My latest CL find.

Outed by BF member camelopardolis, I had already spotted it on my local CL. Seller was 65 miles away, his price was right, I knew I had to act fast. After all this is Southern California and I knew the seller was going to get a lot of interested buyers.

In order to get his attention I tossed another Benjamin on the table (He had already added pedals and pump in an earlier email) and he contacted me. We closed the deal and he brought me the bike. A perfect CL transaction!

Definitely a 1965 Paramount but with some upgrades from about 1971.

Congrats! I love the color.

WOW

Very nice! I've never seen a 60's Paramount in that color.

It must have been repainted and re-decaled. Looking at the "quality" seal on the seat tube panel decal. There was no Schwinn Bicycle Company in 1965. That decal is from later.

Wow...oh...wow! Gorgeous Paramount...in great shape! At, I assume, a great price...congrats!

I've been gone awhile. What denomination is the Benjamin?

Welcome back,although if I was in Belize I'd stay there.

As far as the denomination of a Benjamin, I refer to it as the new $20.

Wait, You're still down there?

México, actually. I plan to end my days here.

Wow that's a gorgeous bike in a great color too, whether its a repaint or not. Really a wonderful buy! You'll have to post some ride photos in the future.

If it is a repaint then it was done when the bike was about six years old. The seller indicated that it had been a part of the family since 1971-72 and his brother received it as compensation for working at a bike shop in SoCal. He received it as we see it today. He also had the Schwinn 'Kool Blue' touch up paint for nicks/chips.

Anyone know when the seat tube decal seen on this Paramount was first available?

But not anytime soon, I hope.

Well here is a pic of a 1972 I once owned. It has the newer decal.

I don't think that Kool Blue was a 1965 color, late 60's early 70's. Downtube shifter braze ons are really atypical too, no lug lining. But a good, color, the 1972 Olympic Team Schwinns were this color, from a time when Schwinn gave the USA cycling team new bikes as part of their USOC sponsorship.

According to the Paramount History pages on the Waterford website, "In '68, Schwinn updated the seatmast panel to reflect Schwinn's name change to Schwinn Bicycle Company from the original Arnold Schwinn and Company."

So, around 1968 the Olympic Rings seat tube decal got changed from "Arnold, Schwinn & Co." to "Schwinn Bicycle Company."

I believe the paint color is "Opaque Blue."

This is a 1965 Paramount seat tube decal with "Arnold, Schwinn & Co." Picture purloined from a completed ebay auction.

Opaque Blue wasn't offered until 1972 so that is when it was probably repainted.

Puzzle pieces are falling into place now. Cone locknuts are stamped 'CAM 71', Campy brakes have the flat release lever and the Nuovo Record RD is stamped 'Patent'. Crankset is 151bcd which is original.

Conclusion: Components were upgraded at time of repaint. I know, that's a no-brainer.

Thanks to all who assisted.

Since the head lugs and fork crown are painted rather than chrome plated, I suspect the component upgrades were to a frameset that was originally a P-12, which had painted head lugs and fork crown, and came with a Stronglight crankset instead of Campagnolo.

Here are the 1965 dealer catalog pages for the $175 P-12 and $226 P-13.

Scooper, you're right. I forgot that there was a Deluxe Paramount and a plain old Paramount. I once had a 1965 Paramount with the Stronglight cranks and painted headtube lugs. Beautiful bike but at 57cm too small to ride.