1984 Ascot

by Dave
(Peterborough, Ontario)

I bought my 1984 VT500 Ascot from a fellow who owns 3 or 4 farms in my area; he only ran it around the farm roads. When I went to see it was pulled out of the barn, threw some gas in it, fired right up, it ran a little rough. I had been looking for over 20 years for a low mileage Ascot; it had a little shy of 11,000 kms.
Put it on the road for less than $200, I took it apart, grit blasted the tank, stripped the body panels down (bad paint job) and found the tank was beyond saving. After a trip to the local salvage yard to find the last Ascot tank within 200 miles, I had the second tank grit blasted, Tig welded & an epoxy seal job done.
Hand sanded & re-painted all the body and frame. The motor was in perfect shape. It turned out great because I have a nephew who can paint with the best. I thought the original paint scheme a little boring so I used the silver base coat for the two tone effect & 4 coats of clear, pin striped & voila.