The story that's long made the rounds is that Joe Brilando did the lug lining and pin striping, and that this was discontinued when he retired at the end of 1971. That jibes with most of the Paramount I've seen, but possibly Brilando retired later than that or someone else took over the lug lining duties, at least for special orders. IMO, the thing that makes the really early Chicago Paramounts special is the hand pinstriping, which is both aesthetically lovely and represents the nicest handwork Paramounts exhibited - and the reason why restored/repainted "Disneyland" era Paramounts just don't do it for me.
Ed Granger Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA
_________________________________________________________ I bought a new in the box Paramount P-13 in 1973. I think it cost me about $400. I was working in a Schwinn shop at the time. It was red and the Nervex lugs were chromed and pin striped in white. The frame could have been build up to about 1+ year earlier than that. The story I was told about the end of the pinstripping was that there was one person at the factory that did the stripping and that she retired in about 1972-73. We didn't get any new Paramounts after mine that were pin stripped. As I recall all of the chrome bikes were stripped and I think they were in red paint. Pin stripping was
optional but I can't recall if there was an extra charge for the stripping. The frame was just a bit too big for me and so I sold it and kept the
equipment. Which I toke to England with me in the summer of '74 were I had a custom built Mercian Superlight waiting. I spent that summer racing in England and Belgium. I can't remember all the details anymore . It's been over 35 years.
Garland Glenn
Tyler, TX