Modern Vespa

This is a thread for all to share their story behind the name of their scooter, if she has one. Please stay on topic and help making it an entertaining thread. Thank you.

I'll start.

Today, I decided to make my GTS a saint and call her St. Tropez.

It was in the late 80s/early 90s, during one of my vacations at the Côte d'Azur. My SO and I were sitting at a street cafe in St. Tropez, sipping our espresso and watching the local savoir vivre, when this guy on a cream Vespa came from nowhere, parked almost in front of us, and walked inside to get something. It looked so...natural, so typical for the area, so convenient, cool, cultured, and tons of other adjectives that describe the formative moment this was for me. From that moment on, I wanted to have a Vespa some day, and ride it in an environment like that.

Well, SoCal comes close, but not close enough. I will retire in the south of France, and the Vespa came to me a few days ago. Of course, it needs to be repainted--cream, and I also want a vintage green on it.

BTW, there is a twist to the ending of my story. When that guy came back out, to mount his Vespa, both my SO and I looked at each other and jumped off our chairs to walk over to him, hug, and kiss...an old friend from Club Med times. We had met him in several club villages, and there he was, in his beautiful home town, living the good life with a Vespa.

I used to be considered a very creative person. However, with a scooter named Stella it's hard for me to call her anything else!

I named my GTS "Tom" after my favorite author Tom Robbins. He's all about enjoying life as much as possible and not taking it too seriously. That's what scooting is all about to me.

My GT200 is named Audrey after Audrey Hepburn cause she really helped get Vespa out to the world in Roman Holiday. The GTS250 is Isabella Maria, Isabella cause I always liked the name and Maria after my Patron Saint.

My scooter is named mine and my wife's hers.

Why?

Mine and hers.... I used to work in Laguna. You are very lucky to be so close. It's probably one of the best places in the world. You should come out for the Apple ride.

My black GTS has two names. The first; Franchesca, pretty sure wrong spelling? Maybe it's Francesca? A dear friend of the family named her. I call her that in public. But, her real name is "Moira", Irish for Mary. I only call her that on long rides on Texas farm roads, when we're alone.

Pretty sure if I owned a Stella....I'd call it Stanley Kowalski

et4

For 'due South', or for 'A Streetcar Named Desire'?

The first time I saw my GT, the phrase 'Myrtle the Turtle' sort of stuck in my head. I guess because she's green, and has sort of a protective shell. (Well, compared to a motorcycle, she does.)

And Myrtle is a retro sounding name, for a retro shaped scooter.

Hmmmmm, I wanted an Italian name for my Italian scooter. Benny is my name and I thought it neat to call my GTS Benito. Boring huh? I actually considered Principessa but then reconsidered when my partner thought that was really stupid.

My LX is named Loki because of our family's Norwegian background. Loki is the god of Mischief, our dog is named Valkyrie (angels who return the fallen from the battlefield) and my wife named her Stella, Freya, who is the queen of the Valkyries.

When asked what I drove today, or "What are we taking, Daddy?" type questions, it was easy to answer either MG, scooter, or car. Now, with the additiona of another scooter, I've simplified it. On walking into work, when asked what I drove today, I simply answer either black, red, blue, or white. So, that's their names.

Hey! And now I know who you are!!.

Ha, I can't hide anywhere! I believe you are right on the gt60 issue, I'll post a formal apology on Urban. Are you still riding? We may go out for a spin today.

smorris and oldhighway7, I'm glad you found each other, and please stay on topic. You could PM to hook up for a drive.

A question to the participants who mentioned Stella: I'm not familiar with that being the model name of a scooter. Is it? Where does it come from, I mean, what was their reason to call it that? Or is it an insider code name for a specific model?

Mine's called Aurora or Eos who is the winged Goddess of dawn.

genuine scooter co.makes or made a p200 licensed by piaggio called a stella. nice scooter. wish it was avail. in CA. dr

As some of you may know, I own a CR/B Mini Cooper named Red Erik. Since I am a volunteer photographer at our local butterfly pavilion, and too keep the pattern going, I decided to name mine "Red Bug." Cute, red and it fits on the license plate! My other two scooters are named "For Sale" and "also For Sale."

My wife named our Vespa "La Poderosa" (the powerful one). We are not light weight people, yet our vespa takes us both and our luggage for 160 mile plus weekend trips to the coast from where we live. It she really lived up to her name (the Vespa of course) this September since she took me across the country on this years Cannonball Run

Way to make the new guy feel welcome...

Off topic subconversations are not that uncommon here. It is one of the few features of the BBS that this forum was created from that everyone liked.

(BTW, OH7 and I are 150 miles apart, so we won't be hookin' up for rides any time soon.)

My LX 150 is named Capricia (the elaborate form of Caprice) which means "impulsive".
My P200 is currently called the Bride of Frankenstein because she is a mish mash of colors.
The Kymco is called the Tamco.

My GT200 is named "Francesca," after Meryl Streep's definitive portrait of a frustrated middle-aged Iowa farm wife, born in Italy, in "Bridges of Madison County."

My Granturismo is Gina. I've always had a thing for Italian women and "Gina" popped in my mind the moment I saw her bella curvy looks and her vintage green is what I see as her eye color. She's still captivating!

My LX150 is Gulliver, named by my son after we watched "Gullivers Travels"

um...no...the Stella is imported by Genuine Scooter Co. (aka Scooterworks...shhh...don't tell...) It was made by LML in India (now defunct) and is basically a 5 port reed "knockoff" ( I use that loosely, I own one) of the px150 Vespa. It is not a 200 nor is it licensed by Piaggio. It does, however, have interchangable parts with both the px150 and the 200...it can be a pain in the ass.

Somebody nail me if I'm wrong...that sounded dirty after I wrote it...

thanks, steve. Nice to know there are some good guys out there. My other scooter name is KMA, is that out of topic mr. vacanze?

Sophia L.
After Sophia Loren, of course. She's Italian, a really cool, down to earth person and still a totally HOT babe!!

Very nice introduction there, Gary.

I called my Stella the gutless wonder owing to its inability to get out of its own way. I suppose if I had a penchant for naming things i'd have to call my ET4 the gutted wonder which wouldn't be quite right. even though it does everything i wante dthe stella to be able to do. I can't bend my mind around the idea of naming objects in my life. My ET4 is the Vespa my Suzuki isn't.

Wait a minute is NOT naming your scooter on thread? Will the thread Police be knocking on my door? Does MV provide legal advice, or bond money?

The name of my LX is 'Frappe' - 'cause I have one every day at my local coffee shop (not a Starbucks!) and it has a cool black and tan paint job that kind of looks like the cream seperating from my coffee.

Desi B. - staying on topic!

from this point on, i rename your P200 as the "dirty whore"...
Capricia and Tamco remain as before...

that is all...

best,
-greasy

okay, seeing that i have quite a few bikes here's the rundown:

the ET= the ET4
the lammy= the 59 lambretta series one
the barnstormer= a POS P125 i've had forever
the mule= the most OG P125 ever... she'd roll for days! no muss, no fuss-- reliability at it's best!
darth vader= an all black T5 classico that's redonkulous fast-- think triple digits...
the TV= the TV175 imola monster. scary fast on the street.
the rooster racer= the retarded PK125 that is more race than street
the rally= the exploded view rally 180 languishing in my garage
the warhorse= the 69 barracuda... the old standby; but with four wheels.

best,
-greasy

My 250-to-be already has a name.

She is called Cicciolina because she is a fast Italian with fabulous curves.

My scooter salesman sent me an email today and he is already referring to her by name. He is a little too impressed, methinks!

(He sent me a jpeg of her sister's valve heads, I was worried the image would be NSFW)

Truman Capote rode a Stella

I haven't named my Vespa at all, although one of my housemates keeps referring to it as "Vespy". He gets a very evil look from me every time he says it. (Because if I was to give it a name, it sure as hell wouldn't be Vespy).

Lil Piggy. A long story which involves a nickname, and several hundred stuffed (and other) pigs around the house. Plus living in the land of Harley, we wanted something that by a far stretch could connect to the Harley world - kind of our own little joke.

Harley, hog, baby hog, little piggy...