My wife turns 24 on the 13th, and a few weeks ago I was lookin at scoots on Ebay and I jokingly said "I'll buy you a scooter for your birthday." She was excited about it so I kept looking and found a Spree on Craigslist. She saw one on Ebay that was the Spree special with the white and sea foam green, and I contacted the guy because she wasn't a fan of the other Sprees. I told her we could paint them but she just wasn't excited about the black or red ones I could find. The guy had a reserve of 500 on a non working Spree, no title, nothing. So I looked again and found a $300 Spree near my parents house. My wife is a photographer and had a wedding booked last Friday near the Spree. Emailed the guy and told him without a title I could pay $200 max, and he said he'd take 200 if I came at 5 PM. The wedding started at 6, so I called and got him to come home from work a little early and booked it an hour and ten minutes to my parents house, then to his place. We drove by and the thing looked immaculate so I got super pumped. Then I got up close and he took the panels off and I almost died. So disappointed! The thing was full of cob webs, he had it hooked up to a truck trying to jump it off what I can only assume is the original battery, the floorboard didn't even look like it fit. I spent like 5 minutes trying to convince him to stop spraying starter fluid into it. He kept telling me it was running right before I got there, like he had to prove it to me. I asked if I could kick start it and he looked at me like I was crazy, apparently not knowing that the battery really doesn't run the engine. I kicked it and it popped and burnt up the fluid. I stopped because I didn't want it to switch on and then have to pay more, lol. There was no way the tires were gonna hold air, no rear signals/rack, needed both brake cables and the plastic was spray painted red (which is why it looked so good from a distance) but was peeling, etc. I was bummed out because I really want a scoot so my wife can cruise with me. I told him I'd pay 160 and he told me that he had another guy coming in like an hour (I'm assuming that was *). I went ahead and busted out my cash, paid the 200, lifted it into my car, put my shirt and suit jacket back on and went to the wedding
I may be the only person who ever took a scooter to a wedding in the back of their Jeep Cherokee. BTW Sprees fit into the hatch of a Jeep like no bodies business. My Aero requires all kinds of jostling and deflating the tires, but the Spree practically made a snapping noise it fit so well. I took almost all the webs out, I think I destroyed a few new species of genetically altered Honda spiders, which I've named Spreeders. Weirdest looking translucent spider things, creepy stuff. I cleaned as much as I felt comfortable taking apart. The carb was full of white calcium looking deposits, spark plug was junky and black but sparked. Mechanically all I did was clean the carb, and clean a ton of rust out of the tank. Kicked her like 5 times and boom, running like a bat out of *. I think all it needs is some cosmetic stuff, a new paint job, a new center stand and maybe a carb rebuild kit cause it's getting wet with gas on the outside so I think the gasket between the bowl and top is shot.
I felt like a champ, having very little scooter experience since I've only had my Aero a year. I was worried that I dropped 200 on a POS for a few hours after I bought it, but I think it turned out to be a good buy. Having the engine running has to increase the value by a hundred or so
Once I get the title mess figured out and paint her (wife's still debating on colors) its going to be freakin nice and worth a ton more. I can't wait to get out on the road. We're gonna load up a tent and some s'mores and ride out to a state park nearby for weekend camping. Oh god, the plans I'm making... so stoked. I've been trying to find some 50cc scooterists nearby to ride with to no avail. My wife is really excited, too. So all in all, it was worth the money. Sure, I didn't really have 200 dollars to spend and if I did have that much money, I should've paid off some of my credit card, but f*** it, you only live once and when we hit 40 I start being fiscally responsible. We all owe it to ourselves to be awesome and ride 50ccs. Sorry for the longest post in history. Just thought people might like to hear a success story. Plus I had nothing to do for the last 20 minutes, lol
