Contuning my recent Paramount bing, I've posted photos of my all-chrome 1973 Paramount P13 on Wool Jersey:
http://www.wooljersey.com/
While I am highly confident of the originality of the 1972 Paramount I posted recently, I'm much less confident about the originality of this 1973. I bought it on eBay in 2005, and it was represented as all original, but when I received it it had too-new new logo Cinelli bars and stem, which I replaced with period correct ones. It also has dark anodized Mavic GP4 rims which may be a bit too new. Anyone know when the GP4 was introduced? Note the seattube decals. Whereas my earlier Paramounts, including the 1972, have the Schwinn seattube panel decal with World Championship bands at top and bottom, this 1973 has only the Worlds bands, no panel. The 1973 catalog shows mostly Paramounts with the panel, but one photo of a Paramount Tandem in that catalog seems to show only the bands, so perhaps these are correct and/or original.
Somehow I have managed to accumulate all-chrome Paramounts from four consecutive years, 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1973 (not sure how that happened, I certainly didn't set out to do so). But this does allow me to chronicle the changes in the Paramount in the ealy 70's. One item discussed here recently was the lug lining. I've posted photos of the lugs only from 1970 through 1973 on Wool Jersey as well:
http://www.wooljersey.com/
While the fancy Nervex lugs themselves didn't change much in this era, note that the red lug lining in 1970 and 1971 gave way to black lining in 1972 and no lining at all in 1973. At least I find no evidence of lug lining on the 1973, although it could have been polished out if someone made a sufficiently determined effort.
Also note the change in the fork crown between 1970 and 1971. The 1970 crown, as viewed from the side, has a longer point in the center, with shorter points to each side, while 1971 through 1973 have two shorter points in the center with longer points at each side.
Finally, there is a subtle change to the seatstay ends at the seatlug in 1973. The stay ends are cut a bit differently and the stay caps are slightly longer in 1973 than in 1970 through 1972. It may not be obvious, but the stay caps from 1970 through 1972 measure 30 mm long, while the 1973 is 35 mm long.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Big Spring, Texas, USA