The Indianapolis scooter meet was actually in Lebanon, Indiana, a small town about the size of Lebanon, Tennessee. It's almost a suburb of Indianapolis. They have this big 4-H fairgounds there with all kinds of space for a scooter meet. You could ride around for hours and never leave the grounds.

I took three scooters. One ran and two didn't. I got the non-runners running and the runner conked out. I was working on my old ratty looking '53 Cushman Pacemaker one day and a guy I barely knew dropped by and helped me fix it. No, more accurately, he fixed it for me. The throttle cable wasn't hooked up right and and there was a kink in the gas line. No wonder it wouldn't run! Anyway it is running now. The paint that is still on it has faded from bright red to Cape Cod red. There is no muffler and the seat is raggy. But it's really fun roaring around on that eyesore. I plan to make it look a little better someday.

The other non-runner was my shiny red Allstate Deluxe, which has been completely restored to the point that it wins trophies. But it has always been a dog to start. Older Cushmans (The Allstate is a Cushman with a Sears trademark.)start with a kick pedal, and you can kick your brains out sometimes trying to get them to respond. Any way, the same guy fiddled around for a while and got the Allstate started too. I learned a few tricks from him that will improve my chances of starting it.

The scooter that was running, but conked out, is the fancy Cushman Super Silver Eagle, which has a battery and an electric starter. The battery went dead and wouldn't recharge. I added water to the battery and used the kick starter to get it going. It still wouldn't hold a charge. So I put it on the truck and left it there until I got home. Seven hours on a 1 amp trickle charger did the trick and it starts now. It has occured to me that I now have more running scooters than I have had since I started this hobby. Actually, I have 4 out of 5 Cushmans in running condition and both Vespas, although one Vespa has a clutch that slips.

My son, Sam, took one of the Hondas home the other day. It will come back running. The other Honda needs magic before it will ever run, and nobody has even tried to start the Benelli in about 3 years. The three basket-case Cushmans won't start either, because they have no engines.

If keeping scooters running was my job, I would hate it, but because I do it for free, I love it.
I don't think I'll try to explain that.
Howard