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1946 Schwinn Continental...maybe '47 or '48...

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Borrowed that photo from the old 10 speeds webpage - not my frame. It's a looker though, yes.

I've acquired a few of these old tools over the years, but not the HTS tool. I considered buying one off eBay awhile back, but it would see limited use with a hobbyist like me, so I decided not to. buy.

You probably could indeed make a tool like that. It's not overly complicated, just need to get the correct dimensions and a good, tight and precise threading befitting the force you'll need to exert to straighten a frame and the ability to get a close, precise adjustment on the frame straightness. I'm not sure whether or not you'll need heat. The frame definitely looks bent, but not necessarily kinked or folded up. As great as the paint is, I would be inclined to go to bare metal around the damaged area to look for folds or stress marks/cracks. Paint hides many sins (and damage sometimes). I would totally ride a straightened frame where it was just bent before, but I'd avoid a frame with visible stress marks or hairlines.

Straightening a steel frame is part science and part art. You have the science of the materials and physics forces at play, but you also need a "feel" for how much force is being exerted, and what the area of the bend needs to look like when you're done. There was a time when bike shops would strip down to the frame and do the straightening needed (within reason). Or they'd straighten a bent or tweaked steel fork. But many shops won't touch that work now. Glad to see detroitbike still does it at his shop. Generous offer too.
 
I wouldn't use the stem by itself to date these. I have 5 in the stable , mens and womens, and they all have the adjustable stem. BTW the fenders are stainless and the same as found on the Paramount tourist. They can crack if you tweak them too much.
Great bike.

I'm also going by the fact that the 1946 rear hubs weren't dated. Hopefully all this adds up to a first year Continental. :)
 
I'm also going by the fact that the 1946 rear hubs weren't dated. Hopefully all this adds up to a first year Continental. :)
Harpo, Going by the theory that @GTs58 put forward in post #24, if yours is 1946 the serial will begin with a letter for the month, then a "6" for 1946. Does this square with what you see? I don't know if he's right, but it's an interesting idea, and it's got me wondering.
 
Harpo, Going by the theory that @GTs58 put forward in post #24, if yours is 1946 the serial will begin with a letter for the month, then a "6" for 1946. Does this square with what you see? I don't know if he's right, but it's an interesting idea, and it's got me wondering.

That was my theory before @Miq started the War Time New World thread. The theory (Paramount method) did work on a few Continentals, but now I can see what Schwinn did starting with the prewar New Worlds and other 1939 lightweights with the three piece cranks. All those had hand stamped serial numbers where the letter coincided with the Balloon machine stamped numbers but only used 4 digits. The K series serials started war time I believe and then they were also used in early post war starting sometime in 1945 into 1946 along with the J series numbers. In 1949 or maybe earlier Schwinn pre-stamped the BB tubes with serial numbers for the Tandems that had the T00 serials and some of those BB shells were used on Continentals and Superiors with the three piece cranks. The serial list shows these starting out Jan 19, 1949 with the number T001000. From what I have seen the early post war Tandems had hand stamped numbers with letter and only had 3 digits.
 
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That was my theory before @Miq started the War Time New World thread. The theory (Paramount method) did work on a few Continentals, but now I can see what Schwinn did starting with the prewar New Worlds and other 1939 lightweights with the three piece cranks. All those had hand stamped serial numbers where the letter coincided with the Balloon machine stamped numbers but only used 4 digits. The K series serials started war time I believe and then they were also used in early post war starting sometime in 1945 into 1946 along with the J series numbers. In 1949 or maybe earlier Schwinn pre-stamped the BB tubes with serial numbers for the Tandems that had the T00 serials and some of those BB shells were used on Continentals and Superiors with the three piece cranks. The serial list shows these starting out Jan 19, 1949 with the number T001000. From what I have seen the early post war Tandems had hand stamped numbers with no letter and only had 3 digits.
That makes sense. So any Continental with a "J" or "K" serial is early post-war, '45, '46 or maybe '47 at the latest?
 
That makes sense. So any Continental with a "J" or "K" serial is early post-war, '45, '46 or maybe '47 at the latest?

Very possibly Just the K could have run into the 47 model year. I'm pretty sure the Conti that Sir Mike purchased from mbstude had a K serial and a 47 dated hub.

Yah, found it. Here it is.

1621124188727.png


1621124226667.png


Since these were hand stamped, I doubt the same situation applies to the post war Balloon models or one piece crank lightweight models.
 
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Very possibly Just the K could have run into the 47 model year. I'm pretty sure the Conti that Sir Mike purchased from mbstude had a K serial and a 47 dated hub.

Yah, found it. Here it is.

View attachment 1412458

View attachment 1412461

Since these were hand stamped, I doubt the same situation applies to the post war Balloon models or one piece crank lightweight models.

Yeah, that was a 1947. He bought it back when I sold off some bikes in my move back north. I would guess it was built in the closing months of 1947, based on the hub date. The color and images on it were really, really nice. I was a little more attached to the black New World though because it was a rescue job. I think the Continental also had a tapered kickstand, if I recall correctly. I think they used those on the lightweights slightly longer than the balloon tire bikes. I put a rubber tip on it to keep the wear minimized.

20180630_180624.jpg
 
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