OT-Schwinn StingRays

Not a StingRay, but I built it to match my car. It's a Firestone warrior, check out the pedals.

 

Wow. My dream bike as a kid- colour & all.
Have all you cycle phreaks seen the weapon on page 1 of this week's Friday Art Show ?

 

Wow the green pea picker was my first bike; Man how time flies.

 

I found a Stingray Junior in a neighbors barn a few years back. Needs a resto. Where are the date codes on this thing? Still has the original Pontiac MI Schwinn dealer logo on the tube. Seat is fried from sitting in the sun and the tires are dry rotted. Looks like we need to clean it up to match Court's truck and throw it in the back!

 

Anybody heard of Vista? I picked up a 20 inch front and rear model in Blue on the chain guard it says Torino 500. Bike shop said it is Schwin just different name.

 

http://www.bunchobikes.com/serialnumber.htm

 

I have a question for you guys. My younger brother(he is 10 yrs younger) went with my father and uncle to a bike auction when he was about 10 yrs old(1970). They came home with a blue Stingray with a steering wheel instead of handlebars. Was this an add on accessory or did it come that way?
George

 

huffy had a muscle bike called "the wheel" which had a steering wheel instead of handle bars. if the bike was a schwinn it was an add on.
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LosBoulevardosJames glad you got your boy a bike! looks good! i guess i thought you were looking for an all original bike.

 

Boy does this thread bring back memories! I remember begging for a bike and I wanted of course a Sting Ray! Who didn't?
And ....... on Xmas eve I awoke in the middle of the night ... snuck out to the tree to take a peak ..... and too my surprise there was a bike, a big shiny gold THUNDERBIRD. Oh the dissapointment! I went back to bed with my tail between my legs like a spoiled little brat! My dad saved his (lunch allowance and change) he owned a coin and hobby shop, $$ was tight back then, and used his saved up $$ from the year to by me a bike he thought was just the best for his spoiled little kid. It was so hard not to show the dissapointment, he was so proud he had granted my wish of a new bike for Xmas. No I never did get a Sting Ray. But I do have a WCC bike now. lol

 

Thanks for the quick answer. The bike was a Schwinn and he had it up until a few years ago(with in the last 5 yrs.), then he threw it away. I told him he was nuts for doing it and that his son would have liked it. His son is 12 now and he wished he would have kept it.
George

 

Actually I was looking for an all OG one, but found this one that not only come like you see it, but it has all of the OG parts with it!

 

Doesn't compute. On the neck is FD57657 but that would put it as a 6/68 but that should be on the pedal tube. Maybe it is something else, there is rust on the first two letters. Does being a Junior mean anything? It was on the left hand of the badge when looking at the front of the bike.

EDIT: HA! After a clean up it is an FP not FD. June 78. Cool. I was 9 and would have been in the market then! Now to fix it up and put it in the back of Court's truck.

 

Because nostalgia, especially Baby-Boomer nostalgia, can be expensive.

 

Not a Schwinn but a 1969 Eatons Fastback 100 I scored at the dump one day! Wish I still had it....They were a rebadged Raleigh Chopper!

 

Because it's out of print. $65 is actually a bargin. Gary

 

Found this in a barn last summer,half buried in the dirt.

 

Here are a couple of mine. I just traded off an incomplete '67 Stingray junior and a rough Mini Twinn, which brings the collection down to 13. The photos are all Schwinns aside from the last one which is my single speed road bike.

 

Worked in a bicycle shop untill i was 19 and still own a pea picker that we took in a trade in when i was 13.Ill try to post a pick of it now,i put it togeather for my daughter to use.Does anyone remember the iverson dragracer.20 in 5 speed.Had a real long top tube that passed under the seat and looked like a tail pipe out the back.

 

Wow! great thread, seems like a natural thing to go from bikes to rods. I still have my 75 scrambler from when i was a kid, i would bet it has 50,000 plus miles on it. still rides great! i have a few others i've collected over the last few years, its a great hobby and they are great at swap meets.

 

When I get to my other computer I'll post some pictures. I have a nice '70 Run A Bout and some other accessories.

I lost a BUNCH of stuff in a garage fire, '72 Orange disc Krate, '72 Lemon disc Peeler, '72 Manta Ray coaster with a GORGEOUS seat, nice original black '66 Fastback Sprint, nice original green '68 stick shift Run A Bout with the S2 rear . They were all hanging from the ceiling to save floor space. My '68 Apple Krate got smoke damage, but should be an easy resto. Lost some speedos, seats, NOS tires etc. Oh well. Many lessons learned thru that whole ordeal.

 

I wanted a krate so bad as a kid! I carried the catalog in my back pocket like a Playboy! I wound up with a fastback that had its shifter and derailer swiped while I was in drivers ed! Made a lot of bikes from the local trash pile behind our police station many years ago. I did get this Ratfink bike a few years back! All my friends think im nuts for having it in my living room. {maybe cause their wifes won't let them have any toys, and their leashes are pretty SHORT!}

 

Here are some pics of what I lost....

 

1930's Stingray..

 

Sorry Grilleguy, that's a bummer!


Maybe this will put a smile on your face....

 

A few shots of a Schwinn sidehack frame I built 36 years ago as a 13 year old out of two old 'Fair Lady' frames. All of the curved tubing was scabbed off of old Schwinn frames, some old girl's sagger frames for the heavily curved sections. All of the buttwelds in the middle of the 3 main connecting tubes have a short section of handlebar inside as reinforcment, a perfect 'pound fit' inside of the tubing.

In my neighborhood I was the shit with this thing.

It was spray-painted Rustoleum Red with black bananna seats that I recovered myself, with short pieces of flat band iron to hold up the back of the seats instead of sissy bars. A pair of red number plates with black numbers (one on the front of the hack frame, one on the 'monkey' side of the hack frame) and set of black-painted low handlebars w/crossbar finished it off.

I also built up a set of 55-spoke rims for it out of some old 28-spoke rims. I drilled the rims and hubs and laced them up myself (those spokes crossed over 7 times) leaving out the one spoke that would have gone where the valvestem was.

I left the spokes a little loose on the hack wheel so it could flex without snapping spokes. I also used to put an old bald tire inside of the 'good' outer tire as a way to make a 'thorn-proof' tire all around on it, this was good especially on the hack tire because you wore through the outer tire pretty quickly due to tire scrub.

 

I want to see it back together! So cool!

 

Hell yea it did,somewhere i got a old 110 shot of me at 12 with one with a 27 inch chrome fork and my little sisters 16 inch frontwheel.set up as a 10 speed with a 3 foot sissybar. GOOD TIMES!!! thanx Gary

 

Well, I just got myself into another Christmas project.

This will be my baby girls gift from Santa.

It's a 1950's AMF Rocket Trike. Does anyone know anything about these?

BTW, it will be a light pastel pink and white.

 

Everything comes back around. Schwinn stuff is as hard to find as old car parts, and almost as expencive...i have wanted one for a long time. Should have bought one of the repops, and in 30 years maybe my kid wouldnt be bitchin about never having one.