So, I've got a '65 Ladies Schwinn Varsity that I'm flipping, and I'm currently stuck on replacing the ages-old cables, specifically the shifting cables. What's got me stuck in the mud is that neither I nor my LBS can find a cable with the right end that fits into the downtube shifters.

End of old shifter cables




Internal of downtube shifters where the cable end locks into


I don't have the cash to buy a new shifting set-up. This is what I have to work with. Are shifting cables with that end still sold, or even made?

The guy at my LBS sold me shifting cables with these ends and said to just file them down to fit, but I honestly can't fathom how I'd get them to work.