"The Last Schwinn Made In America"

[GTs58]

Is it possible that the headbadge number was read upside-down? If so the badge number might be 1036 or 1086.

I catalogue serial numbers from many manufacturers in several countries.

The Greenville serial numbers after 1986 have a well known, consistent format and location. The serial number is stamped around the bottom bracket shell. The first character is a letter for the month of frame manufacture. The second character is a number for the year of frame manufacture.

Here are two pictures of my friends Schwinn High Plains with I had owned previously. Serial number C151156 and badge number 1001 (the same right side up or up side down).
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I had to go way back to post #1 and start reading all the posts to figure out what you were referring to. Yes, AS-1 has got that badge number wrong somehow. There are not 900+ days in a year so he must have read it wrong.

 

[AS-1]

Is it possible that the headbadge number was read upside-down?

No. It clearly reads as 9301

The bottom bracket serial number on my 1989 Cimarron is L806415

I catalogue serial numbers from many manufacturers in several countries.

In outline format, please post your serial number collection for Schwinn bicycles.

 

[bloo]

I had to go way back to post #1 and start reading all the posts to figure out what you were referring to. Yes, AS-1 has got that badge number wrong somehow. There are not 900+ days in a year so he must have read it wrong.

Heck there could be 900+ days in one month, if the month happened to be December, 1980.

 

[AS-1]

I had to go way back to post #1 and start reading all the posts to figure out what you were referring to. Yes, AS-1 has got that badge number wrong somehow. There are not 900+ days in a year so he must have read it wrong.

 

[GTs58]

View attachment 2106137

Now that's some whacky sch!t. First one I've seen that has been messed up like that. Have you ever seen a Cabbit?

 

[AS-1]

Yes, AS-1 has got that badge number wrong somehow.

Now that's some whacky sch!t. First one I've seen that has been messed up like that. Have you ever seen a Cabbit?

Is that an apology?

 

[GTs58]

Is that an apology?

Yes, in a roundabout way. You know how things are on the Internet.

All the scientists say that there is no such thing as a half cat half rabbit, it’s impossible. I actually had the opportunity to play with a Cabbit for a few hours in 1977. To this day they say it's still impossible. My father in law was a good friend of Val Chapman and the Cabbit was in Mesa a few days before it made it's appearance on the Johnny Carson show.

1970s & 1980s: Correspondents mention Val Chapman's cat-rabbit hybrid on the USA TV show "That's Incredible" in the 1970s and twice on Johnny Carson's "The Tonight Show" first in either 1978 or '79 and again in either 1981 or '82.

 

[AS-1]

Yes, in a roundabout way. You know how things are on the Internet.

All the scientists say that there is no such thing as a half cat half rabbit, it’s impossible. I actually had the opportunity to play with a Cabbit for a few hours in 1977. To this day they say it's still impossible. My father in law was a good friend of Val Chapman and the Cabbit was in Mesa a few days before it made it's appearance on the Johnny Carson show.

1970s & 1980s: Correspondents mention Val Chapman's cat-rabbit hybrid on the USA TV show "That's Incredible" in the 1970s and twice on Johnny Carson's "The Tonight Show" first in either 1978 or '79 and again in either 1981 or '82.

I had to look it up. I'm thinkin' there ain't no way....and you got to play with it????? That's absolutely cool!

Oh, by the way, apology accepted! I was just raggin' on ya'. Peace!

 

[Oilit]

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I think that's the first head badge stamp I've seen that didn't fit the DDDY pattern. Since your bike is 1989, maybe it was supposed to be 3019? I think we had a discussion on here once before on whether the year digit was supposed to go at the beginning or end of a "proper" Julian date code.

 

[AS-1]

I think that's the first head badge stamp I've seen that didn't fit the DDDY pattern. Since your bike is 1989, maybe it was supposed to be 3019? I think we had a discussion on here once before on whether the year digit was supposed to go at the beginning or end of a "proper" Julian date code.

There probably aren't many 1989 Greenville bikes left in circulation but I would personally appreciate it if any member who owns one would post pictures of their headbadges and their BB serial numbers. I also hope that @dihummer posts his research on Greenville serial numbers. I recently acquired a previously unknown 1984 Schwinn document entitled Schwinn Information Center (53 pages) which includes a remarkably complex and comprehensive description of approximately 30 bicycles. We know that many of the bikes cataloged in 1984 were built offshore but nobody seems to know exactly which ones. Bikes like the Peloton had to have been on the designer's drawing boards well prior to the closing of the plant in Chicago. How long had Schwinn been in contract negotiations with Panasonic prior to 1983? Was Schwinn acting in good faith with the union representatives if they were negotiating with Japan, etc. at the same time? The years from 1983 to 1991 were much more complicated than we, the 20th Century Hobbyists, will ever completely understand.

I have discussed some of this with John Palmer @Schwinn Sales West who became a Schwinn Regional Sales manager in 1984. He was there. He sat in on regularly scheduled business meetings in Chicago. I hope he will come back into this conversation. Unfortunately, even though those critical years I mentioned above were covered to a certain extent in No Hands, the intricacies and details of the product development and manufacture during that period have never really been explored.

I don't want to relitigate the whys and wherefores of the failure of our beloved Schwinn. I would, however, very much like to understand how they were able to stay alive in Greenville for as long as they did. Could they build frames? Yes, we know that, but could they build tubular rims. Handlebars? We know they could paint and apply decals, but what did the paint line actually look like? Enamel, etc. or powder coat? Other than John, did any living CABE member ever go on a plant tour? Did they take pictures? Do they remember specific details?

Richard Schwinn lived it. Mark Mattei lived it. The kind of information that will answer our questions is the kind of information they, and others like them, have in their memory banks. For us to more fully see those historic years, we don't need speculation, we need eye witnesses.