In the market for a vintage Vespa -

I stumbled onto your blog through an ebay review that warned against "Vietnamese - Indonesia restorations" and must say as I've read what you have gone through in the last year has really opened my eyes to being a good steward with the Lord's money and how I should invest it on a reliable Vespa.

I came within minutes of getting burned on a Vietnamese restoration here in my own backyard about a week ago (in Southern California) from a guy who was bragging about importing hundreds of these scooters to the U.S. in the last few years.

Long story short he agreed to let met take it to my local scooter mechanic for an inspection which turned out to be a frozen motor under the most beautifully restored two-tone shiny 1962 Vespa for only $2,300. Actually, as my mechanic was walking towards the truck we had brought it in he says, "That's a Vietnamese scooter 75% of these are crap and we won't even work on them".

A couple days ago I came across another shiny new 1965 Vespa for only $2,500. This time I printed out the photos from craigslist dot com took them over to my guy and the same words out of his mouth, "This is a Vietnamese scooter - anything this nice looking for only $2,500 is a Vietnamese restoration with mismatched run down parts from other junked scooters... don't waste your time... a scooter that nice would sell here for about $4,000 to $5,000."

Anyhow, I thank for your courage to be such an open book and hope 'n pray you resolve your scooter woes!

Any words of wisdom on what to look/hear for when test driving a Vespa of interest would be greatly appreciated.

In His mercy,
><>Gabe