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Need advice for this 1948 Schwinn

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Gimletbikes

Finally riding a big boys bike
A friend asked me for advice on restoring his childhood 1948 Schwinn. His father bought it for him new when he was 12 years old. He rode it into adulthood and then as his kids grew up they rode it hard, too. It's saturated with good memories and stories for him and his daughter. It seems like they really have a desire to see it shine like when it was new. I'd love to help them out, but I'm not sure how to best go about it. I'm not sure that resale value is the #1 motivator in this case.

I asked a friend and local bicycle collector for his advice and he thought that we should maybe try to keep it original to retain its value. He said that repainting it could render it less valuable. Polishing, re-chroming some parts and careful touching up may be as far as we should go. The rust and corrosion in the painted areas has us thinking that repainting could be appropriate in this case.

I'd love to hear how you think we should preserve it so that it can become a nice heirloom for future generations of his family.
Thanks!

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I would not repaint the bike. There are plenty of posts here that describe how to go about cleaning and detailing a bike such as this and you would be amazed at the before and afters. You may need to have that front fender rolled and will need a horn unit. To properly restore this bike will cost at least $2500 and it might be worth about $1800 tops when finished. V/r Shawn
 
If this bike was purchased at an estate sale or a bike swap, I'd say restore it. The fact is the bike is already wearing the family history, complete with the recovered seat, mismatched screws holding the tank together and even the wire securing the brake arm. I'd be hard pressed to touch a thing on this bike. It's an heirloom as it sits! Of course, this is just my opinion.
 
My Lord what a beautiful survivor patina!! Not my bike, but it would be a sad day to lose such a gorgeous patina to a “restoration”.
The real gem of what that bike is, is the fact that its managed to stay whole and original for SO long. Once thats gone, it looks like every other black/white Schwinn.
My two cents.
 
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