If you have doubts about the utility of a scooter for everyday living I think this video will change how you think about them. It’s a look back at scooters in the early 1960s in Great Britain.
After watching the video I was surprised at the size and scope of the scooter culture that had developed and wondered about the barriers for a similar embrace of a scooter for everyday living in the United States. Low fuel prices coupled with a general tendency for people to want bigger, more powerful machines and it’s easy to understand why we don’t see more scooters.
What a great find, Steve, a superb video of collector’s items. I loved the testing course, and—wow!—that script:
“This new, light scooter has been designed with women in mind, but before it reaches the public, it is MAN tested.”
and
“If a scooter survives this sort of thing, it should stand up to mum popping round to the shops on it, even if she’s a heavyweight.”
Statements like that would enrage more than a few people nowadays—I wonder how folks felt about them back then.
I love those old films. YouTube is a wealth of similar material.
MAN tested– shows where the world was. Not unlike the things seen in the TV series “Mad Men”.
Six years after that documentary, in 1966, I started high school. That’s where I was introduced to Vespas and Lambrettas and fell in love. It’s sad that I waited until 2010 before making the dream come true. Today’s four stroke, fuel injected, ABS, large frame Vespa GTSs have come a long, long way from those two-stroke blue haze wonders.
Like you David I regret not starting riding sooner. I let other people stop me. My fault.
Amazing. Thank you. Makes me think about the continued popularity, not only of Moterscooters, but all the variants of self-propelled “scooters.”
The desire to fly across the ground, unincumbered.
Such a fun video! I especially enjoyed the little scooter in the trunk, so you can park and ride it into the busy shopping centers. It needs a bigger basket, though. 🙂
I’m always absolutely amazed at the number of scooters AND motorcycles in Europe. They come in all shapes and sizes, and are so much more practical than cars in the big cities.
The off-road test was interesting, too. Who knew scooters were put through man tests such as those? 🙂
Thanks for sharing.
With all the blue smoke how would you like to be in the middle of the pack of the group going on a holiday to the scooter rally ?
Nice, In the UK today is the same, lots of scooters, even in the rain. When in Roma, unbelievable the amount of scooters.
I still see a fair amount of those latter scooters – the ones without gasoline engines – used by the Amish in Lancaster County. Bigger wheels and wider platform, and you can still buy them.
What delightful video. I have shared it with a few friends great!!!
Brent.
That’s an excellent video! And scooters for everyday living?
Well here’s a few people in Taiwan using them:
https://youtu.be/ccFhOCo-rDo [2 minute video]
Kitty’s link stole my thunder-
I was gonna suggest others watch the new “On Any Sunday” movie to see how folks from many other countries commute to work, or, get around AT work… by scooter.
I’ve now owned my 50cc Tao Tao three months. Most stores here in Destin are within four miles and accessible by feeder streets, so every time I ride my little scoot to shop I save wear and tear and gasoline by not using my cage. The storage space is AMAZING for such a small machine!
Sure, weather is frequently a limiting factor, depending on your tolerance for being wet/chilled . Trips to Ft. Walton are also impossible because of the little bike’s limited top speed.
But this 50cc joy has been a sort of “proof of concept” for me. I’ll sell it this summer. My only question now is, “What scoot, 150cc or greater, should I purchase?”
Seen this film several times over the decades – always loved it.
Never mind my mistrust of proclamations of “cheap oil for the rest of the decade.” If I were an investment sort, I’d be shorting any company that swallowed that bit of snake oil…Fiat-Chrysler topping the list at the moment. What’s driving sales of PTWs in large cities (I can speak of New York from personal experience) isn’t simply fuel economy: it’s urban congestion, and the related pain of owning and driving a four-wheled vehicle in those squeezed urban circumstances. Driving’s a drag, parking is dicey on the street (your shiny beauty won’t stay that way for long outside – it’s not exactly great for scooters either), and expensive off the street. Throw in the costs of wear-and-tear and you’re left with a lot of people, millenials in particular, deciding to chuck the idea of car ownership entirely – if they must drive someplace, there’s always Zipcar or the like. Otherwise there’s public transport, or, for the slightly more independence-minded, a scooter. The scooter ecosphere in Gotham, while not quite as rich as in some European cities, is nonetheless fairly active, and Vespas are well represented.
Now, if only things can get started here in Asbury…