After carrying out a detail on his Range Rover, the owner casually asked if I fancied doing one of his (many!) scooters, well it was something different so of course I said yes – He them went on to tell me a little bit about the one off custom scooter – It won 4 trophies at last years Isle of Wight (the largest international gathering) rally, including Best of Show & Punters choice, the first scooter in the rallies history to pick up both awards.
A bit of background and history behind the scooter build.
The owner wanted to dedicate this scooter to the memory of his Grandfather Lance Corporal James Murray V.C.
Troopers Murray and Danagher advanced into the open under a withering fire to rescue two men of the 21st Foot ( 2nd Bn Royal Scots Fusiliers ) named Byrne and Davis, both of whom had been badly wounded. No sooner had Murray started forward than his horse was shot under him, but he continued to advance across the open on foot. The two rescuers reached the men together, and on stooping to lift Byrne’s head Murray was shot through the body, the bullet entering his right side and passing out near the spine. Having received such a serious wound, and realisng the seeming hopelesness of the situation in which they found themselves, Murray ordered Danaher to take his carbine and make good his escape. Murray remained with Byrne, who shortly afterwards died. The Boers then threw themselves upon Muray and Davis and took them prisoners.
Byrne’s body was placed in a bullock’s skin and was conveyed with the two prisoners to the Boer camp which was pitched upon the top of the mountain. Murray afterwards paid tribute to the treatment of the enemy, and to the courtesy of the Boer commandant who permitted them to return to Pretoria under a flag of truce and to take with them the body of Byrne. Five days after Murray and Davis reached Pretoria, Davis died.
[ London Gazette, 14 March 1882 ]. Elandsfontein, South Africa, 16 January 1881, Lance-Corporal James Murray, 2nd Bn, Connaught Rangers.
“For gallant conduct ( with Trooper Danaher, of Nourse’s Horse ) during an engagement with the Boers at Elandsfontein on January 16th, 1881, in advancing for 500 yards under a very heavy fire from a party of about 60 Boers, to bring out of action a private of the 21st Foot who had been severly wounded; in attempting which Lance-Corporal Murray was himself severely wounded.”
James Murray was invested with his Victoria Cross by Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle on the 15th May 1882.
So on to the scooter in question, the amount of detail & level of craftsmanship on this totally unique scooter is staggering, no amount of photos do it justice, it really has to be seen to appreciate. From the hand airbrushed paintwork, to the hand engraved metalwork, all done with hammer & chisels by an ex-jewellery and gunsmith engraver.
What was required from this detail, was to remove some slight traces of overspray and a light machine polish to improve the clarity of the paintwork, and of course polish all the brightwork!
This shows an example of the sort of swirling present in the paintwork
After a gentle low pressure wash, all the paintwork was clayed to remove the above mentioned overspray
First job was to clean up the horn cover
Using various detailing swabs
Then on to the machine polishing – using a 3inch finishing pad and Swissvax cleaner fluid pro. Although there may not be a lot of paintwork compared to a car, what there is has limited access, involving working at all sorts of peculiar angles and with great care!
A before and after of the right hand side of the front panel
Front mudguard before & after
On the rear of the front panel
Before
After
The side panels were removed to aid access
Areas behind the side panels
Before
After
Once all the paintwork had been polished, all the panels were waxed – and the wax used? Well only one wax for a Best of Show winner – Swissvax Best of Show!
Seen here curing on one of the side panels
While the wax was curing, I made a start on all the metal work, using Britemax Final Shine & Sealant
All the intricate areas were accessed using foam headed detailing swabs
Once all the metalwork was treated I returned to the painted panels to buff off the cured wax, which gave the metal sealant time to haze ready for buffing.
And the end result
Matching helmet
