Free Foremost

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A very good friend of the family had this old Foremost. It has been off the road for 20 years. It was sitting in sort of an alleyway between two of his buildings for a long time. He wanted it gone so he let me have it for free. So me and my father-in-law went to rescue it. It's better than I thought it would be, but everything is seized, which is to be expected after sitting for so long. It also has the wrong seat (mid-'60's? Schwinn seat) , two different rims, and it was repainted (badly) a long time ago. Luckily, I don't care about my bikes being original, I don't care about how much they're worth (I know department store bikes are not worth much), and I do like rust. My father-in-law cut the rusted solid chain off with bolt cutters. I have it pickled with PB Blast overnight. I'll see tomorrow if anything comes loose. If not, I'll have to go buy a torch to put a little heat to the rusted parts. I had never heard of a Foremost before and I don't know what year it is. My father-in-law found a photo of a 1960 that looked exactly like it, but I'm not sure. Any guesses? The only info I have found on it is that they were built by Murray and sold by JC Penney, it is the JC Penney version of the Sears Spaceliner, there is also a Western Flyer model of this bike (Cosmic Flyer) which would explain why it has the same chainring as a Western Flyer, and that there is also an AMC version. I don't know if I will get it on the road this year, it's already almost October, and, I'm already into winter projects, but I will be tinkering with it a little bit to see if I can at least get it apart.
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You have a lot of good information already. The only thing I see faulty is that it isn't a Spaceliner/Flightliner frame--just a typical Murray cantilever. I'd say your estimate on early to mid '60s is accurate. What is that thing mounted on the handlebars? Radio? Plenty of potential there...good luck getting things unstuck.
 
You have a lot of good information already. The only thing I see faulty is that it isn't a Spaceliner/Flightliner frame--just a typical Murray cantilever. I'd say your estimate on early to mid '60s is accurate. What is that thing mounted on the handlebars? Radio? Plenty of potential there...good luck getting things unstuck.
No, not a Spaceliner frame, the info just said that it was the Penney's alternative to the Sears bike. The thing on the handlebars looks to me like maybe it was a headlight on one side and a horn on the other side? Not sure. The bottom part is metal and rotted so that will get tossed but here are pics of the top part. I cleaned it up a bit and will use it as a wall hanger.
 

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