Being a 9 year old kid in '64, I was there, when the most beautiful kids bike rolled out. Made a lasting impression even though a new Sting Ray was too much money...especially since I had a twin...TWO bikes?! Nope. I had a pseudo Sears Spyder with Schwinn goodies later. I did find a Sting Ray frame under the house of the man who taught me upholstery around late 70s. Sat in my garage until the 90s. Picked up the first issue of Lowrider Bike magazine and bam, the fire was lit. I had a frame, and ideas to create my own lowrider. But I needed parts. My twin in Oregon had starting collecting Campus Green Sting Rays in every model, and one mint disc Apple. I think he told me about Sting Ray City, a small booklet with bike stories and classifieds...yes, snail mail, hand written parts lists and real photographs. Pre internet and eBay. Pete at Hyperformace StingRays was my main source for paint, seat kits and decls. Paid by postal money order...no PayPal either. My every first restoration, a '70 3speed, got in Liz Frieds Sting Ray book! I've always restored stuff, and I really got into the bikes. NOS parts were still plentiful and reasonable. I sold the Blue 3 speed and brought in the Yellow 3 speed, painted it, seat kit, decals and NOS parts. With shipping to Hawaii, it was about $300 per bike. My labor to paint, buy parts, put on seat kits and assemble really added up to a labor of love as I sold freshly restored bikes for around $700. The Lowrider crowd also brought out the OG guys, well parents really, who wanted original restorations. i probably did over 20 full restorations and a lot of frame only repaints and seat kits. Had a lot of fun, made a lot of friends and connections on the mainland and here. Got lot of rare parts from the Eki Cyclery, the Schwinn dealer here since 1911. Turned out to be a small side biz, and I was always painting or building bikes every weekend. Sold most of my show bikes, all my frames and parts by early 2000. And like my old guitars and amps...wish I kept 'em. Now I'm retired, wanna get my hands dirty again...working on a early BMX Sting Ray. So glad I found this site, got a few parts from the nice members here. Figured I can't be the only guy who started back then...