Were Phantoms ever skip tooth?

[Rivnut]

Your killing me smalls

Great article in the latest sports illustrated about "Smalls" and the rest of the Sandlot boys and what they're doing today. Maybe if I hijack this thread everyone can go to bed and get some sleep without worrying about which chain ring came on what bikes.

Ed

 

[GTs58]

I can't even count how many pictures I've seen of Phantoms with a Panther front fender and rocket ray light. Schwinn must have ran out of the correct parts and just used what they had on the shelf at the time so anything is possible.

And this must be true because I've been told this by countless collectors.

 

[Obi-Wan Schwinnobi]

I can't even count how many pictures I've seen of Phantoms with a Panther front fender and rocket ray light. Schwinn must have ran out of the correct parts and just used what they had on the shelf at the time so anything is possible.

And this must be true because I've been told this by countless collectors.

??? Isn't that called a wasp?

 

[bricycle]

...It is possible that any Phantom ate too much candy, never saw a dentist, and lost every-other tooth.

 

[cyclonecoaster.com]

I was never a believer of this theory .................

I can't even count how many pictures I've seen of Phantoms with a Panther front fender and rocket ray light. Schwinn must have ran out of the correct parts and just used what they had on the shelf at the time so anything is possible.

And this must be true because I've been told this by countless collectors.

Countless collectors have theories too .... "There must be a reason" is the thought process ... So countless collectors say when they ran out of parts they would just grab a part that was near to finish the bicycle off & ship it ...just because it is said does't mean it's true .... imagine if GM did that ...or Ford .. or Harley .. or Indian ... they wouldn't .. that is total BS wise tail from people who don't have a answer & maybe they are trying to justify or even sell off something with incorrect parts as a real deal something as the way it must have come .. total BS ... & just because it's in a Museum - it doesn't make it correct

Schwinn Phantoms were top of the line Schwinn's their flagship bike ... the top of the line Schwinn from the mid 1930's up has the regular pitch chainring ... The chainring could have been changed by the shop - the owner - etc. in the last 60 years ... just sayin ... stranger things have happened ... as far as a Schwinn Autocycle being priced less than a Phantom goes ... by the time the Schwinn Phantom was introduced in 1949 .. the Schwinn Autocycle was no longer the top tier bicycle in the line up ... all the chrome work on the Phantom made it more expensive ... hence the higher price ..... my 2 cents ..........

 

[scrubbinrims]

Countless collectors have theories too .... "There must be a reason" is the thought process ... So countless collectors say when they ran out of parts they would just grab a part that was near to finish the bicycle off & ship it ...just because it is said does't mean it's true .... imagine if GM did that ...or Ford .. or Harley .. or Indian ... they wouldn't .. that is total BS wise tail from people who don't have a answer & maybe they are trying to justify or even sell off something with incorrect parts as a real deal something as the way it must have come .. total BS ... & just because it's in a Museum - it doesn't make it correct QUOTE]

Well said Frank...Leon Dixon has sounded the same belief and I also subscribe (except in the case of Shelby .
Chris

 

[dougfisk]

FWIW -

While in college I worked for a retailer that sold, among other things, bicycles. For a 3 year period, I was the sole party who received, unpackaged, assembled, prepared for sale, and subsequently serviced and repaired ALL the bicycles for this establishment. Now, these were not 1938 Shelbys, nor were they 1949 Schwinns, but they were the products of 2 major US bicycle manufacturers. I can state, without reservation or hesitation, that the products shipped were not all identical or uniform. There WERE occaisional deviations from the "norm" or "standard". It is a fact that our manufacturers had intentionally or unintentionally substituted components that were different, but still functional. We put them on the floor and sold them... we did not "call the authorities"...

I believe that no one, not even Mr. Schwinn himself, can say with absolute certainty that something never happened. I do believe also, that this explanation (or excuse) is way over-used to cover-up dis-honest or unknowing deficiencies.

 

[Rambler]

I must agree with dougfisk, I work for an automobile manufacturer and have first hand knowledge of the mistakes and last minute changes that happen every day. I have no doubt that Schwinn likely built some Phantoms with 1' pitch sprockets either due to the specified 1/2" sprockets not being available at start of production or due to a later decision to use 1/2" pitch sprockets. We will never know what the reason was. To call the Phantom a flagship no expense spared bicycle is a bit strong. Most bikes in the 1950's including the Phantom were merely children's toys, not serious works of precision engineering. Even the auto manufacturer I work for makes mistakes and minor alteration on its nearly $100,000 flagship cars without telling the customer so I would not expect a bicycle company building children's toys to be perfect. They are not going to hold up production of a bicycle due to lack of a specified component. Suitable substitutions will be made for the sake of profits and production schedule timing.

 

[2jakes]

+ 1 on the last two posts !

 

[Obi-Wan Schwinnobi]

Who's got one with a skippy?? That you know fer sure came that way?? Post a pic!!As to regards of putting whatever part on that was "laying around", well that's crap. Every boy had been saving up for one of these things. They have been looking at their friends phantom and ocd ing over pictures in comic books. I for one, if being a kid back then would have definitely had a prob with my brand new phantom having panther parts on it!.. Bottom line is its bad salesmanship to print lit with very distinguishable parts on it and then have the actual product be missing those parts.. Kids would notice the light being wrong or non deluxe ring. Thats how kids are! They want to one up their buddies panther! now question is, did Girls phantoms come with skippy? Lol