My 10 Years of Vespa

This week marks my 10 year anniversary of owning a Vespa. It was early 2003 when I caught a Martha Stewart show where she was tooling around New England on a Vespa ET4. The segment featured Vespa’s re-entrance into the United States with their new clean, efficient engines, automatic transmission, and classic Italian style. A lightbulb went off in my head and I started saving money that week. A few months later I only had about $800 saved when I totaled my car. Instead of trying to buy a replacement car for the $3000 I got for my Honda Accord, I took that and added it to my Vespa savings and bought my first brand new black ET4 on September 26th, 2003.

After one St. Louis winter of my scooter being my only form of transportation, I decided instead of breaking down and buying a car, I should just move south so I could ride year-round. Naturally. So in May of 2004, I moved to New Orleans and was lucky enough to land a little office job at my local Vespa dealer. And what do you know, as Benny Grunch recently said, it looks like this job might work out.

In the years since since becoming a full-time scooterist I’ve upgraded to a GT200, and then a fuel-injected GTS 250 that starts up every. single. time. And in ten years I’ve racked up at least 20,000 miles. I primarily ride my 3 miles to and from work, but every now and then go for a ride to Abita Springs or Baton Rouge. And even after 10 years, I still get excited when my bike hits that buttery spot around 40mph. So, thanks to Martha Stewart for setting me on the path of the fun, wise, and dolce vita lifestyle.