If you're talking about the frames then you're right, all the Centennial Phantoms and the C.D.7's (with the California frames) I've seen were part of the first batch of 5000, going by the serial numbers. I'm guessing the only reason they offered the C.D.7 with that frame was because they were having a hard time selling all the Centennial Phantoms. I've heard they were priced at nearly $3,000.00 in 1995. That's a lot for a bike even now (at least by my standards)!
This might clear a few things up that I found...
Our review of the 1995 100th Anniversary Schwinn Black Phantom cruiser bicycle. There were 5000 of these produced by Schwinn in the U.S.A. Photos and video.
www.ratrodbikes.com
Unfortunately, the water is muddy due to news and interviews as to how many were made and when issued.
Here's an article that does clear up where the rims were made, Hungary, and at same time, offers the 1996 Cruiser Deluxe which has the Phantom frame.. It causes some confusion still with the 5,000 limit noted. Implying or clearly set in stone?
I clipped a few points to note:
From article, Posted Jan 28, 1996, Pasted and linked below: "
"The new version has acquired a grown-up cost, opening somewhere around $3,000.
The Tiffany price tag is attached to the limited number of bikes being made at a small manufacturing plant in Ontario, where only 5,000 new-edition Phantoms will be made."
At this point, there are only 5,000 Black Phantoms "being made "and "will be made" which implies; on date of article, they are still being produced but, not completed. ."
Information is sourced from: Gregg Bagni, marketing director for Boulder and Ted Kirkbride, production manager at AeroCycle Inc., the company producing the new Black Phantom for Schwinn.
The last sentence from Bagni adds to the problem: "
"
For the nostalgic customer who lacks the deep pockets to purchase a Black
Phantom, the company markets a Deluxe Cruiser for about $450.
That says, in its self there are more than 5,000 frames. And, as I included earlier, Schwinn's catalog lists the Black Phantom until 1999 and otherwise, The Phantom frame Deluxe Cruiser was only made 1996 and 97.
So, we have production date began in 1995,,, There is also, not in this report but elsewhere' 1996 Hammacher Schlemmer, the retailer, featured the bike on the cover of its spring catalogue. Published in NY Times June 1996:
https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/09/...ns-2-wheels-answer-schwinn-black-phantom.html And by this time Bagni tells NY Times, there's only going to be 4,000 BP's.
Regardless, announcement by this journalist and interview released Jan 1996. It is very much the tradition to print Schwinn's Xmas Catalog for December's sales, hence a 1995 catalog presents the bike made for the following year's model too.
I wasn't looking Xmas 1995 , 6 or even 2000 for that matter but the time, typical Schwinn catalog issue or printing and this article imply that, Schwinn Bolder began the promotion in 95 but did not make , 5,000; completely built and ready roll until 1996 and stopped production, When?? .
Unlike popular opinion, including myself, Clearly the Deluxe Cruiser Phantom frames were not leftovers. Yet Bagni, by June, 1996 has changed Initial BP amount. down to 4,000.
Moreover if every BP has a 1995 badge then, it's not the actual date assembled.
Personally. I never dissected these articles, but just skimmed them IDK, like 8-10 year ago. and for the most part, just understood what's on the boards or word of mouth. Yet, today, those are the only news releases I could find on the net. And once comprehended, digested, piece them together, Noting too, the set-backs Bolder went through, I am not so sure that but maybe a very few actually were finished by the deadline, 1995. The topic bike's numbers are so low #165, is the closest to suggest was completed by a 2015 deadline but, the articles imply, only a few made it. The coverage by the NY Times, 6 months later is a pretty good indication it's a promotional news event, that was the point where Schwinn was ready to release, 6 months to a year behind schedule on 1995's Centennial model.
"Schwinn recycles its Black Phantom bike"
LOS ANGELES (AP -- Schwinn, the venerable bicycle maker that pedaled into bankruptcy a few years ago, is racing through its centennial astride a new product line and a recycled edition of past glory …
www.recordnet.com
Posted Jan 28, 1996 at 12:01 AMUpdated Jan 7, 2011 at 3:19 PM
LOS ANGELES (AP -- Schwinn, the venerable bicycle maker that pedaled into
bankruptcy a few years ago, is racing through its centennial astride a new
product line and a recycled edition of past glory -- its Black Phantom bike.
In 1949, the Black Phantom was a kids dream, retailing then at a demanding
$99. Approaching the millennium, the new version has acquired a grown-up cost,
opening somewhere around $3,000.
The Tiffany price tag is attached to the limited number of bikes being made at
a small manufacturing plant in Ontario, where only 5,000 new-edition Phantoms
will be made. The high price also flows from replicating manufacturing
processes from a half-century ago.
Despite the tony price tag, and perhaps because of its nostalgia appeal and
classic styling, the Phantom has attracted customers like Jerry Seinfeld and
Hugh Hefner, according to Gregg Bagni, marketing director for Boulder,
Co.-based Schwinn.
But its not just for the Hefners and Seinfelds of the world, he said.
Its for somebody who had a Phantom in the 50s, for someone whose had
their life affected by a bike.
Rosebud the bicycle?
Because of the small production run, parts for the new bikes were cast in wax,
similar to the way jewelry or dental fillings are made. The tool and dies
vanished with the past like the Schwinn plants Chicago-area factories.
The hardest part about this project was that it was fabricated with 1930s
technology, said Ted Kirkbride, production manager at AeroCycle Inc., the
company producing the new Black Phantom for Schwinn.
Even though the bike appeared under the Christmas tree for the first time in
1949, most of the technology was developed a decade earlier, Kirkbride said.
Private industry for civilian purposes took a back seat during World War II.
Kirkbrides relationship to the Black Phantom dates back more than 40 years.
As a teen-ager, he assembled the top-of-the-line Schwinns at Zumwalts Bicycle
Store in San Diego.
That was my first real job, assembling Black Phantoms, he said. I worked
with a fellow named Bob Hanes, one of the best craftsman I ever met.
Curran Cummings, who ran a small bike shop for years on a shady street in the
community of Moorpark, has his own special memories about the bike.
They were real popular in my childhood, he said. If you had a Black
Phantom, you had a real bicycle. My friend won a Phantom at a theater contest
drawing, but I never had one.
A generation later, when he had his own bike business, Cummings found one,
fixed it up and gave it to his father.
Dad was really surprised, he said. The horn tank was missing, but it was
all original, with full fenders, chrome and a wide saddle. It was a signature
bike.
Part of the distinctive signature was the horn tank that gave the front
end of the bike the look of a World War II motorcycle and fenders that were
streamlined like a fast Hudson or Studebaker roadster.
When you were a kid on a bike back then, you werent really on a bike. You
were riding a motorcycle or flying a plane, Bagni said. A bike was a kids
transportation.
(End of published text
Recognizing that bicycles could be marketed as independent transport for
children guaranteed the survival of Ignaz Schwinns bicycle company at the
turn of the century when the automobile threatened the market for two-wheeled
pedal transport.
It was legendary innovation, Bagni declared. We have incredible respect
for what the Schwinn family did. They sold 40 million bikes over about 90
years.
From its 1895 origin, the company produced bicycles that children and grownups
wanted, introducing models like the Cruiser, the Phantom and the Stingray,
which Bagni called the first off-road bike.
Kids just took them off the street and into the dirt, he said.
In the mid-to-late 1980s, mountain biking began to explode and Schwinn got
behind and never caught back up, he said.
The company, he said, was bleeding to death and having a heart attack at the
same time, suffering from quality and delivery problems.
After the 1992 bankruptcy, Schwinn Cycling and Fitness Co. was acquired by an
investor group and Scott USA, a maker of outdoor equipment such as skis, poles
and motorcycle accessories. The company was moved to Boulder, because if
youre going to make mountain bikes youve got to be in the mountains, Bagni
said.
Since then, the bicycle firm has recaptured its grip on the road, marketing
American-made Homegrown mountain bikes.
Noting that the company is privately held, and so, doesnt release sales
figures, Bagni said, the first year, we lost a lot. The second, we broke
even and the third year, were going to make a little bit.
For the nostalgic customer who lacks the deep pockets to purchase a Black
Phantom, the company markets a Deluxe Cruiser for about $450.
thecabe.com
