1960 Huffy Eldorado; What's correct? What's not?

[krateman]

I'll enjoy riding it, but it is too much of a frankenbike to put any money into it, unless you have deeper pockets than me. I take it you do, since you restore these bikes. I don't sink 2,000 into a bike that will only be worth 350 when i'm done with it. I've got a family and a mortagage to take care of along with many other bills. I may repaint it in the original red, but no one will tell me what that is and how to go about getting it and no one has told me what is incorrect with this bike. I thought I had some knowledgable guys posting on my thread. Is this bike worth keeping together? I am sure there are other Eldorados that may need the parts, but I'll keep it together, since someone has jumped my ass about it. I was going to keep it together, anyways.
Classicfan, you said this bike was original. According to you all, there isn't much about this bike that isn't damaged OR original, right? This bike, according to you all, isn't worth dumping money into, which is one of your criterion for parting it out! I didn't buy this bike off of feebay, either. I'm not totally unimformed about the hobby. I just made a hasty purchase. I've totally taken apart several collector bikes, down to the pedals and refurbished them. I know most folks don't get a return on their investment when it comes to classic items, like cars and bikes and I don't care that I may have over-paid a little too much.
Bottom line is, I need to know what is missing and what is not correct about this bike and how to get a half-pint of the original red so I can respray this bike. The chain guard has bumps that need to be flattened and the back of the rack has deep dents like someone hit it repeatedly with another metal object, for what reason I have no idea. I've made comments that no one has read and talked to me about. I'd like this help if someone is qualified to do so. Thanks for any help you all can give me.

 

[partsguy]

As far as I can tell, the only thing that isn't original here might be the handlebars. Other than that, it looks to be all there. If you MUST repaint it the original 1960's metallic red, then you must do it in two stages. The first is a silver under coat, the second is a thin layer of red. They gives the paint that metallic luster that you see on nice originals. Many of the muscle bike guys have to paint their bikes like this.

As far as me having money to dump into bike; I don't. I likely make far less than you do. I work 30 hours per week, go to college full time, pay my own way, and run a business part time. I've brought worse bikes back for far less than $2,000. You just have to know how to shop around. Instead of rebuilding and rechroming junk wheels, replace them with nice ones. Chain, handlebars, fenders, are generic parts (in the vintage bike world) so if they are bent, smashed, full of rust, etc. I replace them. I built my rat rod for less than $200. When I got my bike, it looked lightyears worse than your bike does right now! You couldn't even sit on mine with the wheels slouching to one side and the crank was almost locked up.

Again, I stick to middleweights because they are the best dollar-for-dollar classic ride money can buy and you restore them for cheap, if you know how to do a lot of the work yourself.

 

[krateman]

So, only the handlebars look incorrect? What about the mis-matched wheels and the seat? How do I get my hands on the correct silver/red paint for my bike? Are the peaked fenders on my bike correct? I read on feebay that some peaked fenders that were for sale were pre-war. Was there an image of some kind on the rack or was it just painted red? Does anyone have good pictures of a correct 1960 Huffy Eldorado? Thanks everyone for the replies.

 

[partsguy]

I don't see how the wheels don't match, they look like the ones on all my original 60's Huffmans.

That seat may not be incorrect, I have seen those seats on bikes from that time period in the dealer catalogs! I have also seen two-tone seats as well. It wasn't until 1965 that Huffman had specific seats for specific bikes. By then you only had a couple of different seats.

But people forget that a 1960 Huffy Eldorado, 1957 Chevy, or the like were NOT always collectible. They were driven hard, put away wet, used up, and crushed for scrap like we do now to stuff from the 90s. Because these things weren't collectible, the assembly line had a "that'll do" attitude. If they had a shipment of stray seats, so what? They used them up. The same went for grips, chaingaurds, and to an extent, pedals and wheels. As long as the bike was close enough to the catalog pictures, it was sold.

As far as the paint, I honestly don't know where to get it. Like I said, talking with the Muscle Bike collectors would be your best bet. There aren't many of those guys here for some odd reason, but you can try www.ratrodbikes.com or the Muscle Bike Forums, those sites have a higher concentration of muscle bike collectors than the CABE. I've been here since 2008, never was that many.

 

[krateman]

Classicfan, the wheels on my Eldo are two different ones. I think the seat is a replacement because it is supple and not well-worn, I think. The front wheel has a plastic bearing inside the hub. The back wheel may be original, I think. The fenders are peaked. The gooseneck is original, I believe. The handlebars are not. I believe the guy who sold it to me for a friend, who was absent, said they were off of another bile. So, most of my bike is original. I would like to make it look great again. I can spray it myself. I just need to find someone who has restored one of these, so I can find the correct paints. I need the correct tires, fenders, handlebars and grips. I need a stencil for the chain guard script and I am guessing the book rack on the back had a light on it and it had some design on it? Thanks.