Originally Posted by
jvinch
Here is some additional information on my Paramount frame: it is stamped with the serial number E72300 on the rear dropout. So, accrding to the Waterford site, this was the 300th frame manufactured in 1973. But it also says that only pre-1965 frames have the serial number stamped on the drop out. I'm a little confused by this. Also, it measures 23" from the center of the BB to the top of the top tube. Does this help?
Your frame was the 300th Paramount frame built in May, 1972. "E"=May, "72"=1972, "300"=sequential number during the month of manufacture (May). It sounds like yours is a 23" frame, although the measurement should be to the top of the
seat tube, not the top tube.
Paramount frames had the serial number stamped into the left rear dropout through the end of 1979 when production in the Chicago factory "cage" stopped. Sometime after production was resumed at the Waterford, WI, facility in 1981, the serial numbers were moved to the bottom of the bottom bracket shell.