Modern Vespa

I am scraping the bottom of the project barrel and rustoring an old AllState roundtail that has seen better days, but is basically solid. A scooter buddy worked at Sears in high school and remembers these light blue beauties when they arrived at his store.

He's now got a similar, but slightly newer frame & most parts but his was rattle canned w/ dark red primer which he has been patiently removing w/ grafitti remover and getting good results. So we're doing twin projects and hope to put in P200 motors converted to 8".

I just got my Mercato CARE package(thanks guys) w/ cables and that odd bearing set w/ loose balls so I can begin assembly as soon as I do a bit more sanding. The green filler is fiberglass and very thin where leggy was welded, but tough as nails.

Here's before pics, I will be saving the old paint best I can.

















Last edited by V oodoo on Tue, 06 Apr 2021 20:46:35 +0000; edited 2 times

Lots of rubbing compound and some welding, grinding , minimal filling and spot touchup painting w/ the best color match I could find so far...












Bajaj motor, 3 ported & converted to 8"

old motor was frozen 3 speed piston ported boat anchor

Looking great! That blue has really come back!

Always ready for a challenge! Very tidy underneath... and the motor is almost Vaderkleen. Nice one Terry.

Awesome work!.. and yes, you know we love patina!

What makes you think the old motor was frozen?

I like it so much I just call it rust. I also like the color of the fiberglass filler.

Looks great Terry! Welcome to the 8 inch world.

Love it, nice work. These just look so awesome.

I mean it wouldn't turn over because water had gotten in the crankcase making a rusty mess. It could have been saved I suppose, but I have little incentive with a perfectly good rotary ported motor ready to go.

Meanwhile, thanks to all for the encouragement. Here's a '51 Ford that gives me some additional incentive.
Same as my first car except mine was a green convertible 8) but no patina
I can't say enough good about this stuff and, yeah, even the color


it feathers out so nice

here's the fiberglass filler I used, a bit more expensive than the Bondo brand
got all the cables run

need to fix some mouse chews here

engine compartment got full sand, rust treat, prime & gloss paint for easy cleaning positive rust control
bottom got a little color at edges and full clearcoat for protection
NO clearcoat up on top, just wax

wow that is like "found it on the Titanic" levels of Patina!! a bit too much for my taste but...

nice clean up and could make a cool 'rat rod' style scooter

keep posting pics

I don't know about patina, honest wear is what I find acceptable. But I like what you're doing by bringing this scoot back from the dead.

Great scoot looking forward to updates. In an earlier life I thought that needed a paint job but something within has changed. Wish you'd save the motor too, piston port is special. Looking forward to seeing the preservation of the finish.

Outstanding, painstaking work. Hard to believe it's the same scoot in the before/after pictures. Old Allstates rule, obvs. Beautiful!

I prefer to see the original colour and signs of age, use and enjoyment (my definition of patina). However, I also like to see lots of old Vespas on the road and if a restoration or just a repaint keeps more of them in circulation for years to come, then so be it.

Definitely won't be called a trailer queen. Love the well used look.

love the fix only what needs fixing approach to this.

We started riding stuff like this back in 80's to keep them from getting stolen.

Nailed it. It's a survivor that might not have survived without some help, but for me it's not worth it trying to bring it all the way back w/ original engine rebuild, serious body work & pro paint etc. Next owner can go for it with a solid foundation, nothing will be irreversibly altered.

It's a solid frame, it can be made to look acceptable and have all the mechanical stuff working right and maybe improved. I'm not trying to 'build' a rat. I will be trying to keep it AllState, but I've already added a shock to the original fork and I'll put the best motor available in it (however must have curved kickstart lever). It's getting the pretty acorn tail light which is wrong for an AllState. Also a prettier horn than it came with.


mouse chews fixed

fork & headset installed, also rear shock

Really beautiful!!! Keep it up...

Is that welded tube for the fuel line to pass through standard or was that farmer bodged at some point?

Nice work!

I'm also a believer that rat bikes aren't built but develop. My 67 GT is my cannonball scooter. It looks like a piece of crap rides incredibly well and has gone coast to coast twice.

Rust rules!

wow dude not many can claim that kind of fame. You and the GT are a legend.

Came on the bike that way, the only bodgery going on here is minimal and by me. Like the Bajaj motor installed today.


factory paint

from the inside

plug and maybe play?

in like Flynn

original centerstand

Dude...that scooter rocks!

I wish all their bikes were like that instead of the shoddy rubber grommet that often splits.

What are your plans for the engine? What flavor Bajaj engine is it? This bike will be great.

My plans for the engine are to see if I can blow it up/ keep it alive... sort of like Slashy's experiment but domestic version. The motor is a lot like the bike and was my first motor rebuild, so it's an open question.

It was also a rescue project and was originally 10". It was polished like that when I got it. Water had gotten into the top end and crankcase, everything was rusted solid, but fortunately it stayed out of the gearbox. Apparently all this happened early in its life as the gearset showed very little signs of wear. Several hours scraping cleaned up the crankcase fine and luckily the rotary pad was covered and in good shape after cleaning.

Converting to 8" wheels is cake if you have a dead 8"motor w/ 2 brake pins to steal the backing plate , hub & brake drum from. The motor was a 2 port, now has a 3rd port cut in and a new budget 166 'performance' top end w/ port matching and mild biggening, plus a fresh crankshaft, bearings & seals etc. Will be running a port matched 20/20, some random stator w/ a lightened flywheel via plastic fan and some kind of pipe.

Here's pics, Bajaj motor but it has Piaggio logos on it too, so semi-legit!


Piaggio badge and weird Bajaj motor number

shock length about right, fan cover slots close to parallel w/ cowl bottom

Looks great man! really jealous, let me know if you need any bits sent over. whats going on with the exhaust? i'm sure if you've had anything to do with tho motor build though it will be fine. I know now what 'patina' is...

I love that attitude! People have asked me what the hardest part of riding the Cannonball vintage is.

"Running WFO with the clutch covered waiting for your shit to blow up under you any second."

Sweet build brother!

Thanks, guys. The current exhaust is my test pipe which makes it a lot easier doing cables, centerstand etc when installing the motor and checking everything out before I put on the PM Tuning expansion chamber.


but for now it's the PM header pipe only turned facing backwards plus a lawn mower muffler. Actually works pretty well.

Yesterday I took it for first ride sitting on the frame up to the mailbox w/ the gas in the funnel, used 1st & 2nd gear It all worked better than I expected . Today I went over to Doc Morgan's and used his Harbor Freight planisher on my rumpled cowls - that thing works awesome, ironed the wrinkles right out! You can see his AllState still in pieces in the background, he's got some catching up to do.


Doc's frame behind me looks great considering it was covered in dark red primer when he got it

it's like ironing your laundry w/ a machine gun

damn thing is LOUD!

That's really cool, nice work. Do you have before and after pics on the cowls?

I'll have to hunt around for more before shots, but here's one and a couple of afters


can't tell much here

the scrapes & gouges were an eighth to a quarter inch deep on both

can't get the paint back but got the shape pretty good
why I love roundtails, ass is just so round!

Those cowls look great now. I'm liking his planishing setup!

Yeah the roundtail shape is awesome. Nice work!

Now talk Doc Morgan into getting an E wheel so you can make my fake counterfeit battery door perfect

wow! those came out really nice. Now that you have nice shiny/ round cowls your faded gas tank is making the rest of the bike look bad. I think you need to polish it haha just joking looks great!

Good eye Morrie, gas tank is now all derusted inside & polished up outside. Bike runs pretty good and I'm down to just one page on my to do list. Toughest item, I need to find a headlight & rim for this weird headset.

Working on all the little details now and tonite I got the preliminary straightening and deburring on the outer & center floor rails done so I can polish up the edges tomorrow at Doc's using his wizard equipment.


these are original to the bike

pretty chewed up
I tried one of the short ones first and it's about done

two hours later, looking much better

let me look in that one special box in the garage that has the hard to find bits. I don't think I have any vna headlights left but let me check.

failing that http://www.sip-scootershop.com/EN/Products/57278920/Headlamp+Unit+SIEM+for+Vespa+.aspx?_country=E993AB67-6807-4109-BBED-F6374EBF9F9B&gpc_origin=pla&gpc_feed_alias=us&gpc_pid=57278920&gclid=CMeSiaiC8tICFUlNfgodeKQGjg

Or you could steal one off a faro basso, they are the same except for the tab at the bottom.

Reminds me of a guy I knew that bought a '59 El Camino. The trim on the back of the car around the bed is very hard to find. But his car had all the trim there but it was beat to shit. He found a guy that hires Pakistani jewelers to tap out the trim. When he got it back it was perfect! Finish like a mirror. Chevy never ever made a piece of chrome that nice but it cost him an arm and a let to get done too.