Before She Was Mine

Before I purchased my Vespa she had a difficult life. She was a misunderstood, awkward, and extremely unfashionable motor scooter. As is usually the case, we can blame her parents. Here are some pictures of the styling sins she withstood throughout her formative years:



This lonely existence was spent in the northwestern United States for years until she was saved by the brave men of Scooter Station in Portland, OR. Below I have pasted a recounting of her extreme makeover as advertised on their site:

All original white paint
Original silver stripes
Strong fully rebuilt 200cc engine
Only 8000 original miles
No dents
Very clean

$3950.00

This Vespa Rally 200 was purchased from the same owners as our two NOS Vespas (see restored section). When we first received this nice Vespa Rally 200, it was equipped with crashbars all around and a top case. This circumstance propably saved the Vespa from getting dented. We removed the withered crashbars and out came this beautiful Vespa Rally 200. The scooters last registration ran out in 1984. The Vespa had been stored away ever since. The engine did turn over, however we decided to go ahead and rebuild it, because we did not want to take any chances. The rebuild includes a brand new cylinder and piston !! This Rally 200 with it's low miles and neat body is a bargain for any Vespa enthusiast or anyone who is looking to find a nice vintage daily driver. The scooter is priced to move it quick. So don't miss your opportunity !!
PS: since we hve not yet had a chance to take pictures, we can only publish the two pictures that were taken BEFORE the rebuild and all the work we did.

So, that's what they said. Anyway, I didn't buy her. A women bought her -- a women and her partner, they both bought Rally's together - a pair, for a rumoured $12,000 total. They brought them down from Portland, OR to San Francisco, CA, registered them and rode. One of the women works too hard at the computer and suffers from Wrists That Hurt Disease (WTHD). After just a few miles she realized she couldn't deal with the shifting and traded in her Rally (the Rally pictured above) for a brand new twist and go Buddy at the San Francisco Scooter Centre.

How do I know all this? Well, after I located this Rally by calling the local scooter shops and put down some money I realized I had come down with the I Can't Get Vespas Out Of My Head Disease (ICGVOOMHD). This caused me to scour the email lists available for subscription at my workplace. I searched for "vespa" and lo and behold vespa@myworkplace.com exists. 7 members. I promptly subscribed to the email list and wrote to my new family, pronouncing my upcoming acquisition. In reply, I received an email stating "that was my bike"! Go figure. The women with the Wrist Disease is overworked by the same company that overworks me AND owned the scoot I was buying (if only for 10 miles). She told me all about it so I could tell you -- that's a win-win-win.