Early 60's Columbia Firebolt

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volksportguy72

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July 12th update: This bike being auctioned on ebay, NO RESERVE: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0702391684

I know, I'm starting the diary for this build in the middle, but I didn't think I was going to do much with this thing. At first I was just gonna rattle-can it, but it's turning out so nice that I'll share.

This is an early 60's (I believe) Columbia Firebolt. It was originally red with white, and had a tank with twin headlights and a bell. I was really intriqued by the unique back rack, so I bought this bike as a package deal with a Hawthorne, a Hiawatha, and a Stingray. Since the paint was just ok, I thought I might rattle-can it. But then I remembered that my neighbor had painted his girlfriends car in a really nice blue. He said he had enough left over to do it up, so he took it. At the time, I thought I was going to accent it with baby blue (tank and chainguard) and white, but now I've decided to just use white. Right now I'm leaning towards fenderless with whitewalls, white tank and guard, and I'll have old school "Columbia" logos made up for the tank. Hope you like so far.

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Nice, I built a 62 up a few years back :wink: There should be another rod on your rack in the middle like the one pictured :D
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SCHWINNRAY69 said:
Nice, I built a 62 up a few years back :wink: There should be another rod on your rack in the middle like the one pictured :D
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First off, nice build on your Firebolt! I just looked over your thread, and it looks great! Second, I'm glad for the good pics of your chainguard decal, that way I'll have something to show the decal guy when the time comes. As for the bar down the middle, where/ how does it attach in front? I don't have one, but it would be nice to know. Lastly, judging by the differences in my tank vs. yours, I can't figure if mine is older or newer than your '62. Serial number is K072498.
 
Thanks for the tips. I see where that middle bar was welded on, if I would have known before I had it painted, I might have attempted to restore that piece. Looks cool the way it is though. Next big step is the rims, they're getting re-laced this week. It's really the only big $$$ I'm going to have to put out.
 
Critter1 said:
I love that tank. Can you post detailed pictures of it mounted to the frame. I just picked up the same frame and I'm now in search of that tank! Do they come up often??
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I'm still working on the tank, still have to get the battery packs and some bulbs.

Got the rims back from the bike shop today, all new spokes! Here's some pics of recent progress:

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I finally got a chance to do a little more work. It's nearly done. Today I put the new bars on, used the old grips, clamped down the coaster brake, put the tank and bell back together (lights not working yet), and started cleaning/priming the chainguard. I threw an old seat on just to see how it rides. So far so good!

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That's one of the best firebolt projects I've ever seen.
(Way better than mine).
Good job on the paint, I thought it was a professional candy powdercoat.
What did you use for the base coat?
Is that the original seat? It looks great on the bike!
 
i love the color of this bike as well as the frame lines!! im a sucker for bikes that have racks that flow into one another like this and also on an X53. very nice rebuild though man! what kinda paint did you use and did you paint that seat too?!

Easy E
 
Thanks for all the compliments! My neighbor did the painting, he does it on the side in a paintbooth in his garage. Not sure what he used for base, if at all. I primed it in white before he got it.

The seat is not original to this exact bike, but right for the period. I just masked and rattlecanned it.

Here's a pic with the chainguard decal, had a local graphics place make it:
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Man, it's a shame so many of these photo links are dead. This is a sweet Firebolt build.
 

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