Celebrating the Heritage of Schwinn

Here is a photo I took of two of my antique Schwinn bikes with my son's 2003 Schwinn S-30 21 speed all terrain bike. To the left of that is my 1959 Mk.IV Jaguar 3 speed,which I have owned since 1978. To the right is my all original 1967 Collegiate 5 speed in violet, that I got in 2007.

Jim.

Reconditioned, NOT restored 1949 Schwinn B-6 "Autocycle"

Here is a bicycle that I bought from a guy in Chicago over eBay in November of 2003. The man said that the bicycle was stored in pieces in a very old garage for fifty years. A "garage" find, if you will. The only things wrong, and/or missing from it were; the front wheel with the front drum brake set up, the original kickstand was badly bent, and the original seat pan needed repainted, and reupholstered in new cowhide leather. The original leather was dry rotted off.

The bike came to me in pieces, like I said,but EVERY, and I mean EVERY original screw, nut, washer, and other fasteners,were ALL THERE!! I find that to be incredible. What I did,was I completely broke the bike down the rest of the way, to the bare frame, and other components, totally cleaned, greased, and did very minor touch up paint work to the components. The original decal graphics were too far gone to save, so I got new decals for it from Martin's Bike Shop, in Hinkletown, PA, which is on US Route 322, just east of a town called Ephrata, in northern Lancaster County,PA. They have a lot of the new old restoration stock parts that the new Schwinn bicycle company makes for their old Chicago, USA built bicycle. Schwinn bikes are still made, but like everything else, nowadays, they are made in China. They are still headquartered in California, though. The crank was bent, and the original pedals were shot, so I got repro parts for these, as well as the kickstand. I sent the seat out to California to get recovered with the correct black cowhide,even embossed, with the correct "Mesinger" script, on top, by a dealer who calls himself "SchwinnXChange". Took about a month and a half turnaround time. Although they are in good condition, I could not get the tank horn,and fenderlight to work, so I left them alone. They are clean, and still in the bike though. For me, it is not critical that they work.The fact that they are still there is amazing enough for me. They only major piece of the bike that I had to totally repaint was the rear carrier. I also had to repaint the back cream colored half of the chainguard, as this area was badly scratched up. The " spear" tip on the front edge of the front fender also needed repainted, as well as the black paint in front of that. The cream "wedge" on the bottom edge of the back fender was repainted, too. All the dents were carefully removed( they were very minor), from the fenders, tank, and chainguard, before I did the touchup paint work. Eighty-five percent of the bike's paint is original!! I also redid by hand, the original design red pinstriping, that was very faded, The original fenderlight lens was in perfect shape, so I let it go. I later had to replace it,because something heavy fell squarely on the lens in my hobby room, and cracked it. I still have it, it's just not on the bike. Also had to replace the original chain. it was rusted solid in places, and about 1/4 of the links were cracked. After I did all this, the bicycle was re-assembled into one unit for the first time, from what I was told, since 1954!! I had to wait before I could put it back together, because the original rear wheels finish was shot, and the front wheel, was not even a Schwinn wheel. So, through my dad, I got a very nice set of double knurled Schwinn S-2 wheels, with VERY nice original chrome, from the aforementioned SchwinnXChange, of California, but the front wheel did not have the "Forebrake" drum brake set up that the bike originally had. Then I totally reassembled the bike after this. I only completed the bike last July,(2008) with the "Arnold,Schwinn&Co." front drum brake set up complete with cable, mounting clips, and lever ,from a guy on eBay.

The front fork is the original locking front "Knee-Action" "Cycelock" springer unit.

The rear wheel is equipped with a "New Departure", Model "D" rear coaster brake single speed rear axle.

The rear fender reflector is the original CORRECT unit. Those monster size Phantom reflectors are not correct original equipment for Schwinn B-6's.

The tires are reissue Carlisle "Lightning Dart" Indian head nylon cord whitewall tires.

This bicycle is almost an exact replica of a bicycle that my dad bought brand new as a teenager in the late 1940's. That's why I did this project.

Here are pictures of the reconditioned bicycle.

Jim.

The OLD Hotel Brunswick, Lancaster,PA scale model

This first image was the very first artist rendering of what the building was to look like upon completion in late 1914. Then the image was used as the Brunswick's first post card,where I got this image from. This is a very rare post card that has a post mark of what I believe is the early 1920's.
Here is the Brunswick, shortly after completion,(around 1914).

Here is the Brunswick sometime in the 1920's or early 1930's after they added on to it.Here is a Lancaster Newspapers photo of the first night of demolition of the building on May 1, 1967.


Here is a model that took about a year to research,and plan, and about six years to complete. I started the work on this model in February of 1994, and finished building it in 2001. It took me that long to build this because the actual building was demolished in May of 1967. I watched them tear this beautiful Beaux Arts style building down as a nine year old that year. I look back on it now,and i still think, "What a waste!!"
Built in 1914,the hotel was well known for its Pennsylvania Dutch hospitality, and it great "home style" food. Also known for its "Seven Sweets & Seven Sours". I haven't figured out what that is yet,even though I was born and still live here in Lancaster County!!

Designed by C. Emlen Urban, the famous Lancaster City architect of the late 19th, and early 20th century, it was built in two stages. The first main part that sat at the corner of East Chestnut street, and North Queen streets, was built in 1914. There were covered entrances on both these streets, but the main entrance was facing Chestnut Street. They added on to the building by making the Chestnut street facade longer, and adding a ballroom hall. This was done in 1925.

It was built by Paul Heine ,an immigrant from Germany. This was the man who started the tourism industry here in Lancaster County, and made this area a fashionable place to visit.

By the 1960's,after Heine's son died, the management ran the hotel into the ground, and it closed its doors in 1964. At this time in American history,people pretty much were going to the suburbs for shopping needs and other purposes, and store owners were quick to do the same to stay in business. People used their cars more to go places rather than walk to stores in center city. Downtown was(is) not very car parking friendly, so people left. It got to the point where most of the store fronts were vacant in that block where the hotel stood. The hotel itself had some stores,at street level.

By 1965, both sides of that block of North Queen streets, and the whole south side of the block of East Chestnut streets , including the nine story tall Brunswick,were declared as "blighted" properties,and I believe that they were seized through Eminent Domain,by the city of Lancaster,via then mayor Monagham. The city got a federal grant to redevelop the blocks, but only they would only get the grant, if they, (the feds) saw the land was cleared first.

Mass demolition of the buildings commenced in the spring of 1965, and was wrapped up in the summer of 1967. Many beautiful building were laid to waste, some even dating back to the colonial era, Victorian, Beaux Arts, and other magnificent structures, including a Greek revival design bank building, complete with a sweeping multistory arch window, and flanking Corinthian columns!! People did try to stop this, but to no avail. You can't stop big government. the signs around the demolition sights stated, ironically,"Tearing Down To Make Way For Progress". What a joke that was.

After the land was cleared, they did put up a new hotel on the same sight where the old Brunswick stood, and it was built as a Hilton Inn. It almost has the exact same "footprint" as the old building did. It is a slab sided monolithic red brick with horizontal white concrete striped structure that still stands today. Ironically,after the Hilton chain sold it to a private company in 1976, they change the name back to the "Hotel Brunswick" to try to appease the people of Lancaster for the loss of one of the most popular hangouts for the locals for generations.....

Here are some pictures of my scale model. The first image is from a vintage post card. One of the other images is is a period Lancaster Newspapers photograph from about 1965.

There are some more historic pictures of the actual building at the beginning, and the end of its existence,also, (the first four pictures of this post).

Jim.

This is the NEW Hotel Brunswick as it stands today. It stands on the exact same site as where the original stood. Construction started in 1968, and was completed in 1970, as a Hilton Inn. The Hilton Inn chain sold the building to a private company in 1976, and changed the name back to the "Hotel Brunswick",and totally renovated the interior of the building. I took this photograph myself on August 27,1999, for this where we stayed on our tenth wedding anniversary "getaway".

Something rarer than hen's teeth!

Here's my old 1961 Schwinn Corvette 5 speed that I have owned since 1975. In the last four years I have been in the process of trying to correctly restore it. It is now about 99.5 percent complete. The only thing that is blatantly incorrect is the 1975 Schwinn Super Sport generator set that I bought for the bike in that year when like I said, I acquired the bicycle. When I got it in the late spring of that year,it was just basically a frame, but it still had it's original wheels, and the shifter on the top tube.Other than the seat, handlebars,crank and sprocket,everything else was missing. In 1975, I was seventeen years old. I was still able to do a mechanical rebuild with then contemporary components, my dad and I used the bike this way for thirty years. Thanks to the internet, and mostly eBay, I started a correct restoration of it in 2005. It is now just about complete. It only needs a Delta ball toggle switch headlight to be 100 percent correct and complete.

These scanned film photos were taken in September of 2008.

Jim

For example, try this.

Here's a die cast model that I re-worked last year.
This is Jada's 1965 Cadillac coupe deVille. I completely took this model apart, stripped the original yellow paint off of it,using a spray chemical stripper, and re-painted it light metallic blue with automotive touchup spray paints. Then I completely re-assembled it, and added details that were originally missing from it from the get-go. Door handles, lock cylinders,and the cowl vent grille. Also, I used aluminum tape cut to fit around all the windows. I also made new hood and trunk "vee's",and crests for it out of the same aluminum tape. Also, around the wheel openings. Here are the results. Sorry, I only have this one picture for now.

Jim.