Paramount question
 

I just bought a 1972 Schwinn Paramount in very good condition. The frame was painted by the prior owner. He painted over the lugs! My question is this: What would be the safest was to remove the paint on a lug to see the condition, without damaging the rest of the paint job? Chemical, mechanical? Thanks for your help.

Just a note of caution: not all Paramounts have chromed head lugs and dropouts. That was a factory option, but entirely painted frames do exist and they often don't have any chrome under them. Are other parts of the frame chromed?

You should be able to detect the presence of a chrome underlayer on the inner surfaces of the dropouts.

The dropouts are chromed, so he painted over the lugs above.

As Devotion suggests, in 1972 the P14-9 track bikes came from the factory with painted head lugs and fork crown; chrome plated head lugs and fork crown were a $30 option.

On the other models (P10-9, P13-9, and P15-9) the chrome plated head lugs and fork crown were standard.

You don't mention which model you have, but if it's a track bike your head lugs are probably not chrome plated.

Bob Hufford has the 1972 Paramount order form on his SLDB website HERE.

If you do have chrome plated lugs and want to remove the paint, you might want to PM member Dr.Deltron for advice on how to get the paint off of the lugs safely without damaging the paint on the frame.