Classic Motorcycle # 4: Vespa Scooter

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UMPH had hoped there might be some classic cars on Vietnam's streets - at the very least a few older French vehicles (surely a 2CV here and there, and maybe an occasional Goddess).  However, that turned out not to be the case; with the exception of a single old Renault bus and a now-deceased monk's Austin, the entire country's four-wheel stock seemed to be mainly comprised of very new Toyotas and Hyundais.


What there were, though, was a surprising number of Vespas.  Of course, the sheer volume of motor-scooters is hardly a shock to anyone that's visited Asia before but, proportionally, the the most classic of all the two-wheeled Italian jobs was popular enough to to be obvious without quite being common (like the ubiquitous to plague-proportion Honda step-throughs!).      


This particular example - photographed in the centre of Saigon, as many locals still prefer Ho Chi Minh City to be referred to as - was particularly classic, with a mudguard-mounted headlight and cable-actuated hand controls.  It was a study in good taste, featuring beautiful black duco, lovely chrome and tan-coloured upholstery with a matching spare tyre cover. 


The classic Vespa shown here wasn't the only example the UMPHs came across.  Much to their delight, vespaadventures.com offers Vespa tours throughout Vietnam, from Hanoi to Saigon, and right down to the Mekong Delta, as well as into neighbouring Cambodia.  But more of that in a future post ... .     








U M P H

(uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.)

All iPhone images.

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