Tonight's find: 1939 Speedway

[dave429]

Great find! It’s cleaning up really nicely. Looking forward to seeing back on the road.

 

[Santee]

This one cleaned up nicely. I dig the shade of green used on it.

 

[A-ko]

I wanted to get the bike to a rideable point quickly, since you can always change out the parts later, and I really wanted to see how one of these prewar straight bar Schwinns rode, so I pieced together with stuff from a different bike of mine at work yesterday. It’s amazing how much lighter these frames are than say, a ‘60s cantilever frame. I’m not a stickler for original parts, so as you can see, some creative liberties have been taken. Rides great! Super excited to have it as a complete bicycle. Since I have the original fenders, I may do some body work on them eventually and get them back on the bike, since they’re original matching paint with a glass reflector on the rear, but who knows. The original bars and stem (and truss rods for that matter) all desperately need to be re-chromed, if even possible. There’s a lot of pitting so they may not be salvageable, but whatever. I’ll keep anything original to the bike around, but I enjoy it as it currently is!

 

[sworley]

Looks great!!

 

[barneyguey]

I think a couple of those badges may be for sale on ebay right now.

 

[ozzie]

Enjoy it. nice work

 

[B607]

Speedway and American Flyer were both names used by Louisville Cycle Supply. This business was owned by Zeldon Lipski and family. I have two prewar Speedways and have both of them going now. I have an extra down tube Speedway decal if you need one.