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Paint it or leave it: '56 Corvette

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I cleaned up that bike back in 2008, but no pics. But I was surprised by how well the chrome came back. It looked rusted through on the rims but they looked new after some wd40 and 0000 steel wool.
 
0000 steel wool.

Steel wool on Chrome? Ouch!. Brass! Or, although messy but better, softer than brass, eats rust while polishing the Chrome. A wadded sheet of Aluminum foil, a dab of water and elbow grease. :)

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dont restore it and make it like a new bike,most of the ppl when ride on the pathways or around the lake will ask how much u paid for your bike at Walmart!!!!
 
Steel wool on Chrome? Ouch!. Brass! Or, although messy but better, softer than brass, eats rust while polishing the Chrome. A wadded sheet of Aluminum foil, a dab of water and elbow grease. :)

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Have you tried using Coke, Pepsi, or some other "soft" drink instead of water? The acid in the Coke is some additional help. I've seen Coke used to loosen rusted lids on old milk cans. Turn them upside down, fill the lip with Coke and walk away for a while. When you come back in a few days, the Coke will have eaten through the rust.

Here are a couple of pictures, before and after, of some chrome pieces off a Typhoon on which I used the aluminum foil method.
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Don't do it! There are plenty of much crustier Schwinns (like Rivnuts' above), that would be better candidates for a repaint!
 
I'd go for it. Paint is good and it has the rack AND headlight. The rust on the rims looks like the surface rust I encountered on the Typhoon I pictured earler.

I'm driving a couple of hundred miles this weekend to pick up this bike. The seller says it's a Corvette but it's missing the headlight and rack, and has an incorrect seat. I'll decide whether to ride it as is or paint it after closer inspection.

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