After a series of unfortunate events worth of Lemony Snicket, fate found me again letting go of my beloved first Vespa.
It was around this time that a rumor was floating around about a cheap Vespa ET4! Remember, during this time, the ET4 was the premier Vespa. There was still no PX200 no Gran Turismo, there was only……
Following the trail of this mysterious ET4, it lead mo to probably the most unusual place you would find second hand scooters for sale. Let’s just leave it at that. The scooter business owned by this very pretty Chinese lady, was importing second hand Japanese, Chinese, all the other ‘ese scooters. All around I could see Yamah Jogs, Honda Dio’s, Hymco Apexes (Dinks here in the Philippines) oh and a few of those really hard to find Honda Jokers (she had one in a Hello Kitty theme too….).
Anyway, amidst all these pretenders stood out this banged up monstrosity, too big to be a Jap/Chi scoot but too small to be a big bike. There it was, in all its’ banged up glory. When I say banged up, I mean banged up. There was this reall big dent on the left cowl as well as a smaller dent on the right cowl. Scratches all over. It looked bad, no wonder nobody wanted to buy it. But wait, I am no ordinary Vespa prospector. I brought along a really good friend of mine, who was actually so busy talking to the owner I had to drag him away to take a look at the Vespa.
First thing’s first….”Boss, pakilagyan naman ng batterya.” (“Please connect the battery”)
After connecting the battery and checking that what was in the tank was actually gas and not sea water, the engine came to life in with just one click (one click from an improvised ignition switch…dammit).
My friend and I took turns riding the scoot around the compound, making sure we took note of the important stuff. How the suspension was holding up, were the electricals working, were the brakes working, was the owner looking at us? It sure wasn’t pretty, but the thing worked. And it worked pretty well.
Within the week the I had bought the Vespa and it was well on it’s way to rehabilitation. To our surprise, the engine was in immaculate condition. Only a change of oil and oil filter was needed. The tranny was fine, even the original Piaggio belt was still intact. The rollers were worn but still usable. Bought new tyres. Re-upholstered the seat. Installed a new keyset. Bought original mirrors. After all that plus a new paintjob he was as good as new. Honestly, if I had known that it would turn out so pretty I would have taken a picture of it before work had begun on it. The transformation was truly awesome. Kudos to the people at 2211 Works for another superb job.
Needless to say, I was happy with the bike and he was happy with me. It was a fun bike to ride, so elegant. After installing a rack and luggage box, everything was perfect……………..or was it?
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