Dad Turns Scooter Into Kid-Friendly Cruiser
A scooter can elicit a variety of images in our minds. We might think of the kid next door who rides one up and down the street (and occasionally steps on our well-manicured lawns). We might think of our own childhood, as we rode our wheels until our parents forced us inside at nightfall. We might even think about that one episode of Seinfeld when George finds himself in a slow-speed chase with a scooter gang made up of elderly men.
The kids in this story will think of something else when they think of scooters: something they’re not likely to ever forget.
Their father purchased an old mobile scooter that was for sale online. It’s wasn’t exactly a steal – it had a motor that didn’t work and brakes that had grown corroded. In fact, it was listed as “spares or repairs” and likely intended for supplementation rather than wild creation. Still, he saw what could have been, instead of what was.
Using Instructables, an online site that allows do-it-yourselfers to further hone their trade through the collaboration of ideas and plans, he turned this old scooter into a magical vehicle for his four and seven-year-old daughters.
They’d recently been desperate for a new toy because, of course, they’re children. Instead of going to the store and getting a run-of-the-mill dollhouse or a boring old basketball hoop, he put his imagination to use and got to work turning the junk he’d bought into a hunk.
He began by stripping the scooter of all of its features until it didn’t look like much of a scooter at all; it didn’t look like much of anything. He also fixed the brakes, cleaning out the corrosion so they’d actually stop whenever pressed. The motor took a little more effort, given its state of ruin. He cleaned it out and replaced a missing brush and that was enough to get it working.
Like any do-it-yourself job, this one required quite a bit of thinking outside the box and he was certainly game to get creative. He used everything from dog bowls to dining plates to help him along the way and wasn’t against a little trial and error.
In the end, it took him ten days to clean, rework, and refinish the scooter, but the effort was well worth it. The finished result was a new truck, perfect for his girls to drive around town (or at least up and down the driveway).
The details are impressive: it’s painted in hot pink and includes vinyl seating for comfort. It also has a bumper, a steering wheel, and a dashboard that appears surprisingly complex. The external shell is made of marine plywood, a durable wood able to withstand humidity. It’s ideal for areas prone to rain and other types of moisture.
It’s likely that his daughters will remember this scooter turned truck for quite some time, probably their entire lives. It’s also likely that they’ll play with it until the day comes when they want something else. Namely, a pony.
