Michael McWilliams' A1 Facelift
by Michael McWilliams
February 17, 2007
Eleventh hour irony.
I spent the better part of last year thinking about painting my scooter. As the first journal summarized, I considered all forms of silly reasons to repaint my scooter, or to leave it alone. Once I convinced myself that painting the scooter was ok, I finally decided to pick a color I liked, not one picked by the factory.
Monday, February 5th changed everything. I met the previous owner, Marilyn Felling.
Marilyn is a wonderfully nice person. She told me much about my scooter. Additionally, she sent me photos - lots of photos. Many of the photos are shown on the right.
The photos were taken in 1979 when she purchased the scooter. My A1 was bought from "William" in Vista, California. Unfortunately, Marilyn was unable to remember William's last name. The top picture shows William with my Tourist.
After the purchase, Marilyn disassembled most of the bodywork and began cleaning the old scooter.
Looking at these pictures brought back many memories for me. I remembered the ridiculous oil cap that somebody installed. This oversized breather cap leaked oil all over the valve cover. Besides the mess, this cap was responsible for a smelly ride.
I was reminded of a strange electrical connector that allowed easy disassembly of the back bodywork.
The thing that interested me the most about these photos was the windshield. I had longed to see the cause for the four holes in my handlebars. I knew it was a windshield, I just didn't know what type. It looks like the Bucco variety.
I knew that when I received the photos, I would regret my decision to paint the scooter blue and gray. I hurried to the paint stripper and retrieved the headlamp bucket just in case. The headlamp bucket had a real nice area of original paint that could be matched.
I spent several days surveying scooterists and non-scooterists about my dilemma. Funny thing, all non-scooterists said "paint it the way you want it." All of my scooter friends said "keep it original." Two of them claimed this was some form of divine intervention.
I have decided to paint my scooter red and black. Additionally, this will be a true restoration.