Dirt stuck in paintwork / corrosion in metal

[dartmouth100]

Hi all, I have been recently restoring this older Vespa 50 s scoot, and I have noticed that there are some visible spots of dirt on the bike which are difficult to get off, I run my fingernail over them and they will not go away. What is the answer to this ? Photos of this problem are attached. There seems to be this ingrained dirt all over the bike. Although it's not too visible - I know it's there and it is bothering me.

Secondly - especially around the grab bars and the mirrors it appears the metal is corroded slightly. Is there a way of removing this corrosion ? Once again photos are too show

The previous owner had some nasty incident where one side of the grab bar has some deep scratches - can these easily be removed and if so how ?

Thanks once again guys I know you all probably thing - ohh heck ahah but I am very new to all this

[oldchopperguy]

Those little blemishes are pretty common on vintage rides. Many owners love them, as honest patina, but I'm like you... I'd like to fix or at least improve them if possible.

I've had plenty (too much, really) experience on making an old vehicle look a little better... LOL! The marks in the paint are likely old chips, which have some rust and dirt imbedded in them, since they don't come off with a fingernail.

You don't want to repaint a vintage part if possible. What I've done with these is to CAREFULLY "pick" at them with a very pointed object (X-acto knife, needle, etc.) removing the "schmootz" from the chip, then placing a tiny drop of matching paint into the little crater.

On a white vehicle, that alone is almost unnoticeable, but after the paint drops are hard, you can use VERY fine wet-or-dry sandpaper to level them, then rub-out and polish to make them almost invisible.

WHITE paint is SO forgiving!!!

The scrapes on the grab-bar are another story. On old Harleys, this stuff is almost "factory-installed"... LOL! Assuming your bars are chromed-steel, what I've done is to carefully polish the rusted steel in the gouges with a Dremel-tool and fine pointed rubber stone. This will make the rusty steel "shiny" and you can soften the edges of the gouge. Then, you can polish the area with chrome-polish and finally apply a heavy coat of wax... And keep waxing it to prevent rust. You can also spray a coat of clear lacquer or enamel over the bar to seal the raw steel, but paint doesn't hold up so well. Regular waxing works well, and if rust reappears, you can polish it off again.

Obviously, this fix does NOT look perfect, and can be seen, but it is a major improvement over the rusty gouges.

The only "perfet" fix is to replace the bars if they are still available, or, have the damaged ones professionally polished out and re-chromed. VERY EXPENSIVE!

Hope this may be of help... Nothing sweeter than a vintage Vespa!

Ride safe,

leo in Texas