I picked this thing up about a week ago, took the whole thing down to basic components, then greased, polished, and cleaned everything up. The wife's birthday is coming up, and I wanted something a little different for her.
It's a 1959-1961 JC Higgins Flightliner. The only thing on it that I replaced was the front inner tube. Everything else is, to my knowledge, is original.
The tires are still the original Sears Allstate whitewalls, and the rear inner tube is a Hawthorne tube made in Japan, so it might be original, too.
There are a couple of light rust areas where the paint is missing, but they are not obvious, and I think they give it character.
Bicycle licenses from Tulsa, OK. One from 1964, and the other from 1962. They've been on there longer than I've been alive, so I think they deserve to just be left alone. The same goes for the "Janice Fleeman" name plate attached to the seat. If she wants to remove that, she can.
The seat has a tear in it- not sure how I'm going to repair that yet. I may just patch it, and leave it alone.
She wanted something to cruise around town in, to the park, etc. She likes older things (like me), and I wasn't impressed with what I was seeing in the stores. I've got one that I'm picking up for myself as a twin to this one, since my Gary Fischer just doesn't look right next to this thing. I'll try to post pictures of it when I get it cleaned up.