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Debutante or Fair Lady?

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genesmachines

Finally riding a big boys bike
I recently purchased and cleaned this bicycle up and am going to sell it. I need to know if its a fair lady or debutante. I am leaning toward debutante with wrong chainguard. The guard looks to be the same age as bike, serial # CF30909. Did the wrong guard get put on at the factory? It is in very good condition, worst is scratches on fenders and very few pits on chrome, and looks to be missing one rear reflector and maybe the wrong headlight. As usual someone before me left a battery in horn and it may need repair. Is $300 a fair price for it?

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On the lame site that tells me it is a 1970. I don't think so . It could be a number that was used twice. They did make a Starlett 3 and a hollywood in that color in 1970 so someone could have built it up as it is. The rear brake bridge is giving me fits. If you can pull the crank it should be dated and if it shows 1970 I start to lean towards someone build it a Holly wood or Starlett. It looks like if that is the case someone did a good job.A lot of correct and nice parts.
 
Given that the frame has Schwinn decals on the top tube, I would say a 1959 Fair Lady with 1959 Debutante tank, fenders, and rack added to it. A Fair Lady would have had stainless steel fenders. Nice bike!
 
Some (lots) things just don't add up. You are sure on the serial number being CF = 1970?................................... If so, that's a Frankinette :tonguewink:

Large head badge? Fork is 1960 and earlier. Seat tube decal is 59 to 62. My bet is that's not a 1970 frame and it very well could have been a Fair Lady. Got a shot of the serial number?
 
I'm with Rico on this one. 1959 Fair Lady. Has the 59 grips it looks like, and above all it's a 3 speed. Seat, tank, carriers, fenders, pedals are Debutante and the light was added.
 
Hard to tell for sure from the angle but it appears to have the 1961 stem. Also it has rivets in the blue "S" saddle. When did they stop using rivets in those?
 
That serial number was stamped on 11-17-1959. Smack dab in the middle of the model year transition. The bike could have been built and shipped out in late 1959 but in most cases not likely. The Debutante was not offered as a geared bike and it has a tank with the Schwinn decal so that most likely started out as a Fair Lady, ladies Corvette. I like the custom build, very nice, and IMO I don't think that would devalue the bike in the least if someone is looking for clean higher end vintage rider. Those painted fenders are hard to find too.
 
L939435. At some point in time, Schwinn made it easy to identify the month and year the bike serial number was stamped. The letter corresponds with the month: A for January, B for February, etc except for the letter I so as not to be confused with the number 1. In this case, L would be the 11th month. The next digit would be the last number in the year. In this case, 9 would be 1959. But bikes built and stamped in the last moths of a calendar year were built for the next year. A November 1959 bike would have been marketed as a 1960. The bikes were built so that a bike under a Christmas tree would not be a year old 7 days after it was received “as new.” This bike would have been marketed as a 1960.
 
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