Re: [CR] Fastback Paramount NOW Authenic Fastback Paramount

While we continue to debate the real identity of the eBay bike, here are some photos of an authentic fastback Paramount, albeit form the early 80's, NOT the early 70's.  I've added to Wool Jersey photos of my 1980-1983 Paramoount Elite frameset:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/jerrymoos/Paramount+Elite/

A list member kindly sent me scans of a 1982 Paramount catalog, but the main .pdf seems too large to upload to Wool Jersey.

My frameset does not match the catalog photos of the road frame, which does not have fastback stays, but the track frame in the catalog does seem to have very similar fastback stays.  That this road frame could have the fastback stays shown on the track bike is not at all surprising, given the history of Paramount in the early 80's as told on the Waterford website.  It seems in the early 80's Elite era, Paramount was an "anything you want" full custom bike:

http://waterfordbikes.com/now/home.php?newstype=pdg

Per the Waterford account, Marc Muller had joined the Schwinn Paramount operation in late 1978, after building frames for several years for a Chicago bike shop, then on his own under the Phydeaux label (evidently the name of Marc's dog).  His frames featured Henry James lugs and fastback stays.  As Waterford tells the story, it seems that Muller and his friends in Schwinn convinced Ed Schwinn in 1979 that the Paramount had become dated and needed to be completly rethought.  Marc's thinking prevailed, and Schwinn abolished the Chicago Paramount shop and allowed Muller to completely redesign the Paramount operation, which soon moved to Waterford.  The first post-Chicago Paramounts were the Elite series, which were very expensive full custom bikes.  They featured Henry James lugs, and evidently the option fastback stays.  According to the catalog, tubing options included Columbus SL, Columbus SP, 531, 531 SL, Vitus or Ishiwata.  The road model and touring models were $2,499 complete, frameset $949.

The Elite series lasted through 1983 or 1984.  Evidently, Schwinn then moderated the all-out custom approach a bit, and established a more "standard" design, although presumably, custom orders were still accomodated.  Not sure if the price was reduced for the more standard Paramount.

Regards,

Jerry Moos
Big Spring, Texas, USA