Story of an Allstate: #14

STORY OF AN ALLSTATE: NUMBER 14

This month we complete the story of the owners of a Sears Roebuck Allstate Vespa, first brought into New Zealand in 1963 by an emigre from the United States.

When I bought the scoot from Matt I loved the classic rounded look but didn’t think I could ride a weedy 3 speed 125cc back to Palmy so elected to upgrade it a little in the evenings while living in Wellington. Hence I fitted a 4 speed Sportique engine with a ported barrel, domed piston and matching head then put on a 20/20 carb and Sito+ exhaust . As the original scoot had no front damper I fitted a Sportique front fork with new damper and 10” GS wheel rims with 90 x 90 tyres. This certainly improved performance and handling to a more useable level and it was in this configuration that Matt rode it to Palmerston North where we completed the exchange on the PX200 I had.

Over the next few months I upgraded the lighting to 12 volt, repaired the speedo, fitted a new seat cover and a Pinasco 177cc 2 port cylinder. I didn’t like the Sito + so fitted an ASC big bore exhaust when I fitted the Pinasco kit. That combination works really well. These improvements were done while using the scoot daily, putting about 2,000km on the clock. My original plan had been to keep and use the scoot in this configuration but being a habitual restorer I couldn’t help myself. I then took off the pods and front guard for panel and paint prep, quite liked the stripped down look too. I had a water colour painting that my mother had done of Clare and I on an old dark red scoot so decided I really should have something to match the painting.

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STORY OF AN ALLSTATE: NUMBER 14

So then next phase began. Pulled the whole thing apart, rebuilt the front fork, blasted and powder coated the wheels, seat, brackets etc. Blasted and zinc plated all the odd nuts and bolts. Made up a new wiring loom, bought a new cable set and some rubbers. Stripped the engine, cut the crank, open up the ports and fitted a 24/24 carb to improve the breathing further and rebuilt the cush drive. The engine went back together with new bearings and seals. Then I had all of the rebuilt parts sitting waiting…… So I had the chassis sand blasted, carried out some repairs and commissioned the work painter to panel and paint while I was on holiday. I came

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