Spirit of Adventure!

by guest blogger, Elmer Prather

My latest puzzle is a 1000-piece titled Scooters by Gregg and Company. Before I spend time putting a puzzle together, I must have a connection to it. My connection to this puzzle is the three Vespa motor scooters shown in the picture.

Scooters 1000pc puzzle, assembled by Elmer Prather

When was I fifteen years old, I purchased a 1956 Sears and Roebuck Cushman Pacemaker motor scooter from a friend of mine for nine dollars. He needed the money, and nine dollars was all I had so we made a deal. It was powered by a Cushman Huskie eight H. P. air cooled four stroke motor. It had a centrifugal clutch that engaged when the engine was revved up putting the scooter in motion. The scooters speed was controlled by twisting the gas control leaver on the right handlebar. It had a foot pedal kick starter. There was just one gear and that was forward. That scooter gave me freedom and independence, it changed my life.

Pictures tell a story and the story this puzzle picture tells is about how much fun you can have on a Vespa motor scooter. The three Vespas in the puzzle picture are great examples of the scooters Vespa assembles in its facility in Pontedera, Tuscany, Italy which is near Pisa. Vespa motor scooters are icons that represent the Italian culture. They are unique, luxurious, and reliable scooters. Vespa scooters are well-known, and over 1.6 million have been sold worldwide. The cheapest 300cc Vespa scooter is the standard three hundred model with a retail price of $7,099. This is much more than the nine dollars I paid for my Sears scooter so many years ago. The puzzle picture has three different models of Vespa motor scooters sitting in a parking area overlooking the dark blue ocean, with its waves splashing onto the sandy beach. The setting shows a flock of sea gulls in flight over the scooters. There is also a large crimson and brown cliff formation to the right the beach jutting into the sea.

I did not need a driver’s license or tag to operate my scooter. After I had used it for a while the engine started to knock. The main bearing bushings had worn out. Since Sears made the scooter, I looked in the Sears and Roebuck catalogue and found the parts I needed to repair the motor and how much they would cost. With a number two lead pencil and a piece of lined tablet paper, I wrote an order for the main bearing inserts I needed to repair the engine. In the envelope I enclosed the cash I would owe for the parts and sales tax along with my note explaining what I needed and mailed it to the Sears Roebuck company in Atlanta, Georgia. I had added a P. S. on my parts order document that read “Please send these inserts as fast as you can as the engine is knocking badly.” I imagine the person who opened my order had a smile on their face after reading my note. After I mailed my order, I checked the mailbox every day and when the parts finally arrived, my older brother and I removed the damaged main bearing inserts and installed the new ones. The motor ran like new after this. Over the years, the motor scooter has been passed down to my two younger brothers and it is now stored in one of their basements. I loved that motor scooter. When I cranked it up and it started off, I felt like I could go anywhere my heart desired. Using that scooter awoke my spirit of adventure and desire to travel that is still with me today. I would think that the riders of the three Vespa motor scooters in the puzzle picture feel the same way. They appear to be “living large.”

Scooters by Greg Giordano. A 1000 piece Cobble Hill puzzle.