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Flattening Headbadges

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Ed Schwinn admitted to the late Eddie Boros during a dealer show that he stepped on the entire collection of Schwinn badges that the factory had. He said he did it at home, flattening on his living room carpet. He had a memo sent out to all the Schwinn dealers saying he was looking for early badges. Send them to the factory. I think they gave the dealers 25 or 50 cents each.
 
Ed Schwinn admitted to the late Eddie Boros during a dealer show that he stepped on the entire collection of Schwinn badges that the factory had. He said he did it at home, flattening on his living room carpet. He had a memo sent out to all the Schwinn dealers saying he was looking for early badges. Send them to the factory. I think they gave the dealers 25 or 50 cents each.

I was going to post this story. There is a little more to it as well. Ed Boros had told me, that when (Frank) schwinn I think, saw Ed's collection on display he got upset and threw his drink on the ground. Ed Boros had them all screwed to dowels and kept them rounded. Frank got pissed that he didn't think of doing it.
 
It was the kid, Ed Schwinn. It was at a bicycle dealer products show held at a hotel. I forget, but I think it was a Holiday Inn. Eddie's daughter, was hired by Charlie Persons, who put on the show, to serve drinks. He said Ed Schwinn came walking in late, and everyone was falling all over him. Eddie Boros was a Schwinn dealer, and couldn't stand Ed Schwinn. He said he was "arrogant." Ed briefly dated his daughter. Eddie never said anything about that, he only mention that Schwinn dated her. A couple days before the show, Eddie's wife, Lois, got mad at him because he took the closet poles out of a couple closets to see how they would work out for mounting head badges. They fit, so he tacked some of his primo badges to them for a display. He said Schwinn was walking around, making the rounds and Tammy had made him a "Black Russian" drink. Drink in hand, he walked over to Ed's table. He looked at Ed's display and yells" Son of a Bitch. Why didn't I think of that," and throws his drink, smashing it against the wall behind Eddie's table. Ed said glass and drink splattered everywhere. He then said Schwinn told him how he flattened out the entire collection of head badges that he had, and mounted them on a display board. On a side note , someone, I forget who, bought those flattened badges when the Schwinn museum was sold off. Anyway, it was right after that, that every Schwinn dealer got a letter saying the Schwinn company wanted early and hard to find Schwinn badges. Please mail them to the factory. Eddie said all the dealers went through their parts. Most of them couldn't send them in fast enough. Eddie referred to them as F'n brown noses, trying to get brownie points with Ed Schwinn. I asked Eddie if he sent any in, because he had one heck of a badge collection. He said,"F--- no! Now, about Eddie Boros. Tough to deal with, as far as haggling over a part, but honest and a great guy. Always a funny story. One day I go over to his house and he shows me this old wood wheeled bike he had. He said, " I found it, leaning against a tree, after a show. He said, "Somebody must have tossed it out." Guys do that after swaps, they'll take off the parts they want and leave the bike. I do that with boxes of parts and stuff that I don't sell. But this bike was old and complete. Eddie wanted to know if I was interested in it, which I wasn't. I hate wood rimmed bikes. About a week later, I'm talking on the phone with Robin Bridges, and Robin says, " I just want to let you know, someone stole a bike on me at the swap last week. I was wheeling bikes out to my van, after the swap. I leaned this bike up against a tree and went back to get another one. I get back and the bike is gone! Some low-life stole it!" I asked, "Did it have wooden rims?" We all had a good laugh over that incident. It's a great hobby.
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Here's a photo taken at the old Memory Lane. Catfish is the man with the beard.He was looking over my parts table. It's a great hobby, with great people! God bless all of you.
 
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I was going to post this story. There is a little more to it as well. Ed Boros had told me, that when (Frank) schwinn I think, saw Ed's collection on display he got upset and threw his drink on the ground. Ed Boros had them all screwed to dowels and kept them rounded. Frank got pissed that he didn't think of doing it.
SO TRUE, I ALSO HEARD ED BOROS TELL THIS STORY SEVERAL TIMES!
I BELIEVE IT WAS ED SCHWINN WHO RUINED THE COMPANY AS I RECALL READING IN
THE BOOK "NO HANDS" BY A REPORTER FROM THE CHICAGO BUSINESS "CRAINS" NEWSPAPER .
 
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SO TRUE, I ALSO HEARD ED BOROS TELL THIS STORY SEVERAL TIMES!
I BELIEVE IT WAS ED SCHWINN WHO RUINED THE COMPANY AS I RECALL READING IN
THE BOOK "NO HANDS" BY A REPORTER FROM THE CHICAGO BUSINESS "CRAINS" NEWSPAPER .
Actually, if you read the book, it was Ignaz’s wishes and corporate directives that really screwed up the company for future generations. His rules stating that no Schwinn women could work for the company, but would be compensated and many other Schwinn family members that received compensation without actually working ended up being a huge drain on the company. And of course have Eddie Jr at the helm didn’t help either.
 
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