No, the seat pan is not sparkly, it is black and has a touch of rust....and It sure doesn't look to have been messed with,look at the rust on the seat rivets, but I guess anything is possible, I do know though that this particular bike has been in storage for at least 25 years, but after looking for a shifter and cable, I believe this bike may be worth more in parts than as a whole,see this is the first one I've thought of restoring, the other schwinns I have cut up for customs and just tossed the parts I didn't need or want in the trash sometimes I've given them away though, but I'm going to talk to my friends today as we just bought two truckloads of vintage schwinn parts from a lifelong collector who just got fed up with these bikes and the other collectors, we were going to sell this stuff pretty reasonable but after looking at what some of this stuff is going for.......I'm sure we'll be re thinking that.