Vespa GS 150 Fuel Tap

When I got my project Vespa GS 150 it came without some of the original parts. One part in particular is the glass fuel tap. Mine had the typical large frame fuel tap that is available at any scooter parts store. I have recently been on the hunt and I have come close but still do not have the original yet.

The large frame fuel tap from Motorsport Scooters

Here is a shot I got from somewhere online. Notice the glass sediment bowl and the fuel line curving to the left.

Here is another shot I got from an GS150 restoration I saw at 2nd Avenue Scooters. Also the "DELLORTO SEREGNO ITALIA" lettering on the tap.

These are the tap I bought from ebay and scoot.net both are not correct for a GS150. The glass one on the left is what you typically might find on most 1960's Vespa scooters but not correct for the GS150.

Notice the glass tap on the left and how the fuel line goes to the right. On the GS150 tap in the pictures above all the taps have the line goto the left.

Here is a scan from the Vespa Tecnica book and it has a shot of the tap and the fuel line curved to the left. If you know of the correct tap available please let me know as I am on the hunt for it!

Visiting a Restored Vespa GS 150 Cushman

Eric at 2nd Avenue Scooters gave me a call the other day and told me of a customer scooter that he was servicing. It was a 1961 Vespa GS Cushman just like the one I am restoring. I brought my camera as I had never seen another of these scooters in person and I wanted to take as many pictures as a reference for my restoration. Here are just a sample of some of the shots but if you follow my link to my flickr page you can view over 70 pictures.

New Old Vespa Scripted Keys

When I bought my Vespa it came with no keys. Now I have keys. Eric has hooked me up again and this time he had the Taylor 63V Vespa Scripted keys. He was able to score these keys from ABC Lock in Phoenix just around the corner from his shop for $2.50 each and he hooked me up at the same price! THANKS ERIC! We took these key blanks and my locks to them and they were able to re-keyed both the steering column and glove box lock. This makes me so happy. I love saving the original locks and not having to buy reproductions.

Laser Metal Bracket

So here is a sketch that Eric drew on wax paper. This is hopefully the metal bracket that we will use to help straighten this crooked scooter. We then went and had John cut out this bracket with his amazing water laser cutter. I can't believe water is cutting this steel! The steel is about 1/2" thick.

GS Fork Repair

Here is my GS150 fork. It has a chunk of aluminum missing and has been damaged. Luckily for me I had Eric at 2nd Avenue Scooters help me out! Thanks!

BEFORE

AFTER

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.

Vespa Taillight

I just bought this Taillight on ebay for $60 on a buy it now auction. I was lucky to see the auction as it was only a few hours old and I got it. I really love the acorn style of this light and how good it looks on the rounded Vespa backside.

This light is all original metal and is very decent condition. I made the mistake last year buying a taillight and in an auction I paid $120 for an original condition light. It was in horrible condition. It needed a lot of work. I was happy to get this light and sell the other one.

This should polish to a bright chrome look and I can't to see that. I debating weather to hire a shop to do this service or could I buy an aluminum polisher and do it myself? We'll see.

Finally a Title!

So finally after a year I have a legal title for my scooter. When I originally purchased my 1961 Vespa GS it came with a CA title. The engine number was the VIN number on the title and the manufacturing year said 1962. The last year it was registered was 1977. Long story short I had been to the DMV four previous times and four different locations and for one reason or another I was sent on a rabbit chase for additional paperwork. The confusion is my CA title has the engine number as the VIN (which was common in those days) and most inspectors would find the frame number and would require me to get a bond to successfully get a title. Finally after a year of this today was sweet success. The inspector came out in clean white pants and asked me where the VIN number was. I got under the engine and read it to her. She processed the paperwork and I was done! I even got a license plate. Apparently in Arizona, 1966 and older bikes do not require an emissions test and are exempt. So a non-running bike like mine has a legal license. My only goal was to get the title in my name. I had heard that once a person bought a bike with a title and the scooter was a fixer upper. After spending many hours and money getting the scooter running and restored he went to register the bike and found out the bike was stolen. The previous owner was happy to get their non-runner scooter bike back in running and restored condition. I was not going to make this mistake. Even though I had a title it was not in my name and legally it was not my bike. Heaven knows how much it is going to cost to restore this scooter and I don't plan on having paperwork stop me from driving this legally on the street. If you ever buy a scooter without a title you need to use a service like this. Now all I need is a 1961 Arizona License Plate. Anyone have one for sale?

Found Speedo!

This is what I expected my restored speedo to look like. I like the white on white. I found this speedo picture in the Yahoo! GS/SS photo library so I have no idea if restored or original. It is the MPH version and I really like this version as opposed to my Grey / White version. I hope to find a shop that has this part. 

Speedo Restoration

Before restoration

After restoration done by Speedo King. 

I thought the restoration was going to be more white on white. I was surprised to see it so grey but I think the MPH version of this speedo is this color. I will need to do more investigation. Notice below is my exact speedo that is the KPH version and it is much more white on white. While I do like this restoration I just want my restoration to be as original as possible.

More Scooters than Kids

Vespa - 4

Kids - 3

The Purchase

Here was the craigslist ad that I saw to buy this scooter.

THIS IS A VERY, VERY RARE SCOOTER. There were only 500 produced worldwide. Made by Vespa, and imported by Cushman. 
This scoot is complete, and numbers matching. Its not running at present, but was up until last year. Has great compression. Turn this scooter into a museum piece, or as a special daily. 

With only 500 ever produced (documented serial numbers matching as authentic), you are sure to have something special for years to come. Who knows how many still exsist. My guess, if you see one in your life, this will be the only one. 

The seller was asking $2000. I emailed and asked if I could trade a 1980 restored P200E. He was not interested in a trade and needed to cash to move out of the country. I had no cash but I was ready to have a GS. I had a 1980 P200E and an original condition 1979 P200E. I knew if I could just sell one of these bikes I could have the money. But would the bike still be there? I had to get the bike as soon as I could otherwise it would be gone. In my experience I have not seen project GS scooter appear in AZ and the closest I have seen bikes for sale were a 6 hour drive to California. I wouldn't mind going to california for the right bike but typically you pay $3000 plus for even project bikes and anything under that goes too fast for me attempting to make arrangement to drive to CA for the bike. One thing to understand is I have the coolest wife in the world and as I called to explain my intentions I was pleased to hear her support. Added this scooter would be 4 scooters and 3 kids.  I called my brother and made arrangment to borrow the cash. All I needed to do was sell one of my P200 and how hard would that be? More on that later.

 

I made arrangements with the seller to see the bike. It was a Friday and he worked all weekend and said how about Monday? I have found that the best way to get what you want is to get the cash and get to the seller first. I said how about tonight? He agreed and off I went from Phoenix to Tempe to get a trailer from my Dad then home to Queen Creek to pick up the wife and kids, and then to Gilbert to pick up the cash from my brother. That is 50 miles one way. When all is said and done we easily put 150 miles on my Mini Cooper to buy a scooter locally. The Phoenix valley is very spread out. We eventually got to Scottsdale that evening. First thing to know is buying a scooter at night is different the the day. The night will hide many imperfections. I still will buy at night because I still feel first to buy is better than waiting till morning and chance it to be gone. I forgot my flashlight but the seller quickly gave me his.  My first thoughts were it was a bit rougher in person. 

With only one craigslist picture I really had no idea what to expect. Both sides of the floor boards had been bent, both legshields, the battery cowl also had a dent. The engine cowl was near perfect minus surface rust on the bike. The story he told me is that he bought the scooter in 1987 from a older gentleman who had two of them in the back of the truck. He and his friend offered him the money and bought both bikes. He said they were both GS cushman but this one was the nicest of the two. It was in original condition but later the seller painted the bike this green color. Its not a bad color but has many flaws in the paint job. Obviously I wish it was in original condition but most of the bike was there. 

Mission items were the taillight, air filter cover, air bellow, original battery, and some floor rail bits. I had a decade with P-series scooters and my first bike was 1974 Vespa 90. The engine kicked over very nice and had strong compression. He never registered the scooter and had the original CA title. There will be more about my titling process.  I was ready to move to the 60's and with a GS. I suck at negations and looking back I wish I could of offered a little less but I paid the $2000 and was on my way. Looking back you really need to leave your emotions behind. You'll make poor decisions this way. I don't regret this purchase but something inside always wonders if I could of gotten a better deal. Also I knew you will always put more into a scooter than you will get back. I estimate a complete restoration could cost $2500 to $4000 on top of my purchase price. Driving home with my wife and two boys looking in the back window of my mini cooper looked pretty awesome to see the GS classic looking back at me. 

This speedo is ready to goto SpeedoKing as soon as I get my title.