This might be a tough one. I saw a semi-local auction for an old racer, and it truly caught my attention, see attached picture. The seller doesn't know much about the bike, as it belonged to her late father.

What is known is that the bike was bought from Sweden and brought to Finland in the 1940's, and that it has been used in competitions. It's a three speed. The paint is not original. Not much can be seen from the picture, but can someone give me some leads? Is the chainring recognizable? Were there any major racing bike manufacturers in Sweden in late 30's or 40's?

I'm not familiar at all with bikes this old. What are the most propable difficulties I'll run in the restoration, if I choose to buy it?

Sweden? Maybe it's an old Crescent. The chainring looks a little like one seen here.

From Sheldon Brown on Crescent bikes:

Crescent (Monark)

A Swedish bike not to be confused with the American marque of the same name from the turn of the century. The classic model is Orange with funky checkerboard graphics. Workmanship, if you could call it that, was lousy, and the bikes had memorable toe-clip overlap. We don't mind some overlap, but this was more like foot-in-the-spokes overlap. Made for an interesting ride. They were actually a fairly competent race bike, and I knew some people who devastated a number of fields on these orange beasts. Most surviving examples were probably repainted and then met untimely deaths from commuter hell accidents, so examples with nice original paint are rare. Even rarer are those who would pay serious money for one. Figure $675 for one in guideline condition.

I could well be a Crescent. We'll see, I should have it quite soon.