1958 Motobecane Mobylette AV75

I recently was offered a Motobecane moped project by my friend Jerry Pokorny for a "can't resist" price, and since my wife was taken with it I brought it home today. Jerry didn't know anything about it, except that it had been brought to Colorado Springs by a traveler who ran short of money. The folks at a local motorcycle museum took pity on the guy and gave him some cash this wretched little bike, and Jerry took pity on the museum folks and took it off their hands.

A little research on the intertubes revealed that this is a fairly obscure model, the AV75, only produced for two or three years in the late 1950s: 1957-59 as far as I can tell. The distinguishing characteristic of this model is the rear suspension, which features two small vertical shock absorbers. Motobecane also sold these mopeds under the brandname "Motoconfort", in which case it is called an AU75. Supposedly there is no difference between them.

Here is what it's supposed to look like:

A period photo of a young, probably very proud, boy:

And this is a recent photo of what appears to be an original unrestored one, with an expanded package rack:

The chassis has a serial number stamped on: 1535104 and the engine is marked in three places with the serial number 1806762. I do not know if these mopeds were supposed to have matching engine and chassis numbers, or whether this may be a later engine. The carburetor is marked "Gurtner AR10501" and the date 2-58 is also stamped on the float. So I believe that the engine, at least, was built in February 1958, and perhaps the chassis is earlier.

This moped is in quite rough condition and I'm not at all sure it's going to be possible to restore it without a huge investment in time and money. Hopefully, many of the parts I would need are in common with other Motobecane models, but it's not clear that parts for any of the 1950s mopeds are all that easy to source. My trump card is the fact that Susie spends a couple months a year in France and she will be taking a shopping list with her the next time!

Things I already know I need:

In addition, the engine is frozen and I may well need a piston and rings, bearings, seals, etc. I'd be glad to hear from anyone who can educate me about this moped, knows sources for parts, or has experience restoring older mopeds. E-mail me at bergman@csd.net or call at (303) 278-7445.