What the hell was I thinking

Why do I own and work on a vintage Vespa? It's not a simple question. Here is one answer:

Part 1: I fell in love with this Italian gal from Ottawa. She was great. Her family was great. I ate rabbit, risotto and biscotti. I drank grappa, prosecco and merlot. I traveled Northern Italy and fell in love with all things Italian. Things like classic big sexy fat ass 'Wasp' Vespa scooters.

Part2: I love mechanical things. I have owned and restored a 1939 Chev 2 door, a 1969 BMW 2002, a 1961 Valiant (with a 340 dropped in for fun). I have raced stock cars. I have spent a fair bit of time and money on things that go vroom vroom. I just like tinkering and fixing things so they work again.

Part 3: I got a divorce, have a small garage, little money for fancy cars and a somewhat keener sense of what burning petroleum does to ice-fields far far away and why I should care.

1+2+3 = "Wouldn't it be cool to get an old vespa and fix it up.

This is all slightly insane as I though this long before the Vespa craze and there are NO old Vespa's within a day's drive of where I live in the middle of Saskatchewan, Canada. But I started looking and one day while talking to my brother in Calgary about my quest his cubicle neighbor overheard our discussion and said he had an old Vespa for sale...cheap.

I was about to learn that "Old Vespa" and "Cheap" are not often used in the same sentence together. But that's another post. I HAD MY VESPA! A 1959 VEspa T/4. Manufactured in Augsburg , Germany. A rare model as it was an old large frame with 150cc and a 4 speed (like a VBB) but it had more stable 10" rims, a gooseneck taillight and just enough other odd little differences to make it quite unique in North America. The Augsburg factory was noted for its high quality product.

The owner said he thought he had most the parts and we agreed to the 100$ price. A few weeks later my brother hauled it to Regina in the back of his Nisaan 300Z (Yes, you read that correctly). My lucky find had found its new home!