Advice on buying a classic Vespa?

[avenger66]

Hi all. I'm new here so take it easy on me if i ask a lot of daft questions!
I owned a few Vespas back in the early eighties and attended runs in various places before switching to a Ford Capri to keep dry
I'm in my early forties now and have been thinking of getting myself a Scoot again to give me something to do and keep me out of trouble. I didn't have anything special in the old days, just a 50 Special, a 90 and PX125. I always used to ogle the classic Vespa's and Lambretta's at the shows though, and I'm still in love with the smoother classic lines of the sixties. I would love a GS150 or 160 but as I haven't passed my test I'm going to have to go for another 125. Or do I? I've seen a lot of old VBB 150 imports around that have been registered as 125cc in the UK. Am I legal riding one of these? If I got nicked could I just plead ignorance?
A few other questions...how old does the Scoot have to be to be tax exempt?
How many miles am i restricted too if i go for a classic insurance policy?
If i plug for a restored classic Vespa that has a new 5 port engine fitted does this still meet the required criteria for tax exemption?
Why are so many classics being fitted with 12 volt conversions and whats the advantage in this?
What signs should I look for when buying a classic (apart from rust obviously)?
Why the preference by a lot of people for a true Italian scoot? Is this just scooter snobbery?
And lastly...are the prices I am seeing advertised by many of the dealers for restored scooters realistic? They seem to start about 2 and half k and sometimes go up to over 6K for one Lambretta I saw!
Am I better off buying a scoot privately rather than going through a dealer?
Any other advice anyone can offer or post any relevant links I'd be most grateful.
Cheers in advance all

Dave

[jaz]

Hi Dave, I won't try to answer all your questions as there are others who will know better than me but here's a couple to be going on with. A lot of the imported VBBs you find will be from the far east, usually Vietnam. They look nice but they will have been kept running on a shoestring for the last 40-50 years, then when completely shagged out they are treated to a nice coat of paint and containered to the UK or USA to be sold at a premium price. I wouldn't touch one with a pole.

If you have an accident riding a 150cc scooter with insurance for a 125cc and you get found out you are in a very dodgy position legally, and ignorance doesn't constitute any defence. If you're on 'L' plates then your licence is invalid too. IMO you'd be daft to try that, again it's not somewhere I'd want to go.

Your scooter will be tax exempt if it is registered before 1/1/73, but as it only costs £15/year anyway this shouldn't have any bearing on what bike you buy.

[sirscootalot]

hello there avenger, that is a lot of questions and non of them daft, i bet your teachers loved you in school ;D
there are a lot of scoots with bigger engines registered as 125's or even 50's unfortunatly ignorance is no defence when it comes to the law so you take your chance, now everyone else will be along soon to give some enlightenment on the rest of your questions.
you wont regret returning to scooters

[Big Al]

Oct 18, 2008 16:12:33 GMT avenger66 said:

Am I better off buying a scoot privately rather than going through a dealer?

Privately will invariably work out cheaper, but a good dealer should have made sure the scooter is in good nick, giving you more peace of mind (assuming it's not a far eastern import as mentioned above). Am guessing you're pretty familiar with scooter mechanics etc in which case it'd be pretty easy to spot which private bikes you look at are good and which are dogs.

One word of advice from personal experience; if you're buying from eBay then do make the effort to go and have a look at the bike prior to bidding and end of auction - i've failed to do that twice (like a muppet) and it's caused me serious grief on one occasion!

Dunno about classic insurance on scooters, but my '67 Volvo Amazon is limited to 3000 miles annually which more than covers my needs (I even get unlimited european trips, something i'm probably going to take advantage of now that petrol is dropping in price - yay!)

[skrappey]

I had a 66 amazon, wish I still did!
Electronic, more reliable than points
150 registered 125, illegal and no insurance, think of the family
Amount of miles on classic policy, up to you, will reflect in the price
Scoot dated on the frame rather than the engine for taxation purposes
Look for a straight frame, take someone with you who knows what to look at.
Snobbery (I prefer English)
Privately you have no comeback, dealer will give a guarantee of at least a year. (if they don't, do one)
Good luck and welcome back.

[avenger66]

Thanks for all of the advice guys. Funnilly enough there was a classic VBB over on E:bay that had been involved in a crash after being nicked. It looked like it had once been a great machine but the damage done was pretty bad. It was up for 1k and had zero bids. The mudguard and front forks were bent to hell and there was some damage to the legshield. I could probably have straightened all of this out but what looked the worst to me was where the thief had tried to cut into the inner frame above the lock barrel. I imagine it would take a good welding job to repair the damage to the frame which is obviously a major load bearer at this point. I'm going to take a look at it anyway in the next few days as it didn't sell, and am going to need some kind of conservative estimate as to how much it would be to repair. I may take some pics and take them over to Turners scooters in the Wirral to see if they can give me any idea. My other real worry is that as is this scoot was a recent import the owner may have carried out an insurance job himself in order to get shut of it but I would find that hard to believe as the rest of the machine is described as without damage and within a good state of repair. Still, I'll let you know how it goes. If any one else spotted this on E:bay what are your thoughts?

Cheers

Dave