The 1958 Homelite Spitfire Go Kart, purchased new by my Grandfather for my dad and 2 uncles when they were kids
I was very lucky to end up with it when I was a kid and still have it. These pictures were right after I dug it out of his garage to bring it home.
The bottom read "Painted by A & D 84" My freind Anthony Butcher gave it this killer red paint job in 1984. Luckily we didn't paint over the original Homelite Spitfire badge!
I started by completely dissasembling the kart, being careful to take pictures along the way. Keeping with my budget theme ( it is easy when you don't have much money) I began to strip the chassis to bare metal using a combination of a grinder with 80 grit paper and wire brush, and 2 different electric sanders. Here you can see the back end and motor plates almost stripped clean.
There were tons of nooks and crannies which took some time to get clean, I followed it up with a coat of primer.
You can see in this picture how taking your time doing your prep work pays off when it come time to lay on the color. The original color was a bit more orange but to save money, I went with Krylon Apple Red.
This is after 2 coats of High Gloss Krylon Clear.
Here's a shot of the bottom of the back end, you can really see those nooks and crannies I was talking about.
There were some things I didn't want to try to remove so I carefully degreased and wire brished these areas before priming.
I chose to carefully mask the brake shoes and assembly, I didn't want to risk breaking or losing any of the hard to replace springs.
I wanted to make sure the bottom of the kart looked as good as the top...
...and I think I accomplished it.
![](http://vintageminibikesandkarts.weebly.com/uploads/8/2/0/4/8204343/4668371_orig.jpg)
I was very lucky to end up with it when I was a kid and still have it. These pictures were right after I dug it out of his garage to bring it home.
![](http://vintageminibikesandkarts.weebly.com/uploads/8/2/0/4/8204343/4074687_orig.jpg)
The bottom read "Painted by A & D 84" My freind Anthony Butcher gave it this killer red paint job in 1984. Luckily we didn't paint over the original Homelite Spitfire badge!
![](http://vintageminibikesandkarts.weebly.com/uploads/8/2/0/4/8204343/4186994_orig.jpg)
I started by completely dissasembling the kart, being careful to take pictures along the way. Keeping with my budget theme ( it is easy when you don't have much money) I began to strip the chassis to bare metal using a combination of a grinder with 80 grit paper and wire brush, and 2 different electric sanders. Here you can see the back end and motor plates almost stripped clean.
![](http://vintageminibikesandkarts.weebly.com/uploads/8/2/0/4/8204343/3263123_orig.jpg)
There were tons of nooks and crannies which took some time to get clean, I followed it up with a coat of primer.
![](http://vintageminibikesandkarts.weebly.com/uploads/8/2/0/4/8204343/5357199_orig.jpg)
You can see in this picture how taking your time doing your prep work pays off when it come time to lay on the color. The original color was a bit more orange but to save money, I went with Krylon Apple Red.
![](http://vintageminibikesandkarts.weebly.com/uploads/8/2/0/4/8204343/3006454_orig.jpg)
This is after 2 coats of High Gloss Krylon Clear.
![](http://vintageminibikesandkarts.weebly.com/uploads/8/2/0/4/8204343/1226829_orig.jpg)
Here's a shot of the bottom of the back end, you can really see those nooks and crannies I was talking about.
![](http://vintageminibikesandkarts.weebly.com/uploads/8/2/0/4/8204343/2369999_orig.jpg)
There were some things I didn't want to try to remove so I carefully degreased and wire brished these areas before priming.
![](http://vintageminibikesandkarts.weebly.com/uploads/8/2/0/4/8204343/2288727_orig.jpg)
I chose to carefully mask the brake shoes and assembly, I didn't want to risk breaking or losing any of the hard to replace springs.
![](http://vintageminibikesandkarts.weebly.com/uploads/8/2/0/4/8204343/2750233_orig.jpg)
I wanted to make sure the bottom of the kart looked as good as the top...
![](http://vintageminibikesandkarts.weebly.com/uploads/8/2/0/4/8204343/3372132_orig.jpg)
...and I think I accomplished it.
![](http://vintageminibikesandkarts.weebly.com/uploads/8/2/0/4/8204343/7345046_orig.jpg)