I had an Orange Krate with a five speed “Hurst” shifter.
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i bought one for 10 bucks off my friend’s older brother who was trading up to the “Continental” 10-speed. it had a racing slick back tire, fat with no tread. that left some great rubber skids. man i loved that bike.
Looking at those 1964 prices it’s no wonder my parents couldn’t afford to buy me a schwinn at the time.
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We did the same. Once a year our town would have “anything goes” garbage days so we’d ride around the neighborhood and grab all the tossed out bicycles and cobble together new Frankenstein’s Monster versions of bikes. One that sticks in my mind had forks made out of really long tubing we found.
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We use them when taking agricultural equipment to town as well. Tractors, swathers, and combines don’t have turn signals or brake lights either. Just one red light for visibility, and of course a slow-moving triangle.
Last time I checked, hand signals are still on the drivers’ test and certainly haven’t gone anywhere. Not that I’ve checked in a while mind you, but my nephew will be testing next year so I guess I’ll find out!
It was the 1970s. Bike helmets weren’t even a thing yet. Hell, we had lawn darts which apparently killed one hundred million people a year if you believe the stories. They were awesome, though yes, pretty shockingly dangerous. 
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Milwaukee’s midcentury modern madman industrial designer Brooks Stevens (Oscar Meyer Weinermobile, “boomerang”. Pattern Formica, wide mouth peanut butter jar) designed this Orangecrate knock off for Sears with twin stick speed shifter and drag brake controls, bizarre front suspension, and seat mounted rear reflector. Gnarly!
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Holy cow that’s awesome. I would ride one of those today in a heartbeat.
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Had one. Loved it.
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Mine was the one speed in blue. I loved the banana seat, it was metal flake vinyl to match the bike. My ancient Gary Fisher was great in its day, but no bike was ever better than that Stingray.
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I had one of those and an uncle had given me a bike radio, which was a large transistor radio (AM) that bolted onto a bracket on the handle bars. We actually listened to news coverage of an Evil Knievel jump while doing jumps ourselves. We were more successful than Evil that day.
When I got too big for the bike, I got a Schwinn ten speed. I think it was built from pig iron since it was twice as heavy as my friends ten speeds.
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I had a PURPLE one! With a sissy bar!!! And, @theophrastus, mine had hand brakes. I didn’t know they came with coasters!
Edited to fix spelling error.
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Yes, I graduated from the banana seat one speed to the 10 speed horn handle bar Schwinn and had it until college.
One time on the first Schwinn I was coming home from my first job at the VW repair shop down the street and thought it would be a great idea to use my new trash sticker (broom handle with a nail in it) into the spokes.
Oops. Head over heals. Maybe that was when the frame first started weakening 
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Obligs:
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A few years ago I found a trashed 1960s Huffy called The Wheel. I restored it as the pics show below. Although it had a coaster brake it also came with a stick shift style rear brake. Super dangerous if you’re riding with only one hand on the steering wheel.
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I had the Western Flyer version in metalflake purple. It was definitely my favorite bike. Coaster brake and a front hand brake. Also the bike where I learned to be cautious with that front brake. I went over the handlebars and still have the scar from where the front brake block carved a nice V-shaped groove into my knee as I flew past. Helmets? Where would you get those?
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I wanted one of these (the UK watered down version)
Never did get one, would look a bit daft if I got one now
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TBH, if you got one of those now, I would think “Wow! That looks neat!”.
Sadly, my second thought would be along the lines of “Wow! I wish my knees worked well enough to let me ride one of those!”.
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My brother bought a Volkcycle lime green 10 speed in the 70s. I was not allowed to touch it or even look at. I stole it one day to go riding with friends. I was riding no hands and looked away at my friends and did not see the Corvette. I hit the front wheel and bounced across the hood. I did not stick around to wait for the owner to see the scratch. The bike had a scratch and I caught hell.
Good times.
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Nah, Gen-Xers of a certain flavor would totally give you props for rocking this ride. Respect!
[Do what feels good, to hell with anyone else. As the youngs say “you do you”.]
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