1952 Cushman-The Beginning!

First, let's start with what I got myself into. After speaking with a guy at a show (back in the spring of 2010), I found out he was getting a divorce and selling an 'old Cushman'. He mentioned it had a side-cart, which peaked my interest. His description "it's 'all there' and just needs paint." With a little bit of money saved up in my collector car fund, I thought this might be a good project to cut my teeth on. The goal was to spend a minimal amount to purchase it and use the rest to restore......we all know where these stories go.
After a few days of contemplating whether or not to go look at it, I decided the 2 hour drive to Cincinnati would be an adventure. When I arrived, it was apparent that my definition of 'all there' and his were somewhat varying. Regardless, never willing to back down from a project, I cut him a check and borrowed his truck to take it back to Indy. It came with a title, even though we couldn't find the VIN.

After getting it home and putting it next to my unfinished 1970 Honda Z50 project, regret and remorse immediately settled in. But hey, this would give me a great opportunity to learn more about Cushmans and their history.

First order of business: Find someone who knew what the hell they were doing! A good friend, Cliff, knows his way around restorations. I wanted to learn how to restore something, so we connected and got started on the disassembly process.

Initially, the intention was to revert this back to original. After looking at the engine, we decided to try and stuff a modern engine in there until we could restore the original Husky engine. GOAL: stuff as big an engine as possible for the cheapest amount! Harbor Freight, HERE WE COME!

Trying to stuff a 13hp engine in there didn't quite work, so we settled with a 6hp Briggs and Stratton.

Let's fast forward to the somewhat finished restoration. The decision was to stick with flat-black/primer until I could sort everything out and get the original engine finished.

Something just wasn't quite right about having a modern engine in a 52' Cushman. The whole reason for purchasing it was to learn how to restore it back to original. So a quick trip up to Arcadia Cushman, where Steve Lorenz (one of the most respected Cushman dealers and restorers) helped me give the engine a refresher, allowed a much more period correct look.

BEFORE

AFTER

With some pin-striping done by the One-armed Bandit out of Connecticut, I decided to rock out the hot rod look for 2010.

That brings us up to date. Now, the Cushman has been disassembled once more. This time, I'm going to restore it to museum quality and replace every nut/bolt. I've chosen an original color of Apple Green. While I haven't seen many in this color, I like the color green and am hoping to set it apart from all the Red ones flooding the market.

More updates to come!