1962 Allstate Super Cruisaire

The Allstate Super Cruisaire was private label Vespa made by Piaggio and sold by Sears from the late 50s to the mid 60s. They tended to lag behind and have fewer bells and whistles than Vespa models. My particular Super Cruisaire has a VNB engine, with a few parts bin features like the split case steering head, 105mm headlight and squarish speedometer. The speedo was an optional $13.79 accessory from Sears, but it appears that mine wasn’t ordered with one.

My Allstate was acquired a few years ago in trade for a Yamaha TY250 that I had. I was no longer interested in it, and my friend was no longer interested in the Allstate. It has a little crash damage in the floorboards, but a little experimental banging with a hammer and dolly has been promising. The underside is caked in greasy mud, which in this case, seems to have created a protective layer to keep out moisture.

I pulled the engine last night. I stated removing stuff and then decided to look up the engine removal steps. I did it all backwards. Pulled the pivot bold and shock mount first, then realized that the cables were hard to get to with nothing holding the engine in place. Then realized that the transmission oil was getting all over the place. Basically, I did everything backwards. This contributed to smashing the bakelite junction box. Oops.

It looks like the thing was moto crossed. The engine number was under a half inch of mud. Luckily, it seems like it’s oily mud, so the metal is clean underneath.