I'm trying to decide if I should turn the bike I have into the ride I want, or whether I should be in the hunt for the right frame.
My local terrain is steep and the best roads are rough or dirt, I'm not a mountain biker and don't go off road, but I lke to get off the well traveled roads. I need a sturdy long wheelbase stable ride to build up with a wide gear range and some cush tires. This bike will take some road abuse.
This Paramount found me
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Here's the direction I'm going
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I love the way it rides and I am tempted to continue to upgrade for this purpose, pedals, saddle, some serious brakes and hit the gravel. On the other hand the bike has obvious collector appeal (though the paint is pretty rough) and the beater treatment will send it down the slippery slope to no return.
Do I go for it or hold out for more of a cyclocross type frame?

i think it's fantastic as is. as long as you don't disrespect your bike, it will be fine and last forever. it can always be repainted.

Too much value as a beater. I would sell it off, and use part of the proceeds to pick up a cyclecross bike. Or just pick up one of the endless rigid frame MTBs out there that are cheap and well suited for your plans.

Keep that bike for when you want to ride on the road and spend $150 on a late 80s early 90s hybrid. Add drop bars and brifters (if you like) and you are good to go.

Yes, this is exactly my dilemma, three posts, three choices, keep it, swap it, or keep the collection growing....I really don't have the option of keeping everything and getting more, I need to ride what I have and I already have a sweet road ride. I'm not really up for a full restoration project on the Paramount, so maybe it will have to be trade bait. Or...

from a practical perspective, nobody is going to give you enough for that frame that you can replace it with something that does the same job. Put fenders on it with an extended skirt in the front so that the rocks you kick up don't hurt the frame.

If you like how it rides then ride it. Modify it to fit your needs, it's just a bike...

That's where I was heading, already shopping for the right parts, but I wanted to get some other perspectives before I sink more $$ into it.
Fenders might be the ticket, Thanks.

IMHO.......put some big tires on it along with some nice MTB cranks and ride the crap out of it.

What you need to know is, can you throw a wide enough tire on there, CX tires are wider then road tires, and off road tires are wider still, now if it's designed for a 27 x 1¼ those are 32mm wide, so with a 700C should should be able to get a set of 35 - 38mm CX tires in there. Put on a triple cranks and you have a CX bike.

By the same token, you can look for a late 1980's to mid 1990's solid fork MTB, they go for about a $ a dozen, already have the low gearing and can take anything up to a 26 x 2¼ tire.

I already have the wheels and tires on there that I want: 700x35 Conti Top Touring on Mavic Mod 4's with Specialized sealed bearing hubs, straight guage spokes tied and soldered, the're sure footed on the dirt, plenty fast on the road and take a pot hole in stride. It already has the triple, so stopping power is the main hurdle now. I'm leaning toward the dual pivot Tectro long reach brakes.

I agree with a majority here. Set it up how you want and ride it. I think a rigid MTB is a horrible idea as the reach would never be right with drop bars and they tend to have a very dead feel beacuse of the huge tires and long wheel bases... especially pre 1990s bikes. Use the paramount. Personally I'd go with good old centerpulls with new kool stops for good stopping power, good looks and lots of clearance.

Definitely go with dual pivots. Leaps and bounds better than vintage hardware, and also, the tektro ones have plenty of clearance. Mine are even with the top of the fork, so in other words you can fit whatever tires the frame will take.