The bike that Longsjo often referred to as his "truck" was a Schwinn Paramount, according to Peter Nye's book, "Hearts of Lions" (p. 176). Considering the poor shape the bike was in at the time, it was probably one that had been built in the late 1940s by Oscar "Okky" Wastyn or Ovie Jenson.
He used this bike to win the Massachusetts State Championship in 1953, winning all 3 events on offer.
This was his first bike race, by the way.
His second race was the National Championships, in which he placed 9th, again on his old Paramount.
His third race was the New England Track Championships, winning all 4 events on offer.
Longsjo shaved his legs, by the way.
He won the Quebec-Montreal road race in 1954, winning $300 under the table and a new road racing bike. The book doesn't say what this new bike was.
However, after Longsjo won the Canadian National Championship road race in 1955, he was recruited by Fioro Baggio to ride for the Baggio-Torpado team, so at that point he was (obviously) riding a Torpado.
When Longsjo raced in the 1956 Summer Olympics, in Melbourne, the US Olympic team bikes were Schwinn Paramounts, so presumably that's what he rode then.
After the Olympics, before his tragic death in 1958 (not 1956), he continued to ride for Baggio-Torpado ... on Torpado bicycles, of course.
--
Steven L. Sheffield stevens at veloworks dot com veloworks at earthlink dot net aitch tee tea pea colon [for word] slash [four ward] slash double-you double-yew double-ewe dot veloworks dot com [four word] slash
> From: "nath" <ferness261@voyager.net>
> Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2001 19:07:12 -0500
> To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> Subject: [CR]Longsjo's bikes?
>
> The talk of famous riders and their frames made me wonder . . . does anyone
> know what Art Longsjo, the great racer from Fitchburg, Massachusetts rode in
> the mid-50s? I think he raced from 1953 until 1956, when he died in a car
> wreck at the age of 26. (What I've read of him reminds me of Harry Agganis,
> another Massachusetts boy who played first base for the Red Sox a year or
> so, but died in July '55 at the age of 25.)
>
> Anyway, in the little I've read of Art Longsjo, I haven't come across
> anything relating to what bikes he rode. It'd be interesting to find out.
>
> Nath Dresser