Passing a bric-a-brac shop, we spotted an old kiddie's scooter in the window. It looked very neglected & sad, so we popped in for a better look, and discovered that not only was the shop-owner an old school-friend of our friend's wife, but the scooter had belonged to the father of another schoolmate, and had been passed down through three generations, but the schoolmate's daughter had never married. When she passed away recently, the shop-owner did the house clearance for the surviving rellies, and put a lot of their stuff on sale in his shop on a 50/50 commission basis.
The scooter is over 100 years old! Apparently it was found leaning against the back wall of a shed, and had been out in the weather for an estimated 40 years!
As I had a similar scooter when I was a young child, we bought it, and I have restored it.
After I carefully disassembled it, we had all components powder-coated, and I then reassembled it... I even replaced the leather brake lining!
Wotcher think? This is the condition when we found it.
The original handlebars had, at some stage, been replaced with a piece of broomstick.
I turned a new one with shaped handgrips.
I think they're pretty close to what I remember of mine.
After taking the pic below, I painted the handlebars to match the red frame.
How it looked in near-final assembly. Detail of the new handlebars.
