OK you might have noticed my absence lately posting and stuff... well here is why.

[cphilip]

I got involved... well totaly engrossed really... in this project that I stumbled across a week ago. You might remember I had bought a Scooter. And in that post I was telling you how I had always wanted a Vintage Vespa or Lambretta and how that Scooter was a carbon copy of them. Well... let me get to the point here...

I ran into a guy down in Georgia that had an old Vespa he wanted to get rid of. It was kind of beat up cosmeticaly but ran like a top. 6800 original miles on it too. So eventualy he keep lowering the price to me and I finaly went down and looked at it. And bought it.

It is a 1978 P200E. That is a 200cc 2 stroke. 25 years old doesn't seem like that old to me but its older than most of you. And so it gets a Antique tag and all.

Anyway it needed mostly stripping down and painting because its running pretty darn good. And it had the original paint on it from 1978. Lots of knicks and rubs and surface rust setting in where the paint was missing. Needed a new seat (ordered) and a new fuel cut off valve (also ordered). But it does run fine. Good tires on it. But to paint there are many things to remove. All the electrical stuff, original badges and the tranny gears and clutch and cables and all are good on it. So its a "runner" not a looker. So I started last week on it and I am slowly getting it ready for painting. I spent the whole weekend on it as well. And many nights last week. So its now ready for paint. All the parts taken off are bagged and labeled and being restored a little at a time.

Here is a series of pictures of it. I will update as the painting gets done and I start reinstalling everything


Here is is as it sat when I bought it:

[cphilip]

Early stages of removal and tear down:

[cphilip]

OK now you see the rusty wheels painted and the floor strips up and the whole thing sanded to metal and then primed and taped off and ready to paint. I got to this stage around 5 PM today.

[-Carnifex-]

Awesome.

[gamarada717]

I'm gonna call you Phil the scooter man from now on.:)

[cphilip]

Scooter Pooter! thats me!

this one is an investment here. Its worth like $3000 to $3500 when it restored.

[personman]

Dude phil.. LOL I could so see you on one of those.. little mullet man on a scooter :cool:

[lgavin]

haha!! "little mullet man on a scooter" perfect, whats better than that...id love to c that...nice work on restoring it by the way and good luck wit it

[SpongeBobSquarePants]

Dude that little thing is cool. Whats its top speed? You so have to bring in to AO South east day :D

[Collegeboy]

When I was viewing your pictures my father walked in and saw your vespa, and he told me how when he was 17 and living in Paris. His father bought him one, and for an entire summer he did nothing but ride all over Europe in it.

[cphilip]

Cool Collegboy! It probably brought back some fond memories for him. Tell him I let him drive it around if he is ever gets down this way? What year Vespa was he using in Paris?

Its top speed is around 65 I think. But thats pushing it and prolly could hit 70 downhill with a light rider. Most often 55 or so is about tops on one of these when its stock like this. I hear of people realy hotroding them and hitting 75 easy. Oversize pistons (225cc) and performance gears, re-jetting and performance exhausts. The Speedo tops at 70 I think. Have to look and see for certain.

[logamus]

70 on that little thing might make you find religon in a big hurry.

[magking1971]

Someone said you were getting a hair cut and it was taking this long:D
Im with ya phil, scooters are cool and that one you just got looks awesome!

[Collegeboy]

Well my father graduated from school in paris in 1956, so it would probably be a 1953 to 1955.

[LIGHTEMUP]

haha thats kewl i have a moped thats pretty neat id like to fix it up but dont know how :rolleyes:

[Zumina]

I say we all chip in $5 and buy phil a harley. That way when he's riding around town he'll know people are laughing at him, not his bike.

[cphilip]

Well you miss the whole point of Scooters. Scooters are dorky and we like it that way. Harleys are way to much in vogue now. Prolly "too cool" if you ask me. Scooterists want to be dorky. They covet it. ;)

1956 eh? Dam he is old!!! That's the year I was BORN! Well tell him I am afraid of the liabliliy for his old tired behind to be on a Scooter! That should get him ranting!!! :D

[cphilip]

Originally posted by logamus
70 on that little thing might make you find religon in a big hurry.


Not me! I not gonna find out if it will do it. 40 MPH starts scaring me. I had this one up to 50 while I was test riding it but then backed off right away.

[Collegeboy]

Originally posted by cphilip
Well you miss the whole point of Scooters. Scooters are dorky and we like it that way. Harleys are way to much in vogue now. Prolly "too cool" if you ask me. Scooterists want to be dorky. They covet it. ;)

1956 eh? Dam he is old!!! That's the year I was BORN! Well tell him I am afraid of the liabliliy for his old tired behind to be on a Scooter! That should get him ranting!!! :D

Don't worry, I ask him how was Moses everytime I can think to.

[cphilip]

hehehehe... I bet he realy apreciates that. :cool:

[Albinonewt]

I didn't notive you were missing Phil.

Guess I need to start paying better attention

[logamus]

Originally posted by cphilip



Not me! I not gonna find out if it will do it. 40 MPH starts scaring me. I had this one up to 50 while I was test riding it but then backed off right away.

when i was 15/16 i had a 50cc honda scooter that topped out at 40 downhill and it was plenty for a young punk to get in over his head. i can only imagine some old longhair going 60 on a scooter. that fills me with the giggles. :)

[cphilip]

Well someday you just might get to SEE it! ;)

I spent today water sanding and filling little bumps and sanding some more. My Father in law is mixing the paint match today as well. We might get this thing shot tomorrow or the next day. Going with several coats of color and several coats of clear coat.

Its going to be Silver Grey with Black accents. It will take me a full day to put it all back together after its painted. I am hopeing to have it all ready to get on the road by the weekend if that all gets done and my new seat comes in. For some reason that has not shipped yet and was supposed to ship last Friday. I getting a bit concerned about that...

[krafty]

There is a used lawnmower place near me that has an old orange Vespa with a sidecar. I keep going in there every once in a while, but I haven't had the guts to ask how much they want for it. :)

If it's still there when I go in again, I will ask... I swear I will!

[cphilip]

Side cars a cool! I want one!!!! :) sure! Ask em what they think its worth.

[DiRTyBuNNy]

you could always buy one of the new Vespa's..(and btw, are you getting your parts through scooterworks.com, if not you may want to check them out)

[cphilip]

Yea but who can afford one! The new ET4 is like 5 grand (I think that picture you linked is the 50cc ET2 and its 3 grand, looks the same though). And the looks are not so retro at all. And I already have a 150 cc 4 stroke. I'd buy the Bajaj (well I did) or a Stella before I spent that kind of money on about the same thing. Them Italians do not work cheap anymore.

No I getting my stuff from Scomo. They out of Virgina so the shipping is cheaper (and should be quicker) to me. I do however have some Scooterworks decal!

I did buy some stuff from POC in Cleveland too. He is good to deal with and he beats Scooterworks prices if he can.

[bornl33t]

You ARE going to put flames on that baby RIGHT?;)

[cphilip]

LOL... noooo... was not planning on it!

Funny thing is the guy I bought it from gave me a brand new half helmet to go with it and guess what it had on it! FLAMES!!!!.

I gave it to Fatman.

[bornl33t]

WHAT? I WANT IT!!!! FLAMES are MY buisness!!

in more ways then one :D j/k

[cphilip]

LOL I totaly forgot you and your flames thing Heat! How could I? :D

Ok we now have PAINT!!!! Yep I took it over to Father in Laws body shop today and he shot it with color and clear coat. Looks Super nice. I took some pictures with the Phone camera but they do not do it justice. I will get some better tomorrow but for now.... here's a few

[cphilip]

This is a custom color match to the original paint. A sort of Platnum. Metalic Silver grey.

[cphilip]

One more. Not the best pictures but will take some more as I start re-assembly tomorrow.

[krafty]

Flames are passe'... teeth are where it's at!

[cphilip]

Getting closer....

[cphilip]

And...