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Crusty Western Flyer

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I'd love to see it!

Here it is before. A spray-painted and high-mileage 1966 Huffy Silver Jet. When I got it, the headlight, rear rack and rear fender were gone too. Both wheels were junk and beyond all hope. The crank was bent, the seat tube had seperated from the bottom bracket and was sloppily repaired before. The fork was slightly bent, the offset hole for the chain ring was worn out, and the bearings shot all around.

Took me a while to build it. Once I found out it was a Silver Jet and restoration would be in the thousands, I wasn't sure what to do. The bare metal rat rods in the 2012 ZZ Top music video for "I Gotsta Get Paid" gave me inspiration.

The bike was cleaned and stripped to bare metal. What was left of the chrome was polished. Michelin Country Rock tires, a hub shiner made from a vintage two-stone shiner strap and a Spaceliner reflector, vintage decals, Spaceliner grips, ratty pedals, and 1960's baseball card in the spokes. The frame bullets were painted Limelight Green, a color used on 1970s Chrysler muscle cars.

I'll be adding to it this year hopefully. A different seat, shorten the rear fender, add a springer, and maybe go with a multi-speed of some kind. But, my Radiobikes come first. Only if I have time.


rat rod 2.jpg


MUSIC!!


rat rod 3.jpg


After emblems were rechromed at work, and bullets and baseball card added:

rat rod 1.jpg
rat rod.jpg
 
Here it is before. A spray-painted and high-mileage 1966 Huffy Silver Jet. When I got it, the headlight, rear rack and rear fender were gone too. Both wheels were junk and beyond all hope. The crank was bent, the seat tube had seperated from the bottom bracket and was sloppily repaired before. The fork was slightly bent, the offset hole for the chain ring was worn out, and the bearings shot all around.

Took me a while to build it. Once I found out it was a Silver Jet and restoration would be in the thousands, I wasn't sure what to do. The bare metal rat rods in the 2012 ZZ Top music video for "I Gotsta Get Paid" gave me inspiration.

The bike was cleaned and stripped to bare metal. What was left of the chrome was polished. Michelin Country Rock tires, a hub shiner made from a vintage two-stone shiner strap and a Spaceliner reflector, vintage decals, Spaceliner grips, ratty pedals, and 1960's baseball card in the spokes. The frame bullets were painted Limelight Green, a color used on 1970s Chrysler muscle cars.

I'll be adding to it this year hopefully. A different seat, shorten the rear fender, add a springer, and maybe go with a multi-speed of some kind. But, my Radiobikes come first. Only if I have time.


View attachment 475604

MUSIC!!


View attachment 475605

After emblems were rechromed at work, and bullets and baseball card added:

View attachment 475606 View attachment 475607
That came out amazing! Good job! I love the ratty bikes. It's fun to take a old rusty hunk of metal and make it a rider again!
 
That came out amazing! Good job! I love the ratty bikes. It's fun to take a old rusty hunk of metal and make it a rider again!

I think those kinds of builds are the most rewarding. Most of my bikes were not on their "death bed" when I got them. This certainly was. Anyone else would have crushed it for recycling. I finished up a '69 Huffy Camaro and a '76 Roadmaster 10 speed. Both were worn out. I turned a good profit on the Camaro. The roadbike not so much, the buyer is picking it up at the Fairborn swap meet tomorrow morning. It is an awesome feeling 'tho, to ride that which was dead. The first ride gives me a sense of accomplishment and purpose.

Here is the Roadmster: http://thecabe.com/forum/threads/before-and-after-wow.108511/#post-712554
Here is the Camaro: http://thecabe.com/forum/threads/69-huffy-gets-a-second-chance.83847/

The lady who bought the Camaro fell in love at first sight. That is why I love this hobby.
 
Another one...

'65 Huffy Silver Jet. The headlight was tied on with chicken wire. The tank was gutted. I tracked down original bars and put the original grips on them. jd56 found a mint original rack with the tail light and all the trim to match the bike. I fixed and touched up the chainguard, and replaced the foil chrome trim. The entire bike was taken apart for an extremely thorough, nut and bolt cleaning. The undersides of the fenders were cleaned and clear coated to prevent future rust.

The bike was a garage sale left over in a small town just north of me. The original seat (on the ground) was in the box of junk under a table. The undercarriage was broken in half, I found a donor seat at Links n' Kinks and swapped it over after repainting it and drilling the holes for the crash rail studs.

2711-1.jpg

2712-1.jpg



Here he is today, and is one of my favorites! I even found a 1965 license plate to match!

14141946_783193388489521_9194600025871282502_n.jpg

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Another one...

'65 Huffy Silver Jet. The headlight was tied on with chicken wire. The tank was gutted. I tracked down original bars and put the original grips on them. jd56 found a mint original rack with the tail light and all the trim to match the bike. I fixed and touched up the chainguard, and replaced the foil chrome trim. The entire bike was taken apart for an extremely thorough, nut and bolt cleaning. The undersides of the fenders were cleaned and clear coated to prevent future rust.

The bike was a garage sale left over in a small town just north of me. The original seat (on the ground) was in the box of junk under a table. The undercarriage was broken in half, I found a donor seat at Links n' Kinks and swapped it over after repainting it and drilling the holes for the crash rail studs.

2711-1.jpg

2712-1.jpg



Here he is today, and is one of my favorites! I even found a 1965 license plate to match!

View attachment 475630
y.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fuploads.tapatalk-cdn.com%2F20170516%2F5bd179c629ce42bd3cc4bb676b8a53a0.jpg
You do some amazing work sir!
 
I think those kinds of builds are the most rewarding. Most of my bikes were not on their "death bed" when I got them. This certainly was. Anyone else would have crushed it for recycling. I finished up a '69 Huffy Camaro and a '76 Roadmaster 10 speed. Both were worn out. I turned a good profit on the Camaro. The roadbike not so much, the buyer is picking it up at the Fairborn swap meet tomorrow morning. It is an awesome feeling 'tho, to ride that which was dead. The first ride gives me a sense of accomplishment and purpose.

Here is the Roadmster: http://thecabe.com/forum/threads/before-and-after-wow.108511/#post-712554
Here is the Camaro: http://thecabe.com/forum/threads/69-huffy-gets-a-second-chance.83847/

The lady who bought the Camaro fell in love at first sight. That is why I love this hobby.
I also agree that these kind of builds are the most rewarding. I recently received did a ratty Schwinn varsity ladies bike, and the lady who bought it loved it. She didn't even try to haggle on price. There is a thread in the Schwinn light weights section on here you can see the progress. I'm on my phone and don't know how to tag the link in here.
 
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