So I have this imposter in my shop...

[Bikehaus]

Hello all!
So I got this Schwinn in my store a few days ago from a family friend for a Vintage show we did. Serial number puts it in as a Chicgo made 1961. Now, the problem is, it has this Shelby Flyer badge on it, a half fender in the back and some rando paint job. It belonged to the owners brother who died three years after he says they bought it brand new. He swears it had this paint job, and he swears his brother never cut the back fender. Obv, someone stuck the badge on it, easy fix... I can't find a single Schwinn that came off the line with a paint job like this, or a sheared off fender with now edge roll to keep the edge from slicing off your finger (which I nearly did).

So... does anyone have any input? He is older, and it was 60 years ago, and maybe his brother didn't tell anyone he cut the fender because he crashed and couldnt bend it back or something. I dunno... help (and thank you!)

 

[Freqman1]

The bike did not come like that. Someone added the flame pinstripes, wrong seat, wrong-or cur rear fender. V/r Shawn

 

[Bikehaus]

With the Stainless Steel fenders, it would have been the Corvette model, right?

 

[bloo]

You have a lot in common with my 61 speedster, the 61-only(?) stem, deluxe headset, same chainguard, etc. I'm on the fence about the handlebars, I posted a thread about those a while back, got a lot of responses, and I can't tell if these are the expected ones for 61, or if they are longer. The oval grips look older to me, but I am not sure when they stopped using them.

It looks like a Schwinn paint job to me, the candy-type red that fades to gold, and you can see that happening in a couple of spots. There is a lot more red left than usual. I think someone must have scrubbed the silkscreening off to do the flame job. Maybe in the right light you could see what it was on the chainguard.

The fenders do look Schwinn, Are you sure they are stainless? I would expect a Corvette to have a partially chromed chainguard, so it probably isn't that.

Corvettes had hand brakes, and although you could get a coaster in 61, I doubt they would delete the front brake. You don't have the right fork for a front brake.

There's no caliper bridge on the frame, so I assume it was built with a coaster hub of some kind. What kind does it have now?

 

[GTs58]

So it has a 1961 serial number? That stem was used only in 1961 and it does have the deluxe head set as previously noted. That has also been repainted and rebuilt. The bobbed rear fender looks like it was made from a front fender, it's hacked at the chain guard area. The Corvette or higher end models didn't use that front hub. Chain guard looks like it may have been the chromed piece, shiny showing were the paint is worn on the top front. Grips are the repopped pieces from the 2009 time period. Those bars were not used on the Corvette nor were those pedals.

In my opinion, this piece was totally rebuilt from ground up with a variety of different parts so its real identity is lost. It may have started out as a Corvette but lots of the parts were replaced and it was repainted.

 

[49autocycledeluxe]

that's no imposter, that's a Chicago Schwinn. I know lots of 60-year-old humans who wish they still had that many original parts

 

[Bikehaus]

that's no imposter, that's a Chicago Schwinn. I know lots of 60-year-old humans who wish they still had that many original parts

Only an imposter because of the Shelby badge

 

[Bikehaus]

So it has a 1961 serial number? That stem was used only in 1961 and it does have the deluxe head set as previously noted. That has also been repainted and rebuilt. The bobbed rear fender looks like it was made from a front fender, it's hacked at the chain guard area. The Corvette or higher end models didn't use that front hub. Chain guard looks like it may have been the chromed piece, shiny showing were the paint is worn on the top front. Grips are the repopped pieces from the 2009 time period. Those bars were not used on the Corvette nor were those pedals.

In my opinion, this piece was totally rebuilt from ground up with a variety of different parts so its real identity is lost. It may have started out as a Corvette but lots of the parts were replaced and it was repainted.

The only thing I can say for sure is that these are the same grips. It was hanging in the same garage for the last 35 years and no one touched it.

 

[old hotrod]

A Schwinn that identifies itself as a Shelby...interesting, I thought all old bikes were Schwinns...

 

[sccruiser]

So what I hear is , kinda Corvette, mostly Schwinn, a little bit Shelby and has a weird rear end.
That's easy this is a " Schwelby Corvair"