Digging up an old thread.
While researching and restoring my
1972 P15-9
I stumbled upon this information at the
Waterford website:
"During the 70’s, Paramount sales rose to 1,200 units annually. Schwinn supplemented Paramount production with contract-built frames by Don Mainland and Roger Nelson. Don and Roger, both riders from the 40’s and 50’s, had built up a successful tooling business in Racine, Wisconsin. He already supplied tooling to Schwinn. At Paramount’s peak in the mid-70’s, 10 frames per week came from Wisconsin and 15 from Chicago. There is no obvious way to distinguish the Wisconsin-built Paramounts from those built at the Schwinn factory. Serial numbers were issued after the bikes were built."
Doing the math, ("at the peak") WI and Chicago combined would produce 25 frames per week (10 +15 = 25). 25 frames x 4.3 weeks per month = 107 to 108 frames per month. This equals approximately 1300 frames per year (at the "peak").
Looking at this
registry there are numerous entries in the 200's and even 300's for 1970's production. That's quite a bit more than the 25 frames per week claimed by Waterford.
Do any of the experts have an explanation?