Crooked Vespa

My original intentions to starting this blog was to share my experience and mistakes in restoring my 1961 Vespa GS Cushman. Yesterday I received some bad news. I meet Eric Lussier of 2nd Avenue Scooters in Phoenix, AZ with the happy prospect of getting my bike professionally painted back to its like new condition. I knew my bike was far from perfect with a dent in almost every side of my frame but I was not prepared for what happened next. Apparently the previous owner had some major accident or damage that has caused the rear half of the scooter to be twisted and off aligned about an 1/2 inch. Eric is very concerned that this may not be repairable or maybe very costly to repair. He is going to consult some other auto body experts to see what our options will be but he told me to be prepared to potentially look for another GS frame.

Another frame? This is a GS150 Cushman! The rare 1 0f only 500 in the USA and the World! Where am I going to find another frame? I know IF I can find another GS 150 VS5 that will work but I really wanted the GS Cushman version.

I never claimed to be an expert in Vespa's but after around 12 years in the hobby I took the plunge on a GS. This has become a very expensive experience. I knew it was going to be but I wanted that experience and I am sure paying for it. Here is what I have learned and I really hope someone someday will learn from my mistakes as I know I have. When purchasing a scooter you really need to take your time and look over the body in every detail. Good luck buying online. I bought this in person. I felt every dent but when I bought this scooter I expected it to be "easy" to fix the body work. If there is a dent you have to imagine the best way a to fix this is hammer and dolly from the other side. My dent and crease is in the center of the frame where you cannot access it from the back side. Eric showed me a recent Lambretta he purchased where the previous owner had two major welds in the frame that were hidden under the legshield. He knew to look for that. The seller quickly dropped his top dollar request and Eric appropriately bought is as a project bike. He knew this Lambretta frame was not road worthy and was able to get basically a parts bike. I on the other hand happily handed over my top dollar cash for a twisted Vespa that may need to have its frame replaced or major surgery to repair. This is a expensive lesson to learn.

Notice that the rear of the frame is pointed slightly to the left by about an 1/2 inch.

The air cover door seems to line up correct except the upper half of the frame is dented and twisted to the right.

You can see how the door lines up in the scratched paint (upper left) and the whole upper half of the opening is bent to the right towards the dent damage.