Monday, May 28, 2007

New Project!






Well, I may have bitten off more than I can chew... My dear friend Jenn came over to my house today with her main squeeze, Frank, and brought me a new project. A 1953 Allstate. Now, the Allstates of the day were known as "Cruisaires" and were basically the same as the Vespa "handlebar models". They sported a 125cc engine and 8" wheels and Sears came to the conclusion that shock absorbers were not needed on the front end, so no Allstates were ever marketed with a shock. Kinda scares me...


So, we pulled this little scooter out of the back of Frank's SUV and set it on the driveway. HOO boy!! Wiring is non-existant. Cables, too. And for the life of me, I can't see how the throttle works. Apparently some ol' farmer thought the same thing, since he mounted a steel rod on the right side of the seat with a hand throttle on it. Kinda like a cheap Sears lawnmower. Looking further, there are no cowls. Anybody know where I can pick up a couple of cowls for a handlebar model Vespa? And check out the wheels!!! They are hardware store 6" wheels for some kind of a cart or wagon. However, the brush applied red paint is quite attractive...


Let's see...what else does it have? Umm, no seat. No levers. It DOES however have the original headlight and tailight in good condition. The body (except for the legshield) is in decent shape. It still rolls. Kinda. To be honest, I don't know if it will ever come together. Make a fine coffee table, though...


C-ya...ride on,
--Keys


6 comments:

Hot Tomato said...

Ummm Hummm...Well at least it is in one piece, kinda...You ar right the color is kinda cool.

Cheers, Hot Tomato

Unknown said...

OMG, Keys!!! Please do work on this project...an Allstate is a total dream scooter! What a great find. I can't wait to see how you fix it up.

Lambrettaman said...

Maybe if we combine your Allstate with my boys' Cento project we could come up with 1 complete bike ... Is this the same one you had before?

Daniel said...

Naw, Mike...Tryg and Sam have that one now...this is one that Jenn Chapman had in Prescott. The other was a smallframe, this is a handlebar model.

Unknown said...

Think there is any hope on this project?

Daniel said...

I'm thinkin' there might be hope, here, Jack...but it would take the form of a serious "Rat Scoot". I can EVEN find any cowls...