a red border. I don’t typically like the yellowing of the decal but it looks real nice on this one. The seat tube decals are in really nice condition and vibrant.
  • Head badge is the typical New World badge is in super nice condition with most of the coloring still there.
  • Stem is the typical one found on all New Worlds of the time and the plating still has a mirror finish. Pretty sure some of the head set parts are not correct and I have period correct ones I can swap out.
  • Bars still have all the plating with minor pitting but still very clean. Coke bottle grips…they appear original, but they are in such great condition it is hard to know… Definitely a smaller ladies set from the era.
  • Brakes are typical to New Worlds of the time. I assume the housing lines have been replaced, because I thought they were only using the black cloth housings at the time but these still look pretty old. I don’t think they are original, but could be wrong… The front caliper is correct, the rear one is not. I have a period correct rear one I can swap out.
  • The saddle is really interesting and I don’t get much into ladies components, but this saddle is solid and in amazing shape for the age. It is a mesinger and I should have snapped a pic of the underside of the pan because the black paint is in near perfect condition. The seat post definitely has the wartime blackout finish. Seat post bolt is wrong and I will update with the correct one.
  • Wheels are both original and Lobdell. Front hub is script Schwinn and rear hub is a script Schwinn large flange hub. Tires look amazing and are GOOD YEAR RIB. The appear period correct and are still fairly soft… I have another 1940 NW archived that has these same exact tires on there, so definitely from the period.
  • Crank is the three piece Schwinn script with a AS & CO chain ring.
  • Pedals are ladies period correct Persons with blackout finish
  • Stand is a bolt on Miller found on all the early New Worlds at the time.
  • Serial is E16911
It seems to have changed hands a couple times with some CABE members and ended up with me. Glad to have it.
Enjoy! Let me know if anything else jumps out as odd or interesting…

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That's another beautiful well preserved piece and that Cream is the cats meow. I have to assume the original pedals may have been misplaced over the years from moving or storage and someone installed the blacked out Persons. These NW's were spec'd out with Torringtons.
 
It's in outstanding condition and it's very difficult to find that color. If you are trying to collect one of each color, you'll want to hold onto that one, because the white ones usually don't turn up in that nice of a condition today.
 
Stunning cream color bike, those tires look to be brand new!

You can greatly clean up the yellowed decals by gently rubbing Magic Eraser on them. I used it on my Continental decals that looked like yours and cleaned up really well with no damage.

1450623
 
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Interesting mix of wartime/blackout parts.
That may have been an earlier production frame, that didn’t get assembled for delivery until 1942?
Just a thought.
The transition between the prewar and wartime/victory bikes seemed to get inconsistent use of blackout parts and that earlier type headset.
The only thing that doesn’t jive with that hypothesis is the serial number.
Everything else about it looks 1942.
Maybe just collectorized a bit over the years, trying to make it look like a wartime bike.
 
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Great looking bike and cool details. I had first chance to buy it but I decided I had too many other bikes including a girls prewar superior project, hope you’re enjoying it or someone is.
 
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