1955 Allstate 125 - 1978 P125X - 1979 P200E - Booth&Painting JPM and '79 P200e. W.Gropius House, Lincoln, MA. 07.00. Last updated 26 Aug 01. 23.Aug.01 Sold the '79 P200e documented on these pages... Sad to see it go, but needed to part with it prior to my Sept move to Berlin, Germany. I'm keeping the '55 Allstate in storage here in the states, for an eventual return. Who knows, maybe in a few months I will get a scooter in Germany. Follows is the doc's on the restoration done about three years ago. Enjoy. Click here for more details on the sale. THE RESTORATION: Finished restoration. Boston Common. Dec.18.98. 15.June.98 I bought the Vespa from a fellow in the suburbs of Boston who had owned it for about ten years. It was in storage in a shed for the past eight years. I found out about the scooter from a recent acquaintance who tipped me off after meeting the aged Scooter enthusiast at a gas station -- when he was waxing nostalgic at the aforementioned fellow's nice Vespa. I called, arranged to meet him, and then went to meet him the next day. It was pouring. Because of the rain I was unable to test the scooter, but knowing that it was an excellent price based on the demand for Vespa's-- and that it looked okay, only had 6017 miles, and did start and run okay. We loaded it into a van and he drove me to Chinatown, Boston. I paid him $500 for the Vespa which included the transport back to the city. Thrilled, that evening when the rain had subsided, I rode it around the block a few times. Originally I didn't think I was going to get too extensively involved in restoring and rebuilding the Vespa. I had possible plans to repaint it, and did plan on doing a tune-up and getting the electrical system running okay, but this was all before the obsession struck. Early August, JPM and P200e Vespa out front of studio, Boston. 26.June.98 After six consecutive orders to various mail-order scooter shops (there are none local to Boston) and the coinciding of a nice freelance design paycheck, I became more involved with my new project. The little fixes became evenings and then days spent tuning and replacing the bodged parts. When I bought it there was no battery, the headlamp didn't work, the left flashers didn't work, both rear signals and the brake/tail light had been replaced by cheap small light units. The speedometer face was trashed and the needle had been replaced by a small piece of ineffective metal. It was also missing a cooling (cylinder) shroud, and the fuel switch assembly was entirely absent. The seat cover was in sorry shape. The centerstand had been replaced with a useless bicycle kickstand. I replaced all the above with stock items. The exhaust was patched and looking pretty old. I delayed on it. I did however, before riding the scoot much at all, change the oil, and replace the cables, adjust the brakes, replaced the spark plug, lubricated all pivot points, and WD40'ed all electrical contacts. Immediately I was able to ascertain that there was a less than mild problem with the gear shift mechanism or the transmission itself. Adjustment was futile, and 2nd and 3rd gear were unusable-- it slipped out into a non-gear. I learned to make do with 1st and 4th, knowing that I needed to order a new cruciform. Consulted the Scooter BBS and found out it was a pretty involved job. I tried finding someone to advise or repair. 11.July.98 On the way home from a ride to meet some Scooterists at a micro-car show in Brookline the scooter broke down (later I would find out the clutch had blown) and I ended up pushing the poor Vespa 2 miles home. Fortunately, at the event I had made arrangements with Woody, of the Boston Stranglers Scooter Club to help me rebuild and fix-up. I ordered all the parts to do a complete rebuild of the transmission, carbs, clutch, kickstart gear, and several internals. Held off on piston/cylinder work. I ordered a new P2 stock exhaust and a new selector box. As for the paint, I decided on an economical but thorough self-done re-paint by using primer, then color, then several thin coats of clear. Currently it is a Vespa Royal Blue. Not me at all! The new paint scheme will perhaps reflect an old Volvo of my dreams: Glossy charcoal grey on the exterior, and semi-flat muted red on the interior (inside the glove box, and the inside of the leg shields and top of the floor board.) I also plan to de-rust and paint the rims silver. I tried it on the front rim and it works well. 21.July.98 First repair session with Woody. We replaced the cruciform, seals, gaskets, clutch, and engine bolts. The piston and cylinder are okay. When we opened the clutch we found out that the part of the end cap or rod had snapped-- that's evidentally what had caused the problem coming home from Brookline previously. In addition to having a ground up cruciform, we also had to replace gear 2 and 3 because of their poor condition. Then, we had fifficulty putting the case back together without pinching and popping out the oil seal. And then when we tried to fix it (had to open the case again!) we ripped the gasket and had to start with a new one, and a new seal! We plan to continue our work in a few days: rebuild the carb, replace the front brake shoes, selector box, selector cables, exhaust, and check out the electrical contact problem under the gas tank. 27.July.98 Finished the rebuild and repairs a few days ago. Been driving the renewed Vespa every day since. The rest of the rebuild was rather frustrating-- Woody and I spent two hours fiddling with a stuck woodruff key and ended up having to drill and file it out to replace it. We were trying to put the flywheel cover back on, in the process of re-assembling the right side, and once tightened on, the f.w. cover was not aligned properly. Evidentally, the woodruff key slot was a bit mishapen from a previously sheared key. After getting out the severely pinched in and stuck key, we filed all the passages a bit and started with a new key. Cover went on fine. Front brakes replaced okay, exhaust replaced, carb rebuilt and cleaned with compressed air, and selector box replaced. I've been having some play and trouble with the box lately and hope it only needs a slight amount of adjustment. I'm fine tuning all the repairs and adjustments now. The Vespa seems to be running well-- I'm thrilled. I hope it continues to be reliable and such a source of pleasure and excite. Now I am thinking more about waiting until the riding season is done or at least for a few weeks before I strip down and repaint the frame. Also, I've decided that grey is probably too dangerous of a color as far as visibility is concerned. I plan on going with a metallic-- perhaps a silver light blue (like the old 50's Vespa's) or maybe a silver. I still want to do some red accents though. 7 Sept 98 Been riding the P about five days a week. It's so fantastic how much it contributes to my daily satisfaction-- or at least an abatement of the tension of living in the city. I continue doing small maintainence on the scoot, and it's been treating me well. Almost every sunday afternoon I participate in a medium size (40 to 80 miles) ride with several others. I'll probably start documenting these experiences soon. They have been so thoroughly enjoyable. The painting, I suspect, will wait until I take the scoot in for the season... unless I think I can knock out the whole job in three or four days and pick a rainy day to start. I still haven't decided what color, but I'm more and more fond of the two-color paintings. 27.Nov.98 Hard at work yesterday and today and stripping and prepping the P200 for its repainting. It's down in the workshop with all the parts removed as neccessary-- cowls off, rubber trims removed, glovebox off, all signals and taillight off, floor rails and mat off, badges carefully removed, seat removed, etc. With the P125x I learned that it is possible to do a fine paintjob with the wheels, headset, exhaust, stand, and engine still in place. Obviously you just need to mask properly. At this point I have naval jelly eating away at the wire-brushed and scrubbed body rust spots. I had to bend a few areas to make them straighter-- and ended up having to loosen the front fender to get to some rust that was behind it on the front of the legshield. One other point that I wanted to share with others-- for removing the floor rails I found it extremely efficient and safe to just pop all the rivets by (after removing the rubber strips by grabbing and yanking up and out) sliding a standard screwdriver under the rail and hammering moderately on the end until the rivet breaks and the rail is freed. In the workshop, parts off, wire-brushed, ready for sanding. 1.Dec.98 Still with my nose to the grindstone trying to get this P200 done. I'm about to put the third coat of gloss on, having already put three coats of primer and three coats of color (seafoam green.) I had a change of mind in the color scheme after already painting the glovebox and both cowls-- I realized that I wasn't too fond of the dark gunmetal grey metallic that I had intended for the whole scoot. So I returned the grey and bought a batch of the same metallic seafoam green that I used for the body of the P125x. After I finish with the body of the P200e I've got to get the glovebox and cowls back into the booth to prime and color them again! Then I will start the fairly quick but varietal task of re-assembling the scooter and its electronics and trims. The floor rails and chrome legshield trim I was able to get almost-good-as-new by wirebrushing them, washing them with cleanser and hot water, and the cleaning them with chrome polish (it didnt do much for the aluminum rails.) The rubber parts I all cleaned with that spray-on tyre cleaner foam. The horncast ended up looking really swell with the green and then masking out the main part and spraying the 'grille' part of it chrome. Eric gave me a saddle seat that I am working on and making a cover for to replace the stock bench seat. (Even though it has a new cover and new seat lock ass'y!) I am looking for a passenger saddle seat and/or a package rack and buddy seat combo. I'm also planning on making a buddy seat for the Allstate and one for Eric's Allstate, too, in exchange for the saddle he provided me. Frame in the booth, green paint in process. 11.Dec.98 Just finished the work on the P200. All complete! The only thing I still plan to do is make the buddy seat and a cover for the saddle seat. Currently I have the regular bench seat on it. I got the rack and had to clean it up, bondo some rust holes and dimples, and then repaint it. I found out that vinyl and foam are pretty cheap from fabric stores and should soon have some seats and covers made. The rails, though time consuming to put on, were less problematic than the P125x. I think that using the pliers and bending the tracks of the rail so that it is straight and consistant for the rubber to slide through is crucial. Had a pain of a time trying to get the glovebox on, it's still a bit bent, and the trim kept trying to fall off. It's obnoxious to have to remember the order to do all the last things: floor mat, floor rails, legshield trim, font blinkers, glovebox, horncast cover. Otherwise things just dont go together right. So now I've got to get some gas in it, take it outside, run it one last time before storing it, and get some good final restoration photogaphs of it! 12.Dec.98 Made the buddy seat and re-upholstered the saddle seat cover with my vinyl and foam. Both turned out pretty good, but I still can't decide if I like the look better than the bench seat. I could not for the life of me figure out how to properly tighten the rack/seat onto the frame with the seat already attached. I ended up tightening it best I could with my fingers and the wrench and then shimming it tightly into place with small pieces of rubber wedges. Got another photo taken-- the silly one with my and the tuxedo (was on the way out the door to a xmas party) and still hope to get some photos outdoors for the final documentions. Thanks for reading, and don't hesitate to email questions or comments to me. Take care. JPM Finished restoration. Boston Common. Dec.18.98 THE RESTORATION 1979 Vespa P200E 6000 mi at begin of Rebuild/Restoration. Replacements and Purchases to date: -Battery $16 -Speedometer (used) $30 -Centerstand and hardware $35 -Stock P2 exhaust $55 -Selector box (euro, no neutral switch) $50 -crankcase gasket/seal set $25 -Clutch rebuild kit $18 -Cruciform (Piag.) $18 -2nd & 3rd gear (used) $30 -Kickstart gear $9 -Seat cover $31 -Left Turn Signal $12 -Right Turn Signal $12 -Euro P Tail light $26 -Cylinder Shroud $12 -Headlamp bulb $13 -Front L turn signal lens $3 -Used Fuel Switch Assembly (US) $10 -Full set, inner cables (spares) $15 -Gear select cables in/out $15 -Front brake shoes $12 -Seat Lock $15 -Carb rebuild kit: needle, float, gaskets $15 -Kickstart rubber sleeve $2 -Spark plugs $6 -Bulbs (signals), fuses $6 -Paint, primer, etc. $10 -Various hardware $25 -Bloster (front) Wheel lock $29 -Vespa Haynes Manual $12 -Vespa parts book $7 -paint (primer,color,gloss) $60 Parts Total Dec98: $635 Cost of Scooter 15June98: $500 Total Investment: $1135 List of Completed tasks: Clean Scooter Clean all electrical contacts (WD40) Lubrication of pivots, control cables Install new battery Replace L front turn signal lens Replace Speedometer Replace Seat Cover Replace Headlamp Replace Centerstand and ass'y Replace Taillight ass'y Replace L & R rear turn signal ass'y Clean and inspect cylinder/piston Rebuild Clutch, replace clutch cable Replace 2nd & 3rd gears Replace cruciform, seals, gaskets, starter gear, bolts Rebuild Carburetor Replace Selector box and control cables Replace Exhaust (stock) Replace/Clean front brake ass'y/shoes Replace Seat lock Fix Spare Tyre Remaining (Eventual) Tasks: Fix left rear turn signal contact (internal cowl plug) 1955 Allstate 125 - 1978 P125X - 1979 P200E - Booth&Painting design ©1998 JPM