Originally Posted by
****ereye
Bought this Schwinn that the seller got from someone else who painted on it super thick (so I can't read the serial, I think it says FG **8645) and they removed the badge. Seller said it was late 70's-early 80's, but a search online of serials suggests '71.
According to the forged fork and one-piece cable stops on the downtube it would be a '76 or later Varsity model. Since you read the 2nd character as a "G" (which is incorrect) I suspect it may actually be either a P ('78) or Q ('79). Post a close-up pic of the serial number and we should be able to confirm the frame date more closely. The original badge would have had a 4-digit number indicating the day the bike was built.