“I took the entire thing apart,” Walters said. “Right now, I’m getting the body cleaned. Then I’m going to be rebuilding the engine.” She hopes to have her vintage Vespa restored by February.
Walters is one of the approximately 20 members of Eugene’s Top Dead Center Scooter Club. The scooter club meets every Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at a local bar.
“I owe the fact that I found this (scooter) to the club,” Walters said. She said Top Dead Center, along with other scooter clubs in Portland and Seattle, have been a great resource for finding and repairing her scooter.
“There is a common support group,” club member Geoff Paunderas said. “We do a majority of our own work, both mechanical and cosmetic. Everyone is good at different things, and old scooters are rather unique in their engineering.” Paunderas owns two Vespas.
Another club member, Matt Milletto agrees.
“By being in a club, you’re constantly getting maintenance tips and using your scooter,” he said. Milletto first became interested in Vespas while living in Italy, where the scooters were created.
The Italian company Piaggio first began manufacturing the Vespa brand in 1946. Vespas were made to be an alternative to gas-guzzling cars, which were too expensive for many Italians to drive after World War II.
The unique scooters were made even more popular in the 1960s by the fashion-conscious British youth known as Mods. Since then, the classic motor scooter has attracted a cult-like following, with clubs up and down the West Coast.
The clubs not only serve as a resource for finding out how to fix the old scooters, but are also a way for enthusiasts to meet others interested in two-wheeled transportation.
“The club serves as a central meeting point,” Paunderas said. “I would probably not have met but a few of the other scooterists, but the club has introduced me to some really great people, and we get together and ride and hang out all the time. It’s fun.”
Riding is the highlight of owning a scooter for Top Dead Center members.
“We’re more of a riding club than a show club,” Milletto said. Both Milletto and Paunderas mention the town Gunther as favorite place to ride to, but add there are many open roads near Eugene that offer challenging and picturesque rides.
Another integral part of scooter clubs is the rallies. Clubs sponsor rallies and invite scooter owners from around the country to bring their Vespas to socialize and ride with others. They usually take place on weekends and involve lots of eating and drinking.
“In our clubs, rallies are the highlight,” Milletto said. “We’re known for our really fun rides. During rallies, we take people on rides all through the countryside.”
Top Dead Center usually hosts two rallies a year. Run From the Sun is one that takes riders from Eugene to Pacific City for a campout on the beach. The other, Cinco Scoot, usually takes place May 5. However, according to Milletto, this year, Cinco Scoot will be called The People’s Scoot and will happen on May Day so the rally can fall on a weekend.
“It’s pretty much like a big weekend party,” Milletto said.
For Top Dead Center members, a Vespa is more than a way to get around town. It’s a way to get your hands dirty and build something beautiful. It’s a way to meet people to debate the pros and cons of two-stroke and four-stroke engines with. And if you happen to own a Vespa, there’s no escaping them.
“If we see someone on a Vespa, we’ll chase them down,” Milletto said.
Contact the Pulse reporter at [email protected].