Past Due Panther

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Joined
Apr 25, 2007
Messages
303
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Location
Ann Arbor/Detroit MI
On Christmas Day, 1960, my uncle recived a brand new green Schwinn Panther III, single speed, front & rear luggage racks, just the thing for paper route duties. At some point, no doubt inspired by a steady diet of Hot Rod & Cycle World magazines, he decided the fenders had to go--my grandpa caught him taking tinsnips to the rear fender (you know that pesky bolt near the bottom bracket) & stopped him before he got the front one off. Later on in the '60's, it got a coat of red primer, took some more abuse & then it sat rusting away untill I dragged it home in 1988. The plan was to repaint it a similar shade of green, adding the shifter & drivetrain from my recently wrecked '68 Stingray. I got as far as tearing both bikes down & adding some coats of red primer & that was the summer of '88. Of course, alot has happened in 21 years & I've owned all sorts of other bikes over the years, but as for this one, I'm sticking to my orginal vision. I don't know why I ever started any other bike projects before picking this one back up, but who cares, I'm finally going to finish it & soon.
This is the frame as it sits today:
IMG_8530.jpg

Here's a teaser pic of some of the goodies that I'll be using:
IMG_8539.jpg

Yes, that's an NOS Stingray speedo--I bought it about 3 yrs ago at a thrift shop for $1.51!!!
That's all for now...
 
Back when I started this project, I wanted a "grown-up Stingray", so it had to have a metallic paint job & mean looking blackwalls. I still love all the old Schwinn colors, especially the "Radiant" ones, but I know now that red primer & white walls can also be a beautiful thing.
IMG_1294.jpg

This '27 Ford lives in my neighborhood & it gets driven daily in the warm weather--if that's not inspiring, I don't know what is...The Panther will wear wide whites & red primer, too.
 
Wow, that’s cool the history of your bike and it staying in the family like that! I was kinda likin’ the metallic green (or metalflake!) Paint idea, but it’s your bike so do what you like and it will look great. 8)

Btw, your neighbor’s sedan looks like a '27 Model-T sitting on Deuce rails with maybe a Y-block. :wink:
 
Fireproof said:
Wow, that’s cool the history of your bike and it staying in the family like that! I was kinda likin’ the metallic green (or metalflake!) Paint idea, but it’s your bike so do what you like and it will look great. 8)

Btw, your neighbor’s sedan looks like a '27 Model-T sitting on Deuce rails with maybe a Y-block. :wink:

Thanks, man...
Well, it is primer, so it'll always be ready for paint... :wink:

Ooops, '27 of course...here's the history of the car & it's a pretty cool site as well.
http://thehotrodsofdearborn.com/mcfarland.html
 
Nice starter frame, should be a nice build, and I'm thinkin your neighbours "T" looks like it has a Mopar powerplant by the look of those exhaust manifolds. Love the slicks.
 
Man! that '27...
How cool's that! Thanks for the very link to see some of it's history. If you like nostalgia hotrods check my post with pics of the indoor hotrod & custom show, organized by The Scrapers CC from Holland/Belgium:
S.I.N.S. 2009

Can't wait to see the progression on your bike. The speedo and shifter look mighty cool.
 
get some sheet metal and make a couple disk like the 27. how kool would that be?

Outlaw
 
OUTLAW said:
get some sheet metal and make a couple disk like the 27. how kool would that be?

Outlaw

Very cool, i think.
I've always been wanting to try to simulate moondiscs by sanding a cheap plastic MTB wheeldisc while spinning and then spraying it with some chrome paint...
 
I've been sanding it down & I think if I'm going to go this far (bare naked metal), the bike deserves to be green again...about 45+ years ago it looked like this, but w/chrome fenders & no tank...
(I don't have any pics of my bike taken before last week, these are just some things I found on the web)
img_1856.jpg

bike20gallery20039.jpg

Too bad nobody's reproing that color, Radiant Green. I'll see what the local paint shop can come up with.
 
woah! i would flip the bars over, put the shifter and speedo on, and call it a day! oh and hook up a horn. but, if you want the radiant green, and would be willing to pay a pretty penny, you could try buying some paints from http://hyper-formance.com/paints.htm, and try dulling the campus green so its not such a deep green.
 
i like tall roof cars now just because it is rare to see them done like that. the car is sick and the bike is a good place to start too good luck
 
if he channeled the body over the frame about 12" it'd look better.
 
i agree channeled with the tall top is very cool very munster mobile
 
Can't get you the exact Candy Green but Hyper-ray's(the stingray parts source) has a lot of the candy paints made up, check out the link. Its a three step process to do the candy Schwinn Paint, Red primer, Silver base coat, Candy color.
Good luck, I like your bike it should be cool when your done.

http://www.hyper-formance.com/paints.htm
 
stretch said:
woah! i would flip the bars over, put the shifter and speedo on, and call it a day! oh and hook up a horn. but, if you want the radiant green, and would be willing to pay a pretty penny, you could try buying some paints from http://hyper-formance.com/paints.htm, and try dulling the campus green so its not such a deep green.


I confess to being a major flip-flopper when it comes to these things, but I am going back to my original plan of red oxide primer & put 'er together. I am down to no budget on this project & more importantly, I am building this bike to ride. I don't want to worry about gravel chips & scratches. Someday, I'll just buy an original Radiant Green bike. That's the plan & I'm sticking to it. I still have to pick from 4 different sets of apes & finding some bits & pieces...
I've been too busy working on both our family cars to do anything with this project, but I'm going to get back into it soon.
 
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