Vintage Child's Kick Scooter...

About 5 years ago I found a kid's kick scooter in my Grandma's barn. I though I would take it home and fix it up. I'm not really sure how old it is. I think it is pretty old because you don't see too many with the wooden foot board. As you can see it was in pretty rough shape. The paint was pretty far gone and a lot of rust all over...

The forks were bent out of shape. The fender had a good size dent in it. The wood foot bed was cracked underneath...

Sad shape all around...

So... I pulled it apart when I got it home and removed as much rust as I could. I primed it and was going to restore it. But.. it got shelved so I could work on some other projects.. A few months ago I started to work on it again. I thought I would give it a western theme. Not sure why. Just thought it would go well with the wood foot board. Here is what I did to it...

• Sanded and re-primed it one more time.
• Straighted the frame.
• Banged out the dent in the fender.
• Added a brace to keep the forks straight.
• Painted it with Colonial Red and Ivory paint.
• Clear coated it.
• Polished the brake and added a spring to make it work better.
• Made new foot boards.
• Made leather grips for the handle bars and a leather pad for the center stand.
• Added all new hardware.

I think it turned out well. I could have done a better job but, I was VERY READY to end this project. It seemed to take forever to get it done. Here it is...

You can see the forks are now straight and the brace added...

The new foot board. I carved a bucking bronco image in it. I stained and top coated it. I added upholstery tacks to add some traction and to dress it up a bit. I think it fits the theme...

The new leather grips...

No more dent in the fender. The tires are still in decent shape. I didn't touch the whitewalls. They are scratched up but I just thought I would leave it like that...

Here it is with another kid's stamped metal scooter we found at a sale. Snagged it for 8 bucks. Which is a great deal. I don't think this one will get touched for awhile. Not until a lot of other projects get done. Like a Shasta...

One note: The paint I used SUCKS. There is not other way to say it. It is already started chipping during reassembly even though I took my time and tried to do a nice job spraying it. The paint is Rustoleum Painter's Touch. It is way too soft. Not tough paint at all. I will never use this paint again unless it is something decorative that will never ever get touched.

Ultimately, I'm not sure how much use this scooter will see. Even though I added a brace it is not the best riding scooter. The forks have some play in them and it probably isn't the safest thing in the world. That and it weighs a ton for something it's size. The stamped metal scooter is a lot lighter and maybe a better scooter to play with.

I think I will just keep it around because my Dad may have played with it as a kid.