When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

My Schwinn Story

#eBayPartner    Most Recent BUY IT NOW Items Listed on eBay
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture

Boze

On Training Wheels
Hello bikers!

I'm a recent member of this site and I am glad to have found it. I'm starting this thread to show a bicycle that has some special meaning to me.

I'm a 67 year old retiree from one of the auto Big Three and am not an avid bicyclist. However, after having married my high school sweetheart, helped raise our three children and finished my work career I find myself with a little time to do some things on my bucket list while I still have the good health and opportunity to do so. One of these things is to restore my bicycle,

I grew up with a brother four years older than me. Being in a nuclear family in the 50s and 60s we had enough money to get by but not a lot extra. Therefore, I received second hand bikes after my brother outgrew them (or wore them out.) Some were second hand when he got them. My point is, I never received a new bike of my own - always second hand models. Then something fortunate happened.

My dad was a driver for Gulf Oil Company and one day he was at the loading rack (he delivered gasoline to gas stations from a big tank farm.) He was talking to a co-worker who told him that he had purchased for his son a new bicycle the previous year but his son had become dissatisfied with it. It was a full size model with all the bells and whistles, but, once the Schwinn Sting Rays came out he immediately wanted one and couldn't care less about the bike he currently had. My dad asked him if he wanted to sell it and he said, "Sure. Give me fifty bucks and it's yours." The deal was made and my dad brought home the unwanted bike. This was a couple of days before my 12th birthday.

Needless to say I was overjoyed! This was not exactly brand new in the box, but it was so close to new that I didn't care. It was mine and I loved it.

I still have that bike, so you could almost say its a one-owner bike. I rode it all the time as a kid but when I got my driver's license and a part-time job I bought a used car was motoring around town and not pedaling. Over the years the bike has collected its share of dust and rust but only occasionally ridden. Then, one day last year I decided to get down from storage up in the barn rafters and clean it up. I don't want to destroy any "antique" value, just clean it and repair it with minimal changes to the original parts. So, I took it apart and started cleaning, lubricating and polishing parts of it in my spare time. I felt something that seemed like gravel in the hubs, so I took those to a local bike shop that works on vintage bikes and they overhauled them and replaced a missing spoke. My goal is to clean, polish and preserve the bike with everything I original as much as possible.

The bike is a '63 Schwinn Mark V Jaguar, SN B327951, built on February 14, 1963. The color is Coppertone Metallic, with chrome trim and stainless steel fenders. It has a tank horn, a rear luggage rack, a springer front fork, coaster brake and Goodyear Schwinn Westwind whitewall tires. The previous owner had installed highrise handlebars on it to persuade his son to keep it and I removed those and installed stock handlebars. I removed the original rear rack (why, I don't know) and I have obtained a replacement. Everything else is original.

I'll post photos of it in the future. For now I'll post a photo of a lookalike.

Boze

schwinn lookalike2.jpg
 
Great story Boze. I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures. I guess you could say I'm still a newbie here, and learning more all of the time. It's for sure the member's knowledge on this forum will help you with anything you need to get that bike up and running soon.
 
Back
Top