I just dug this old bike out of some kudzu. I know nothing about it. I haven't been able to find any markings (serial, etc...). The front decal is faded/worn out too much to make anything out on it. The decal on the seat tube is faded, but I was able to make out "SMA____" and "CERTIFIED".

Whole Bike:


Seat Tube Decal


Front Decal:

Well, it's Certified, that's for sure.

One piece cranks says American made.

I'll go with department store bike from the 70's. Could be a Montgomery Wards or a Woolco or a Western Auto. But the kickstand almost looks Schwinn, we need a better pic to be sure. The fork looks Schwinn to me, too. But the rear dropouts look stamped, if that's a crimp on the seatstay just above the dropout.

Strip it down, clean everything, and go right ahead and repaint that bike. I promise you won't hurt the value, only improve it.

If braking is weak, the coaster brake hub may be broken. This part should not be broken, as shown in these pics:

Wow. That's exactly the info I was wanting to know! Thank you so much. I wasn't sure about stripping it and painting because I've heard to never paint an old bike. It's in rough shape, but I may see what I can do with it. Here's a larger picture of the whole bike. Thanks again!

It's pretty large. (3264 x 1840) You may be able to see everything better.

https://i.imgur.com/fg1yo.jpg

I'm thinking it's not a Schwinn but some department store bike. Those seatstays sure look like a Schwinn, though. The fork crown is different and no Schwinn plate on the headtube. Kickstand is not the Schwinn type.

sheldonbrown.com has a lot of useful info on fixing up one of these bikes.
https://sheldonbrown.com/opc.html
https://sheldonbrown.com/repair/index.html

I rattle canned this bike and also this bike I had fun with these but if I had to do it over again, I'd probably would've paid somebody to powdercoat them. Powdercoating is very durable and not expensive, particularly if you do the prep work and are willing to accept whatever leftover paint the body shop has. I went through 3-4 cans of primer and 3-4 cans of paint per frame so powdercoating wouldn't have been that much more expensive.

I always thought Schwinn forks always had that pinstriping chevron on them for something of that vintage ?

https://thmb.inkfrog.com/thumbn/bbcbi...ed_%281%29.JPG
https://dluxfab.ecrater.com/p/7505229...ker-dart-decal

I want to see him take it apart, that rust looks like some of the parts are permanent ? I had an old car once, rusted, sap, mud and bird poop everywhere. Another suggested I wash it ? I responded, I'm afraid to, that's what's holding it together.

I remember that episode; it's when Greg brings home that '56 Chevy convertible.

I seem to have ran into a problem. I was trying to remove the front forks and broke a bolt off. There's no way to reach it now. Does anyone have a clue what I might could do?

Get a steel rod that will fit into the hole and hit it with a hammer to release the achoring wedge at the tip of the stem inside the steerer tube. It should just kinda fall in or through to the bottom if the steerer tube goes through at full ID theough the fork crown assembly. The stem and wedge might still not come out as it could be welded to the steerer tube with corrosion. Do a search on the site on how to remove stuck stems to find out the next steps you can take to take it off. Take your time and be patient. Try not go "all gorilla" on trying to remove the stem as you might just damage the frame beyond repair doing so.

Good luck on the restoration!

Chombi

That faded sticker probably says "BMA/6 CERTIFIED". Which means it's a Bike Boom era Columbia, Murray, Huffy, Rollfast, Iverson, et. al. AKA, not a Schwinn. As in, toss it back into the kudzu.

Given the shape of the headbadge, I'm pretty certain that eliminates Columbia (round, if I remember correctly) or Iverson (oval, much taller than wide).