Quite a find, though I'm not sure exactly what it is you've found. The red bike is quite a work of art. Something by our daddy's Rat Rod Bikers.
The yellow bike was definitely a Schwinn Krate, though you'd want to figure out what the original color is to be sure.
The front wheel on the red bike almost certainly came from that Krate. That piece is worth quite a bit by itself. I would swap the front wheels before selling, if that's your plan.
As is, the Krate I'd say is worth about $250-300 and the red one is questionable- $100 to $200, maybe more to the right person, but the kind of guy who wants it isn't going to spend big $ on it.
The "BE" serial number on the Schwinn translates to Feb '69. Looks like the shifter (another valuable piece) has been hacked with that switchblade thing. A replacement handle is in order to restore this one, which should be findable on here or Ebay.
What would I do? I'd figure out which model of Krate it was, by inspecting paint somewhere protected, and then sandblast it and do a full restoration. There's enough original stuff there to make it worthwhile- and when it's finished it'll be worth $750 or so.
There will be some expensive stuff to get- the tires will be $100 or more, a proper seat may cost that much too, and the handlebars are wrong. So if you GAVE it to me, not including any consideration for sandblasting and labor, I'd be into it for $300+ to put it on the road. And that assumes that most of the correct hardware is there, and salvageable, as well as chrome being good.
Definitely a cool find.
--Rob
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