I purchased a 1960's Schwinn American from a fellow bike club member. I finished takeing her apart last night. Tonight I begin cleaning the frame, chain guard, fenders, seat, rims. & sproket of the surface rust.

Everything else that is chrome wil be replaced, that includes the handle bars, stem, seat post, basket & crank.

I am going to have both wheels re-laced with new spokes. The front will have a new hub, but the rear will have its original Bendix hub re-packed with new bearings.

For he head light, which does work I am going to spend the money and have it re-chromed.

The bearings for the crank and head set will also be replaced.

Sounds like a nice project.
Be sure to post pics when its done.
And take a few now so you can show
before and afters.

Marty

John, after that amount of time, bearings will need to be replaced, you made the right call.

I'm in the same boat. I just acquired two 3 speeds, a Raleigh Sports, and a Warwick. The Warwick has the chainguard and rear fender, the original cable houseings and cables. The only thing the Raleigh had redeemable is the cut-out chromed cranks. I pulled the head set apart and found the bearings laquered into place. I can just imagine what the BB is like. Only the Warwick had the Strum/Archer hub, I have a feeling it may have been the Raleigh's but since I can't find any information on the Warwick I don't know for sure. I have to look at the dates, and numbers to be sure.
I'll be relacing the hub, and figuring out the front end wheel. I need to restore the Brooks saddle, and find a replacement for the matress seat on the Warwick. My digital camera isn't real good at getting details, or shoot in ambient light, so I've got to work on getting shots of the decalls and chrome. I'm looking forward to getting them running.

Why not look into rechroming?

See my progress report on this project.