>>>I was doing some scooter window shopping via the internet, and I came
>>>upon something very, very interesting. From the scooterclassifieds "New
>>>Scooters In The USA" page(http://www.scooterclassifieds.com/newscooters/)
>>>I came upon a page for a company called "LML". It seems that they are
>>>importing into the US, Vespa scooters made in India.
Ouch! That thing looks like the T5 classic! Hideous! At least the Indian
made GP's - which are cursed by the way, but more on that later � looked a
lot like the Italian GP's. About the curse: Of the three friends of mine
that have owned Indian GP's, one was stolen and driven off a cliff into
Puget Sound (some skins must've REALLY liked the way Quadraphenia ended),
then found on the beach below a week later. Another friend of mine was
waiting at an intersection and jumped by a pack of gangsters who not only
messed him up a bit, but SCOOTER-JACKED HIM! Who'd of thought, gangsters on
scooters? (This was before Puff-Daddy's collection.) And a third not only
had his hit while parked by a car, but had it repainted only to wake up a
find it gone. It was recovered a few days later in a Kentucky Fried Chicken
parking lot, upright with virtually no damage. I guess someone couldn't wait
to get them some of them powdered mashed potatoes (which are the 8th wonder
of the world, by the way).
Interesting that they are advertising these as sold in the US though, as it
has been illegal to import two-strokes into the states since sometime around
'81 - '82, so I'm curious if the bike pictured is the one they are to
import, or if they have a similar four-stroke model. Even vehicles that are,
according to US customs laws "deregulated" (those which are require no
additional paperwork to import), cars manufactured before 1967 and
motorcycles (this legally includes scooters) manufactured before 1977, are
absolute HELL to get through customs. And in some states, even more
difficult to actually register (Washington) even though they were legally
imported.
If anyone here in the US is interested in the importation laws concerning
importing scooters from abroad, I would start at
http://www.customs.ustreas.gov/impexp2/informal/car.htm#DOC
it has a lot of helpful info, links, and contacts. But be warned, even if
you do everything by the book doesn't mean customs won't hold you bike for
months, giving you the run-around, and in some cases, doubling your tariffs.
Unless your local shop owner knows something different, I doubt the bike on
that link will ever be seen on US streets, which is�err�to bad.
Doug
P.S. Does anyone remember who reissued that Blue Things LP?
P.P.S. If this is the ninth post on the same topic, again, my apologies.
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