As you may well know by now that I have a fatal attraction with an Italian beauty. For years and years i had dreamt of having one of my own but price is a determining factor. I have to live within my budget and buying one of these scooters in my country could be very costly. But then after years of hard work things finally paid off. The Singapore based company I was working for had asked me to go to Vietnam in 2009 to help out my colleagues there with some important projects.
This is a new and exciting adventure for me. All i knew about Vietnam is that the French got their ass kicked and those meddling American imperialist reared their ugly head which resulted to a lot of casualties from both sides and a damage that is felt even today courtesy of Monsanto Corporation and Dow Chemical. Never did i know that this country made famous by Chuck Norris and Oliver Stone turned out to be a land full of Italian beauties. No wonder Anthony Bourdain fell in love with this country and Jeremy Clarkson bought a green Piaggio Vespa but that's another story.
GETTING THE BEST BANG FOR MY BUCKThe first thing that came into my mind when i got the good news is that i can acquire a Vespa quite easily there and the most important part is that it's affordable given the fact that Lambrettas and Vespa models the likes of Sprints, VBB's and Super were largely imported in Southeast Asia it's the law of supply and demand. When I was there I've spent my free time drinking copious amounts of ca phe sua da and trying to converse with the locals with my Tarzan Viet to inquire. In this country were relatively little English is spoken, It can be a daunting task to ask questions about these two stroke beauties where, especially when you don’t know the language and you don’t know anyone there who’s got the inside scoop you're bound to get bemused expressions on their faces.
What i got from my queries were nothing but a bunch of furrowed brows and a lot of shrug shoulders. The people that i talked to even advised me not to own one, the reason was these scooters were too old for the young market plus the ladies prefer men with shiny Japanese made bikes. My only solution to acquire one is to go online and read some American and European scooter forums but then again they advised me to stay away from Vespas originating in Asia mainly Vietnam and other Asian countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and even my mother country Philippines probably due to the fact that there are plenty of the greatly debated Indian LML Vitto in our country being rebadged as a Vespa PX which are being frowned upon by purist.
The reason for the advisory is that many of the people who bought these scooters online in Vietnam got swindled, They thought that they had hit a goldmine due to the dirt cheap prices that these shady websites had offered. Little do they know that the scooter sold to them turned out to be replicas, bodges and death traps. So for awhile I put my mind to rest not to get one due to those appalling stories. But there are two websites that begged to differ and these were the highly recommended and trusted classic scooters and spare parts dealers - Saigon Scooter Centre which sad to say is closing down after decades of putting out quality scooters and ScootRS.com that puts out cutting edge top of the line parts (the only pet peeve i have on the latter is that they don't have a Saigon local number) but still buying from them will cost me an arm and a leg. I need a scooter without breaking the bank.
OPPORTUNITY HAD KNOCKED TWICEAfter a few months stay in Vietnam I was sent back home and after awhile i started having recurring dreams about those lovely Italians that I frequently saw passing by me in the busy chaotic streets of Saigon. Hearing their unique engine sound revving up with excitement makes me want to mount them. One year later, opportunity had knocked twice I was offered another tour of duty by the same employer that i worked for during my short stint. Now this time I finally decided to stay indefinitely to achieve my dream of owning one. After a few months of online research and checking out local spots I hit pay dirt. It lead me to a Vietnamese guy talking about Vespas on a Philippine scooter forum and turned out this guy got considerable amount of contacts on the local scooter scene and has his own scooter shop. I finally decided to email him and ask if he can help me out on finding an unrestored Vespa.
FOR EVERY CLOUD, THERE IS A SILVER LINING.After a months worth of research, consultation, beer drinking and a handful of SMS, he finally took me to a place where an old guy near my place is selling a VBC 1966 Vespa 150 Super. After a few checks I bought it immediately out of gut feeling that she would turn out exactly what i imagined her to be. It was love at first sight, beneath that hideous yellow seats, fake sprint badges, grotesque blue color, fugly black side mirror and that ubiquitous Viet bodge yellow rubber center stand boot facade is an unseen beauty of purity and grace an untamable unicorn. It took me almost a month getting to know this pretty lady and just like any other girls Eleanor is temperamental I had a hard time training myself on kick starting, shifting gears, maneuvering and not to mention some bumps and bruises along the way. I slowly learned and realized that riding a bicycle is completely different from driving a scooter. It's been fun getting to know her, admiring her beautiful curves everyday of the week. And now I wanted everyone to see and appreciate her but before i could take her out to the streets, she needs a complete makeover. She has to look pretty from the inside out and in order to do that i need a top notch restorer and not a refurbisher to bring her back.
After a couple of months of constant searching for a competent restorer, I had chanced upon a guy on a social network who happen to be a Vespanatic like me and has a blog documenting his daily adventures with her red beauty at www.thescooterist.blogspot.com. He kindly offered his assistance and told me that he can help me out with my problem, and immediately he did so! I was so lucky he introduced me to a restorer in Saigon named Tu Trung. He's known as the doctor and he's a legend, go ahead Google it! Vespa enthusiast from all over Vietnam knew him.
THE TRANSFORMATION BEGINSBelow is the documentation of Eleanor's transformation. I named her after the Shelby GT in Gone in 60 second flick. And like Memphis GT this Italian classic is my unicorn. I know that a bunch of overzealous, elitist, highly opinionated scooter geeks with their snarling criticism will comment about the workshop were she's being overhauled that it's not up to European standards. Where in a workshop is supposed to be equipped with the latest in high technology and state of the art gadgetry. Well here's what i am going to say to you "Mister I know better than anybody else around here" thanks for the advice but screw you and your nerdy beliefs! This is a third world country, they do things differently around here and I bet the mechanics here in this shop can be at par or even surpass even those well trained European mechanics when it comes to skills and good old ingenuity think of them as an Asian version of MacGyver. I do not care about your witty remarks, all i know is that
by far this is one of the best decisions I made so far. I must admit, I am not an expert when it comes to the inner workings of a classic scooter but I can tell from the eyes of this famous restorer that he is a passionate man and loves his craft dearly his years and years of experience and expertise is second to none in Saigon and that's more than enough assurance for me to entrust her with his loving and capable hands.
TRUTH HAS TWO SIDESAnd for the people who has second thoughts on buying a Vespa in Asia and trying to avoid it like a plague. My advice is do not buy these scooters from the internet Are their Vespa’s as good as advertised from the internet? From the local perspective they probably are but from a western perspective, maybe not. Do not believe everything that you had read or what you had heard about. It's true that most of the scooters here are in really bad shape because they serve as an everyday workhorse for the common Vietnamese people back in the day. These scooters had survived from years and years of abuse on the road since the Vietnam war and the locals will do anything and everything they can to make it serviceable again and has a lot of safety issues. They were often repaired without the appropriate tools and some parts had to be hand built and manufactured with whatever was available at the time.
It's akin to the classic American cars still cruising the streets of Cuba and finding an unmolested scooter will be a very difficult task. You have to sift through the dross before you get to the gold nuggets.Always remember that every
truth has two sides; it is as well to look at both, before we commit ourselves to either, Keep in mind that there are also bodge scooters coming in from the American and European market including Frankenscooters wherein these lovely Italian scooters are being chopped up to death and overly upgraded to the point of loosing its charm and soul.
MY TWO CENTS WORTH
First and foremost Vietnam is a beautiful country, It has a wonderful old charm that i absolutely adore. So before jumping onto conclusions better to experience it first hand, talk to the locals establish a friendly relationship with them, gain some trust and soon these people whom you hang out with will point you to the right direction and they might even reveal to you their best kept secret spot.
And one more thing, if you thought that what you had bought is a good looking scooter for a cheap price in the internet please always remember this - if you pay peanuts you get the monkeys.
I had checked the frame and engine number of my scooter at www.scooterhelp.com and it turned out that I have a 1966 VBC1M Vespa 150 Super. Special thanks to Manh Tran of VNScooters, Da Nguyen of The Scooterist Blog, Ly To and Chu Tu Trung without these people that i had met along the way none of this would be a reality.
