'59 Schwinn Fair Lady restoration

[drabe]

I recently restored this '59 Schwinn Fair Lady for a buddy of mine over the winter (Sept. thru Dec.).
The goal was to have it finished by Christmas but the last box of parts didn't show up until 3:30 the afternoon of Christmas eve!
This and two Murrays (I also restored a Murray Jet-Fire and I posted it as a separate build; viewtopic.php?f=21&t=35534) were found in a barn and belonged to my buddy's mother and her siblings.

Anyway, on with the before pics...

Overall the bike wasn't in too bad of shape considering it's age, I tried to use as many original parts as possible.

Per the owner's wishes, I replaced this light with a Nirve LED version.

I soaked the grips in Super Clean followed by a bleach bath.

I polished up the front rack and my buddy Greg supplied the front rim to replace the rusty original.

Here you get an idea of how bad the original chainguard was.

The fenders were pretty scratched and beat up. I bought another set and they were just as bad.

The rest are just detail shots prior to disassembly.

 

[drabe]

These are shots after the initial breakdown...

Still gonna try to save the original paint and decals!

 

[drabe]

Front rack after initial polishing.

The rest of these are after initial cleaning and polishing...some of these parts were cleaned and polished several times.

 

[drabe]

After more cleaning and polishing and mock up...

Front rack came out great!

Front rim replaced (this was actually my first attempt at R & R'ing a rim, it turned out better than I expected!)

Fender straightened and polished (these are stainless fenders b.t.w.).

 

[drabe]

Another mockup after getting tires and tubes installed.
At this point I was trying to keep and restore the original pedals but in the end I wound up replacing them with new Schwinns.

A big thanks to my buddy Chuck for hooking me up on the tires and tubes, he also supplied the crank and new pedals!

 

[Ratfink1962]

Wow, nice work! 8)

 

[drabe]

After soaking the chainguard in an Oxilic acid bath to remove the rust, my buddy Chuck stepped in a repainted the guard with some left over paint he had from another Schwinn project. He used a base coat/clearcoat and it came out awesome! Too awesome though!!
I wound up knocking down the shine with a Scotchbrite pad, the goal was to better match the original patina.

The chainguard (waterslide) decal came from Memory Lane.com and even though it wasn't listed on their website after a phone call confirmed that they had it it was on it's way (only $5.00 too!).

The decal installation was pretty easy. Just soak the decal for about 5 seconds and lay flat for 3 minutes. Then just slide it on, position it and work out all the air bubbles. Let it air dry overnight (well overnight in my case, it was the last thing I did that day) and your done! I decided not to clear coat over the decal in this case (since Schwinn didn't originally).

 

[drabe]

The finished product!

Came out pretty nice, the paint is original (except for the chainguard) and looks great with scratches and all.

The headlight is a Nirve LED unit. The owner wanted to keep the orignal style light but with 'modern technology'. I am disappointed with them in that there are only two LEDS and they are covered with a 'fake' incandecent bulb which cuts down on the brightness. At night they still work good for being seen but they certainly don't light the way!

The chainguard came out great (thanks Chuck!) and the new replacement pedals look 'close enough' to the originals.

 

[CCR]

Paint match looks really good Drabe !!! Was that Petes Paint or just something he came up with ?

Old girl shined up nicely !!!

 

[SCHWINNRAY69]

NICE :mrgreen:

 

[d.rock]

Awesome resto! Do you have a link for where you got the replacement pedals? Those would look great on my wife's Hollywood I'm rebuilding. I love that color against the chrome!

If you're interested, I've got a super clean original Schwinn seat for sale, it's off the Hollywood and is a little different, but the hardware from yours may swap over? Just thought I'd offer. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=35485

Great bike!

 

[twomorestrokes]

Looks great! Love those Bendix lever 2 speeds. Isn't wood bleach great?

 

[ratina]

:shock: Very nice!

 

[RICHIE'S 64]

LOVE THESE TYPE OF RESTORATIONS :shock:

 

[islnder102]

LOVE THESE TYPE OF RESTORATIONS :shock:

i agree...

 

[Metal Militia]

excellent rehab. props for saving the og paint too. 8)

 

[drabe]

Paint match looks really good Drabe !!! Was that Petes Paint or just something he came up with ?

Old girl shined up nicely !!!

Thanks for the compliments!
My buddy Chuck had the color matched at a local paint shop for one of his projects and had enough left over do do the chainguard.
The match is excellent!

 

[drabe]

Awesome resto! Do you have a link for where you got the replacement pedals? Those would look great on my wife's Hollywood I'm rebuilding. I love that color against the chrome!

If you're interested, I've got a super clean original Schwinn seat for sale, it's off the Hollywood and is a little different, but the hardware from yours may swap over? Just thought I'd offer. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=35485

Great bike!

Thanks for the compliments!
I got the pedals from my buddy Chuck (ind-chuckz on here), send him a pm, I'm sure he can hook you up!

Thanks for the offer on the seat but I think the owners happy with this one.

Btw, here's a pic of a Hollywood I re-did for my wife a couple of years ago...

It came out great, she'd found it at an estate sale and had to have it!

 

[RICHIE'S 64]

Hey homie what do u use to bring the chrome back and not messing up the paint
I'm planning on doing a restration on an original mark2 jaguar any advise would be good

 

[twomorestrokes]

Let's see the Mark II on another thread. Love 'em. I've got a couple.