Restoration of an Allstate "Cat Maroon" 250cc
Written by Dirk

The ALLSTATE "Cat Maroon" is a 250 cc two stroke motorcycle that was built from 1956 to 1972  by STEYR PUCH  in Austria, Europe and imported to the US by the SEARS COMPANY that changed the factory name from PUCH to the better sounding ALLSTATE.

This is a special kind of motorcycle , because it  has an engine with two cylinders behind eachother and only one combustion (burn) chamber wich gave this type of  engine the name "double-piston two stroke"
As far as I know only two factories in europe ever built this kind of engines for a short  time ..
 


This is the story of the ALLSTATE Cat  Maroon from 1962 that  found it's way to mexico , was discovered by Maria and she had it  restored to almost new.

 

 

 

 

 

     

This is the way the cat maroon looked infront of  Mario's workshop
A lot of parts missing and covered with rust everywhere..
The engine would run but needed two new pistons  wich are very hard to find because this motorcycle is almost 50 years of age

Because this kind of motorcycles were very popular in the Netherlands in the 50s and 60s I offered to have a look around to maybe find the missing parts and also two new pistons ..
Maria sent me these two pictures to show what needed to be found

It was almost a miracle that I found two brandnew and perfect fitting pistons.

Also the rubber caps for the gasoline tank I found at a good friend called  Leo Schuil  who has the largest motorcycle junkyard in the north of the Netherlands.. the BotasNegras now call this place "LeoLand"

On this picture you can see the unique way the pistons are placed in the engine ..

Maria with  Leo Schuil in 2003
 

I found this old illustration in the internet
This picture shows how the  action of the pistons are when they are positioned behind eachother in a tandem way

 

"Grrrrrmpf"

Rebuilding the engine with the new pistons and mounting the cylinder head ..

Days of polishing by Gloria  made the caps on this  engine shiny clean and almost look like new again ..

After the hours of cleaning and  preparation the frame by the whole family , Maria brought  all  to a workshop she selected where they did a beautiful job in spray  painting  the parts..

On this picture Mario and Humberto are putting the machine  back  together

Mario was so proud of his klompen , the wooden shoes I brought him from the Netherlands, that he even kept them on while sleeping on the floor  the night befor they started to put the restored parts of the Cat Maroon back together again

After all these years the electrical system was still in very good order , the ignition coils were not realy optimal but another visit to my friend's motorcycle junkyard "LeoLand" a few months later solved that problem

The budyseat restored , with Leather instead of the usual vinyl skin.

To be sure we put mixed fuel (1 part oil to 25 parts gasoline) in the tank because we were not sure the oil/gasoline mix pump would work after al these years ..

Amazingly after a few kicks the cat maroon came back to life again

One restored vintage "ALLSTATE Cat Maroon 250 cc" about 45  years old

 

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[english text: Dirk Quarré, Spanish text: Maria Rivera | design and webmastering by witrin web productions ® Netherlands/Mexico]
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www.botasnegras.com  © copyright de la Pagina de Internet  y del contenido 2006 ]
[texto español: Maria Rivera , texto inglés: Dirk Quarré |diseño y webmastering de witrin web productions ® Holanda/Mexico]
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