Modern Vespa

I had been looking for a small frame body to replace the hacked one set up for a large frame motor.(See post "why would anyone do this"?) Located one at an upcoming on line auction, sealed bid. My bid was accepted so I put a deposit on the small frame body thru paypal last Wednesday night and arranged to pick it up yesterday. The owner was selling a lot of stuff including over 20 Vespas ranging from 1954 to 1978. He was being helped by a local boy scout troupe as he had over 800 items to be picked up. 186 mile drive - one way - and I get there to find out it was sold the day before as the tag must have come off. The owner had it on a wooden pallet off to the side of the complete scoots. There were also some other items that were not part of the auction and were out for sale as well and the troupe leader was told to take offers. That's when the frame got sold off. To say I was disappointed is an understatement, but I kept my cool, honest mistake. The troupe leader, the owner and his father apologized to me over and over and said they would try to make it right. I did not think much of this, but the owners father took me on the golf cart he uses for getting around the property to the airplane hanger - yes airplane hanger! They had a Piper cub in there, primo condition, that they sold as well as a dozen or more Vespas, Allstates and a few Lambrettas that were not involved in the auction. He ruled out a few they were definitely keeping, among them was a 1966 small frame Blue Badge in very nice running condition. Several VNB Allstates to choose from, but my eye lit on a Sprint, in the clutter of boxes and stuff. Looked all there, so we we pulled it out. A Sears Sprint with the placard on it. Painted over and peeling. So the guy says: "how much money do you have with you"? I had $125 extra for the possibility of more parts as the frame that was already paid for. So He says: "that's enough, if you want it, bring your truck down here and we'll load it up". I could not speak. >>>>>>>>

Anyhoo, he apologized again for all the trouble and took me back to my truck. He told his son about the deal and he was in agreement. We loaded it up, I handed over all the money and asked once more - are you sure about this? He said no and hands m we back $25 to help pay for my gas. He also said if there was anything else he could do, just call and gave me his number. His wife told me to call anyway as he loves talking about scooters and hit and miss engines. I'm sure you are bored by now of my rambling........so here is some pics:

Great story! Congrats!

Man, what a deal!! I'm so happy for you!! The Sprint Blue Badge is much rarer then the white smallframe. Can't wait to see you rub the rust and paint back. That seat is amazing, too.

Tell him you have a bunch of friends on this forum that may need his leftover stuff that he don't sell and maybe he can help out others.

that is awesome!

That's how you make it right. Good for you and the seller. That could have turned out horrible.

Wow Tierney! That is so cool. Crazy how things work sometimes. Congratulations! And it's a fantastic story - I love it!

Just.... no words! Awesome story, amazing seller and beautiful Sprint!

That is fantastic and probably well deserved! Looking forward to seeing you bring it back.

What a story, adventure, cool people and a sweet bike. Considering how you came by this one, I'm sure it will always have a special meaning to you. This one looks to be all there and in incredible condition considering its age. Congrats

Thanks for all those kind words and support. I was PMing back and forth with Voodoo and he told me to get some pictures up pronto! Anyhow, the plan is now to clean off the goofy paint and find that beautiful original silver paint underneath where ever I can. It looks to missing in some spots, but I'll deal with that later. I mainly want to get it up and running , if at all possible and then during the winter change out the seals, rubber bits, cruciform, etc,...... The smallframe project is going to get passed on to some other guy that knows a lot more about smallies than me.

And I'll be open to suggestions on how to remove this tatty paint that some previous owner put over the original. thx

Try graffiti remover. If the spray on paint is not lead it should work and not bother the original old lead paint.

fantastic, great story!

This stuff, try it! More here: https://modernvespa.com/forum/post2363302#2363302

Good find, cool story; and happy to hear there are good people out there willing to make things right when mistakes happen. Helps to keep a little faith in humanity. You could have easily been S.O.L., but it shows excellent character on their part that you ended up with this classic beauty of a scooter. Congrats!

Nice one! Was meant to be - right time, right place. Awesome twist of luck. V. nice scoot. Gonna be great go see it rolling.

He he.. nice story! Nice scoot, and greatnprice! Have fun with it!

Happy for you Tierney, that Sprint's a beaut!

Old low mile bikes are STILL out there ppl, you just gotta be lucky and pounce when you they do magically appear like this one did.

You gotta love this one, beat up as it is - under a thousand miles!

Wow!!!!

WOW!, WOW! WOW!

Glad to see that someone still understands the concept of Honor

That is an ace story and a great piece of luck. Well done to the seller for being prepared to make things right.

Ooh boy, a lot on the scoot is stuck good - throttle, petcock, brakes, even the engine panel release. But the engine kicks thru, and clutch is ok. This is going to be fun, should keep me out of trouble for a while.

absolute score!

Perfect example of pure luck, way to go.

So are you mining for silver yet? Sure looks like whoever painted it over did a decent job - no runs that I can see and either excellent masking or the plaque was removed & then replaced most carefully. Looks a little thin & didn't stick some places too well though. Maybe that's a GOOD thing!

So much better with the yellow leaving.

love this kind of scoot where there is a story behind it.

Wow, great deal! Although... I can't help but wonder how this whole thing played out behind the scenes. I was also watching this auction and was tempted to bid on something, but I was also pretty far away and didn't really know how well organized it would be, fearing that something like what happened with the small frame would happen to me. I remember seeing this scooter in the auction (that T-shaped pattern on the back is pretty distinctive), so hopefully someone else didn't lose out when you got it for that screaming price.

What site is that?

Lot #: 181
Description: Mickey Mouse Taillight

LOL

It's the auction site. Here's a list of all the lots that they auctioned off:

https://countrysideauctioneers.hibid.com/catalog/184211/pennington-personal-property---living--guns-scooters-and-more-/?

That's the exact one! Damn! I was just looking thru that auction a few weeks ago and gave them a call asking if they were selling any parts? Like a frame body? The guy I called put me in touch with the owner. We exchanged a few texts and pictures about a smallframe body (he also had a Super and a few P frames as well) . I was not really interested in the auction as I could not check them out before bidding because of the distance and wasn't looking for a whole scoot. He did say there was some cancellations the day I was there, I guess that was why there some scoots and parts to the side. He sold 17 Vespas to one guy alone from Texas. Good Lord, I got a better deal than I thought. I was thinking it may be worth $400 or so. I would not have given $800 for something I could not seen in person, that would be like buying a scoot off Ebay, I wonder how much these auction guys charge, how much they get off the top? And he still has a couple dozen more to sell That were in the hangar, mostly Allstates, two LDs, a Topper, three Cushmans and several others in various stages of assemble. Add to that at least 6 or so engines on the selves. Collector extraordinaire! (or hoarder). And a very nice man.

Yeah, There was a lot of stuff - two store houses and a barn's worth. A lot of people, it was going to a county fair and that was on the second day of pick up. The funny thing is that the owner likes scooters of all brands, but he is really, really, into hit and miss engines. So much so that he and his wife go to several shows a year, all over the country. He like the collecting, and she likes the social side of it. They have been going to these shows for over 30 years together and enjoy it immensely. He told me that"s where all the scooters came from, said there is always several scooters for sale and usually on the cheap side. Mostly Allstates, but others too.

Oh man I can only wish to come across someone like that!

I just went thru the link - $3700 for a repainted Rally, $4100 for a mostly original Rally? Crazy. The one I got is a bit rough, but in person, some of the older models did not look that good at all. And that was the ones that could roll, sort of. There was a dozen or so in the barn that were really jammed up. The only one that I think was worth the price was the GS, other than a missing seat, it looked all there and the body was in fairly good shape, even considering the age of it. By the way, I started feeling bad about this, so I called the owner. He said the sale was cancelled the morning of pick up, so he just put it back in side to be sold later. He also said he is NOT going thru an auction house next time. I told him I could help him sell all the scooters as I know a whole bunch of scooter nuts that would like nothing better than to get them running again.

[quote ="swiss1939"]Oh man I can only wish to come across someone like that![/quote]
Yeah, It was in Virginia, two states away, three and a half hours of driving and well worth the trip just to see these old scooters. I had never seen a handle bar model, or any widebody ones as well. Then all the Lambrettas, and Cushmans too. And the the owner really is a nice guy, his father and wife too. I'll let you guys know when the sale will happen for sure. He did say he sold the Topper, one of the Lambrettas and some engines after I left.

I might be interested whenever that is. Even though that is a 7 1/2 hr drive one way for me! Worth it for a chance to get a rare scoot for a good price! Or even just to walk around and see it all.

the funny thing is that his wife said he was selling all this stuff (including the plane) to make room. For what I asked? She said, probably more stuff. I think the rare scoots are mainly gone, but I'll ask the next time I talk to him.