Gallery Page 6

Robert's Bella

Here are pictures and text sent to me by Robert Gray relating to his Bella.

This restored Zundapp Bella R204 was my inspiration. It was owned by Steve Garbig of Ocala, Florida when I photographed it a couple of year's back. The paint job is non-standard and the scoot has the wrong muffler, but I loved the look. Steve got me believing it was possible to restore a Bella and put me on the track to DomiRacer as a wonderful US parts source.

My R204 as it looked a few months after arrival from Buffalo, NY. It was a Buffalo Shriner's Parade Scooter and had about 6,000 miles on it. The leg shield had been drilled to install ugly directional signals. The original tool box was rusted through. The blue tool box came from DomiRacer and the luggage rack is a Lietz clone made by a master stainless steel wizard in Germany.

Everything had surface rust from 30 years of storage in not-so-dry conditions in one of Kohl's Cycles many Lockport, NY warehouses. Here the gas tank, seat frame, air flter and rear fender have been stripped and are ready to paint.

Same parts with several coats of Dupont VariPrime epoxy printer and then a couple of coats of ChromaOne gloss black. The frame got the same treatment. All brushed on by hand.

The body parts in hand-brushed VariPrime primer. Yes the fender is chromed. Nu Chrome of Fall River, MA chromed the muffler and the fender trim pieces. I'd left the fender with them so the chrome fender trim pieces would be re-formed properly to fit. I didn't discover this error until I unwrapped everything at home. The chrome surface had to be bead-blasted to ruffen it to accept VariPrime. So sad!

Everything is ready for re-assembly. Only final paint is needed. I plan to computer match the color of this incredible replacement leg-shield from DomiRacer.

This is me having just had my first Bella Ride in some 35 years. The last time was about in 1962 on my 1956 R153. This was taken near Hannover, Germany on Sunday March 22 1998. The Bella is Matthia Henze's Bella 200 that graces ______ book and is featured in the May 1997 German publication OldTimer Markt (The guy on the blue Bella on page 25 makes terrific luggage racks!). What a ride - but the helmet was another matter - they were not used in the '60s and this too was a new experience!

Matthias and myself just before the historic Sunday ride . Matthias helps make the Bella IG happen. He is a tireless enthusiast for preservation of Zundapp Bellas and edits the club newsletter. He has the most amazing knowledge sources for Bella parts.

More pictures to come. Once the body is painted.

Do you have any Zündapp Bella pictures? Email them to me and I will post them here. Please list the photographer and owner, if available.