Thanks so much for the continued info! Still was wondering what you think about the paint on it? To me it looks original but I can’t find any 55 or 56 models that are all black usually they have the white/feather effect up front. Also I started doing some research about the 2 speed blue band which I know was on the early stingrays but the stingrays had the s-2 in the rear but had s-7 up front unless I read it wrong. If that’s the case where do you think the s-2 front rim would have come off of? Or maybe a re-lace onto an s-2 rim? I am tempted to try and get ahold of the guy I bought it off of to see if he had any more info. He did say that his dad was the original owner of the spitfire. I also got a 68 stingray deluxe, a 50s Schwinn meteor 26” and a 70s Schwinn Racer all from the same family. I live just outside of Chicago so these bikes pop up every now and then
Yeah, think U'r right for 55 nothing is correct. From that post 58-ish chain guard, fenders, bar decal, grips seat ya got a parts mix match with newer than 55 assembly.
You can start with the fenders where the white fenders tip pattern is , probably off a Wasp and I never seen a Wasp with the DX style frame. Other Painted balloon juniors have a Chevron fender tip design... .
Those fender brackets are universal replacements. .
As far as Chrome S2s go, yeah there were plenty in the 50's (catalogs aint bibles) yet, before during and after after the first sting-rats came out, us kids robbed em off everything U can get U hands on so, yeah duh U rarely see em and or know the difference. Only way kids, back then, could make best guess is; for better chrome and RxR tracks, (kurdeling) it was clean, thick and sharp. I mean B/C production on Junior models was so much lower on 20" rims, more older rims would usually be better than stinkrats.
Those fenders and Chrome rims would match 1954-64 , J-32, 20" Schwinn standard Wasp.
I haven't collected or messed with stink-rats since a kid, but had a Lime Super deluxe and it had S2 front.
No remember for sure but seems there were standard on a few. Maybe it was optional er somtin.
I mean, back in the day, The S7 front was a mock-up style to resemble a dragster's narrow front wheel. Wit mid 50's Hemi engines, the drag scene was on fire hot! As Schwinn said "Sport cars" that's BS. "? I'm tinkin that, B/C Schwinn was copying Huffy and the word 'Dragster' might have been Huff's terminology. But, Huff or not, it was Dragsters kids were styling on, Before Stinkrats came out; old Schwinn 20" balloon bikes in SoCal . So, many kids, especially at beaches like Huntington, who were handy, preferred cruising sand, beach, sidewalks, dirt and hilly terrain with the durability of front S2's.
I don't remember exactly, for sure, if A super deluxe were issued with em but many had S2's. I know I did on used stock lime Super Deluxe and any custom jobs. Only time I had S7 front was because the bike was so near mint+ or mint- I kept it stock B/C it was the closest to brand new I ever had, back then. . A little embarrassing but, so like new, proud to join the game/trend, fashion, : New.
Alternatively, we robbed em off 50's junior bikes and it was not limited to a cantilever Wasp frame, other types had em too. Just go dig up the city dumps in SoCal, U find those none cantilever frames, missing all chrome parts there. . {grin] . Parts from used bikes were only, like, a quarter to best condition 50 cent. Springer's .50 to a buck. Hy-rise hand bar were also before the sting-ray. in good condition would get ya a buck too. It didn't take much to build em, pop bottle or lawn mower money. A nice Schwinn polo or Banana saddle was prob the most expensive part. Otherwise, colored tape on a 25 cent banana seat sufficed. Huffy parts were not kool.
I mean, Schwinn copied Huff, but Huff copied the trend and, that trend preferred Schwinn parts vs. No offence meant Huff fans but, comparably: weak rust bucket crap. .
I.E. with that set of rims and Bendix red stripe, U have a set of rims on an old school (For lack of a better catchy, trendy name) stink-rat adding the fenders with canti frame a Wasp. .
And those 20" hoops being the most valuable parts to fit front or rear sting-ray. Combined the 60's blue stripe 2 speed kick back, and stripped front hoop, probably , like, $300 bucks and scrap frame, fenders, like prob 100 bucks. It's worth 300 , maybe 400. bucks in parts and prob 200-250 as it sits. I mean, Peeps are hunting stink parts and the rest goes to part scrapping where way less want to bother with selling/storing individual parts. Yet if U wanna nick-pick every penny out of it, for as long as it takes, squeeze water out of rocks, actually get, like, 500 bucks when all is said and done. I.E. retail sellers or working for an income parting the whole gets 50% discount = $250. and if take out the hoops, and kick-back, interest goes down substantially.