Middleweight

I'm looking for a higher resolution copy of this image and/or possibly other factory images of the Schwinn Corvette.

I recall Stan (a.k.a. Scooper) mentioned that his father is the gentlemen squatting on the far left. Others include Ray Burch is third from left, sixth from left is Frank V. Schwinn and far right is Edward R. Schwinn (a.k.a. "Brownie").

Stan, any chance you have some pics tucked away in your filing cabinet? Feel free to message me.

Thanks,

Johnny

immarmalade

I found a larger version of this image on photobucket (thanks google), it looks a little grainy, but I can not yet post URLs here, so suffer through this with me...

goto photobucket dot com /gallery/user/k4drd/media/bWVkaWFJZDo2ODA5MDg1NA==/?ref=

Middleweight

All the images online are from the same low-res scan, which has grain and pixelation. Someone's gotta have a high-res scan or maybe even a 35mm print, which could be scanned at 300dpi. It's an historic photo and I'd love to have it on my wall.

- Johnny

Scooper

Hi Johnny,

I have a correction on the names; the man on the far right is Edward R. Schwinn, but "Brownie" Schwinn is a different person and isn't in the photo. Edward R. Schwinn was Frank V. Schwinn's younger brother and the father of Edward R. Schwinn, Jr., who headed the company from the late 70s until the late 1992 bankruptcy. Ed, Jr. is also the older brother of Richard Schwinn, now owner (with Marc Muller) of Waterford Precision Cycles.

Edward, Sr. died in 1972.



I had a larger image of the '54 Corvette intro photo, but can't seem to find it.

Scooper

This one's a little better (1623 x 1236 pixels), but it's too big to post here. LINK

Scooper

FWIW, "Brownie" Schwinn was baptized Clarence Braun, and was the son of Elizabeth Schwinn Braun (Ingaz Schwinn's daughter and Frank W. Schwinn's sister). I'm a little hazy about the details, but Ignaz Schwinn had Elizabeth legally change Clarence's name to Ignaz Schwinn II. Since Braun is Brown in German, he became known as "Brownie."

Services have been scheduled for Saturday for Ignaz "Brownie" Schwinn II | UPI July 15, 1983

Middleweight

Yeah, these are all from the same scan, which was originally low-res (probably 72dpi) then bumped up to 200dpi. It has the typical moiré pattern, which could be removed if it were re-scanned. If you come across the actual photo (or any other Schwinn publicity shots), please let me know. Thanks!

John E

I was wondering about that, since that Edward Schwinn appears to have a left arm, something Brownie had lost by then in a motorcycle crash.

If my name were Braun, I would have preferred "Brawny" as nickname.

Scooper

Brownie's motorcycle accident when he lost his left arm occurred in 1948.

My dad told me that Ignaz Schwinn abruptly quit making Henderson and Excelsior motorcycles in 1931 after there were three fatalities in one week on Schwinn built motorcycles, and he believed the lack of protection and braking power made motorized two wheel vehicles inherently unsafe (although the Whizzer motorbikes built on Schwinn frames were produced during and after the war, initially to provide defense workers with economical transportation during gasoline rationing). Some histories suggest it was the great depression that caused Schwinn to stop making motorcycles, but Schwinn's motorcycle sales were booming in the early thirties as folks could no longer afford cars.