On to the actual restoration part

Well I finally got my shit together and now things should move forward quickly. I media blasted (glass beads) the frame and all the parts that I am going to have painted. There's quite a bit of body work to be done prior to the paint job so all of that needs to be done. I thought about doing all of this myself but given the seriousness of the body work, welding, dings, reinforcing, etc it just didn't seem practical.
The paint alone, had I bought it retail, was going to be around $300!! So I had a couple of local bike body shops and got some quotes. Turns out I was able to barter some of my services for a very drastic reduction in the price. So I have farmed it out and it should be back to me with a pristine body and paint job. I am going to go with a base/coat paint layers. Colors are going to be Green/White/Red. Probably going to add a little pearl and maybe some luster to make it shiny. Very excited about this.

From there I am going to install new wires, cables, and brakes first and then slowly start adding upgrades like white walls, new fork, new shocks, white trim & rubber, new exhaust, new kickstand, maybe a new stator and other none-such. Basically almost a complete rebuild except the engine. Just don't have the money to drop about $1000 in parts right now. Here's some pics of the "white" Vespa.