Owned by Brian Adams who inherited the rusty scooter from his father. Used by Brian’s father in the 1930s, the scooter was his prized possession and he even held on to it when his family were evacuated during the war. The scooter was then passed down to Brian and his sister, who recall spending many happy hours zooming around on it. Sadly, the scooter sat unused in the shed for many years and like all toys, had been 'painted up' in the past. It really was in a terrible state, but when I first saw it, I could see glimmers of chrome under all that paint. Brian had made reference to it maybe being blue when it was new. So i was thrilled to find patches of original blue and gold lining under the old pump clips. This gave me and Dom (who was to do the painting of the frame and rims) the go-ahead to go with the blue. The original painted parts were stripped to bare metal, I primed them and Dom painted them the original blue.. I cleaned the heavy paint from the chrome parts like the handlebars and brake. The wheels were in dreadful condition and when I removed the spokes, both sets of hub flanges fell away from the centre barrels. These all had to be cleaned, straightened and then both hubs were soft soldered back together and then polished. All the ball bearings and spindles were saved along with all the original spokes and adjusters. Both wheels built really well, but were tricky to true up given their small diameter. New tyres and tubes were sourced and fitted. 

The wooden foot board had been painted, but I could see the timber underneath was in pretty good order. I actually spent a good half a day cleaning this by hand to remove the old paint, which revealed a worn metal foot plate. The Triang logo was faintly visible, so that nailed my hunch about the maker. The timber had a split in the back which was repaired by Will, the master Repair Shop wood worker. It had split because the board had lost its under spacers in the past to protect it from the frame. When it came to fitting in back, I used washers as the spacers. Once all the parts were cleaned, straightened and preserved, the scooter went back together really well with Dom's blue spray paint and fine gold lining to match what it originally had, when it left the Triang factory back in the 1930's. I found in my stores a period short pump to fit the original pump pegs and I re-built the bell and brake hardware. A fun little restoration and it was wonderful to see Brian's granddaughter 'Freya' scooting it up and down outside the barn.