Couple of Fridays ago Tammi Jo and I had some errands to run around Chicago, including checking out some colleges for 16-year old Hawkette. (yipes!). So we yanked her out of school and set about our city bidness with good buddy / artist Tim Anderson.
First stop: Ace Motorcycle and Scooter on Jackson Boulevard. In addition to hot rods, the wife and I are also into old Italian scoots. Spare me the jokes, I've heard all of them; but I can tell you from experience that a sleek Vespa attracts a hotter class of woman than any full-dress Harley. More on that theory later.
Anyhoo, we recently made scooter-for-painting swap with Tim. We loaded Tammi Jo's Vespa on the truck to drop at his studio. My '63 Lambretta Li 150 Special has been having magneto issues so Tim suggested bringing it along to drop off at Ace for a looksee and an electronic ignition upgrade. Glad we did because the shop was full of swanky old cycles and scoots like this Vespa SS.
My Lambo, ready for the doctor's examination.
One of my fave stock bikes of all time -- Bonneville T120.
Rad little moped, think it was a Puch.
This cool oddball little mutt with the tartan blanket, I couldn't ID. Sort of a cross between a Lark minibike, a Cushman, and a Tibetan Yak.
Outside: looks like a vintage 80s Vespa, but is actually a late model Indian-made 4-stroke Stella, base on the earlier Vespa design.
Moto Guzzi! Love them cool tranverse V-twins.
A BMW Allstate. Yup, Germany's "Ultimate Driving Machine" company made its U.S. beachhead by selling little motorcycles through the Sears catalog. Other makes that wore the Sears "Allstate" co-brand included Cushman, Vespa and Motobecane.
Lest you think motorscooters are for dandylads and shrinking violets, try this on for size: a Vespa GT250, which can hit 95 mph with ease. Consider what that feels like on 14" wheels.
Daylight's burning! On to our next stop... in Part 2.