Guy Bought Rare Schwinn Bike for $350, Found Out It’s Worth $100,000 – and Now He Wants to Give it Away!

By Alex in Auto & Transportation on Jul 2, 2008 at 12:38 pm

Tom Mault bought this bike for $350 and later found out that it was a wise purchase: the bike is a 1963 Schwinn Sting-Ray bike, one of the first of its kind off the line.

And Schwinn collectors have offered him up to $100,000 for the "rare piece of American history" – Tom, however, had another idea:

Bike collectors from London to Japan "flipped out," Mault says. By 6 p.m. Thursday, his online posting had been viewed almost 1,900 times, and people had offered him between $2,000 and $100,000 for the bike.

The catch, he says: It’s not for sale.

Mault, who owns roofing company Tidewater Exteriors in Hampton, says he would rather donate the Sting-Ray — one of the hottest American icons of the 1960s and ’70s — to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.

Link – Thanks Mowog!

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andrew
Jul 2nd, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Good for him!
star_light
Jul 2nd, 2008 at 2:26 pm
$100,000 for that?
CheeseDuck
Jul 2nd, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Can I have it?
Tedd
Jul 2nd, 2008 at 2:46 pm
If this guy had any morals he would return the bike to the guy who sold it on consignment for such a low price because he didnt know its worth. How is this guy taking the high road when he basically screwed over the old man who trusted the shop to sell it at its true worth?
Thomas Anderson
Jul 2nd, 2008 at 3:49 pm
@ Tedd
“How is this guy taking the high road when he basically screwed over the old man who trusted the shop to sell it at its true worth?”

Did you not read the first sentence?

“Tom Mault bought this bike for $350 and *later* found out that it was a wise purchase”
jodie
Jul 2nd, 2008 at 3:54 pm
i agree thomas. if the guy had purposely bought it for cheap knowing that it was worth a lot, then i’d say he was a rat. but really, $350 isn’t like stealing it out from under the guy for $5. if it were me, and i had bought it for $350 and sold it $100k – i would give some of the profit to the original owner just to be nice. but i don’t think there is any obligation to do so. plus, super cool that he’s donating it to the Smithsonian….i’d sell it!

the monkey
Tedd
Jul 2nd, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Of course I read it, and I read about the grandfather who is probably in his 80s who put it up for sale on consignment not knowing what its worth is. I am not saying that he bought the bike in bad faith, but once he determined its real value, it’s the right thing to make sure the old grandfather is given what the bike is worth. Profiting off the naivety or 80 year olds is not morally a great thing to do.
lionheart
Jul 2nd, 2008 at 5:52 pm
He will donate it okay?. Don´t talk about profits, the only person that lost is the buyer.
kid_icarus
Jul 2nd, 2008 at 6:24 pm
won’t the smithsonian buy it from him? at least for $350?
ted
Jul 3rd, 2008 at 6:01 am
The Smithsonian would give him some kind of tax receipt for the donation, so he’d do okay by it.
Tim Giachetti
Jul 3rd, 2008 at 6:27 am
Tedd,

It’s called capitalizm. Don’t like it? Move to China.
nash
Nov 24th, 2008 at 12:48 am
wow i met the guy who bought the bike ‘Tom Mault’ very cool guy he did donate the bike to smithsonian with the permission and blessing of the original owner !! so why badmouth someone if you dont know the facts ?? would youve done something like that or took the money and ran? i guess everybody isnt motivated by money and greed ,,,2 thumbs up way up Tom your my hero..
Jimi Ramone
Oct 13th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
This item is a true “don’t expect the experts to know what they are doing” story. Vintage Schwinns are going up in value everyday and the shop where this bike sold should have done the research to let the original owner know what he had. Both they, and the owner would have profited greatly. Their main mechanic, a guy named Mike Love, who says he’s been in the business for over thirty years, should have known that this bike was special. Dude, might be time to consider a another “career”, you just don’t have the intelligence to make a go of this bike thing!
DaveTurner
Oct 15th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Been in this shop, messy, disorganized… just another shop where details fall through the cracks. But they are one of the few shops that advertise that they have a president! Not an owner, a president! Hey how about sending these two dorks to Washington instead of the bike, they would fit in great. They have no concept of the value of their assets, they screw over their clients and are completely out of touch with reality. Re-election would not be a problem, just ask Bush!

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