1955 Corvette - Delivered!

[bikemonkey]

Before

After

This early 1955 Corvette came in for cleaning and repair at the end of July. Still in the same family since purchased new, it had been parked for the last 30 years after being ridden hard and put up wet.

I told my customer the earliest I would be done would be Halloween, probably by Thanksgiving, and no later than Christmas. He came by last week to see the parts and paint and requested not to see it again until it was assembled and finished. I dropped it off at his house on the 23rd of December and it was covered up under the tree by his wife until today.

Special thanks to the following CABER's for help in securing the needed parts and at good prices that left meat on the bone for the shop! Without the CABE's help this project would have a much more difficult and time consuming project.

Rear reflector @Brutuskend
Headlight @island schwinn
Pedals @Danny the schwinn freak
Front caliper @KevinM

If you want to see the nuts and bolts here is the album I made for my customer - it is pic heavy!

P.S. - I am still on the hunt for a decent set of fenders, a left seat spring, and the correct headlight bracket.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

 

[GTs58]

Sweet!

It really amazes me how many kids bikes have survived in that type of condition or better. My pride and joy was ridden and used up, then restored and used up again.

As far as the light and mounting bracket, there were at least three different mounting positions on the 54-55 Corvettes. If you look at all the Schwinn literature on this model you'll see all the options. My 55 has the long bracket that wraps around the stem and extends out about 3". Some were also shown to be mounted to the bolt that secured the front carrier and the most common being mounted to the handlebar cinch bolt. Here's Darcie's original 55 girls mounting position and bracket. I've seen a few where the short bracket was mounted to the bar cinch bolt and was in the upright position but it probably requires a different style stem like the one on the 55 American/Tiger below.

 

[Wanted33]

Great job Mike.

 

[Frank and Pam Skid Kings]

So you just made a lifelong friend, I'm guessing and probably got someone hooked on the old bike hobby. Way to go and Merry Christmas.