Dream a little Dream..

So now we fast forward my life about 17 years. It’s 2003. Petrol prices have sky rocketed due to the war in the Middle East. Australians are paying anything up to $1.20 per litre for unleaded fuel. This price was to steadily climb over the next few years, peaking at around $1.50 in my own area, and to a lesser degree in the major cities, but it soon prompted a scooter boom in Australia, particularly in the eastern states and those states with less stringent scooter licensing laws.

I had dreams of having another scooter in my life ever since my brief but passionate affair with “Bluey”. I started to see Vespa’s on the internet, particularly popping up on Ebay for sale. Prices starting at around $2000 for an old restorer, or if lucky enough, one in good running condition for about $2500. As the trend grew, more Vespa’s hit the market. It was starting to become obvious that this trend was going to stay- not just because people were looking for other options for travel to save them money, but also as this was the first “real” taste Australia had had of a full on scooter culture taking hold.

There were the “Mods” of course, which stemmed from a rampant weekend in Bristol England in the 1960’s, when the Mods on their scooters in their groovy couture and bobbed haircuts, came face to face with the leather clad, greased haired Rockers on their loud motor bikes. What ensued that weekend went down in history as one of the main events that bought the scooter itself and scooterists into the spotlight.

The scooter culture was re-born.