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Inherited an older (1950’s?) Spitfire

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Cool bike and great you have it as a family heirloom!

I am of the thought that steel wool and oil have their place and have used it on bikes whose paint was truly pathetic but only after other methods have been tried or considered. It is a very abrasive method and removes a fait amount of paint in the process. Just because you can make something look better does not mean you chose the best way forward. You can easily test areas to see the optimal method. Sometimes just a good cleaning and deoxidizing with a fine rubbing compound is all that is needed for dead paint. As mentioned, be careful of pinstripes, decals, and silk screened decals are very fragile and wet sensitive. I have never had an OA bath adversely affect decals or paint but you should never make assumptions.

I only use OA baths when there is a lot of rust in with the paint. Here is an Imgur album of photos a Schwinn childhood bike I deep cleaned for a lady and it shows the results that can be achieved with an OA bath. There are some other cleaning tips in the album that you may find useful as well.

#0000 steel wool is quite handy and I use it a lot when cleaning metal parts but you still need to use discretion. I find that using brass hand brushes and citric acid is a good way to not haze the chrome on your bike and brass is a better choice as well for cleaning aluminum parts if you have to go deep.
This is good to know. I looked at the yellow bike you restored and it looks very well done-certainly promising to me since the condition of the paint isn’t so good. I already know I need to OA bath the other bicycle so I can strip this down and try it as well. I was planning on giving the rims and other parts the OA bath and I guess I’ll try it with the frame and fenders since steel wool might be a process I’ll only escalate to if this doesn’t work. After wiping part of the rear fender I’m not really sure what to think of the paint, here. I know that the oxidized paint came off on the wipe-which I fully expected- but the a little of the pinstripe came up as well. There aren’t really any decals left, maybe the faded Spitifire one but it’s barely there. The whole thing is just a chipped up chalky mess so I’m wondering if, based on these pics I should give it the bath and move from there or just wire wheel and repaint.
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Thanks for all of your suggestions, btw
 
She's lovely!! I found my 59 Spitfire in a barn full of dust & owl poop it even had sand filled tires.. It won't take much to get her all pretty again. I she for sale or is she staying in the family?
 
This is good to know. I looked at the yellow bike you restored and it looks very well done-certainly promising to me since the condition of the paint isn’t so good. I already know I need to OA bath the other bicycle so I can strip this down and try it as well. I was planning on giving the rims and other parts the OA bath and I guess I’ll try it with the frame and fenders since steel wool might be a process I’ll only escalate to if this doesn’t work. After wiping part of the rear fender I’m not really sure what to think of the paint, here. I know that the oxidized paint came off on the wipe-which I fully expected- but the a little of the pinstripe came up as well. There aren’t really any decals left, maybe the faded Spitifire one but it’s barely there. The whole thing is just a chipped up chalky mess so I’m wondering if, based on these pics I should give it the bath and move from there or just wire wheel and repaint. View attachment 1582093
View attachment 1582094

View attachment 1582095

Thanks for all of your suggestions, btw

To be honest, if I was keeping that, it would get new paint after all the sheet metal was fixed. 😉
 
She's lovely!! I found my 59 Spitfire in a barn full of dust & owl poop it even had sand filled tires.. It won't take much to get her all pretty again. I she for sale or is she staying in the family?
Thanks! Sounds like mine was found in almost the same condition. I’m keeping this one and rebuilding it for the wife so she can cruise with me
To be honest, if I was keeping that, it would get new paint after all the sheet metal was fixed. 😉
That’s kind of what I’m leaning towards. I’ve completely stripped it down to the frame and individual parts and tbh after looking at it all, I think that this paint is too carved up and rusted for me to want to keep it original. I figure I’ll obtain the correct stencils and decals and paint it properly and as true to the original as possible. Thanks for the input
 
I have a 1950 boys Spitfire that I trash-picked that was much more weathered than this. I started woking on the frame with intentions of a resto-mod. The bike got built up but the finish was never done although it still may be. But I will forever regret disturbing the original finish despite all its flaws. Notice I use the term "weathered" instead of "worse" here. For, good reason. It's part of the story and something you can never get back. Keep this girl original. There's plenty to work with here. And while it's usually never something I ever factor into a project I'm passionate about, just saying, this particular bicycle will likely never be worth more than what you put into it.
 
Very surprised, not a peep by nobody about the Silver King? seen in the background of one of the photos.


That piece has its own thread.

 
That piece has its own thread.

Duh! Now, I see. Last entry on weeks most popular threads.
 
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