This was my present to you guys to help break the winter doldrums. Please take it in the fun spirit I meant and the work involved. With all the kind words I'm feeling guilty for doing it. Maybe should have waited until April 1. Pretty much everything in my original post was fantasy
. So here is the real story. A black 5 speed showed up within driving distance. The usual “my neighbor said it was worth a lot” but was able to bring her back to earth. Got there and it was a typical old man refurb with paint everywhere but at least he did mask the seat tube decal and the Dishers decal. No chainguard. Driving home I’m thinking it will have to be a repaint of course but so many (relatively speaking) are black. Blue would work but no blue seat in inventory. Then white starts working on me. I like white, the seat would work, would be different, I'd like to see what it would look like, so white it is. I did not want the bright white of the 59’s so blasted the frame and went with Ford Wimbledon White. Not sure when the idea of the back story came into my head but I kept thinking and revising it the whole build. I knew I had a Schwinn letter I could grab the heading and signature off of. I really had a good time doing the bike and letter. More fun than I’ve had doing a bike in a while.
Hopefully you guys will not be upset I led you astray and enjoy the work and a couple of days of thinking it existed. The bike came out great, I could not be happier with it. I used stencils (no black decals available) for the lettering. Had NOS crossed flag and 1-5 shift decals. So what do you guys think, would a white one have sold? I think my letter idea of a separate color just for 5 Speeds is solid. It has a real nice look to me.
View attachment 1584237
View attachment 1584238