Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Gift from dad: the old moped returns

My dad showed up today with a surprise gift! It was my old 1979 Sachs Westlake moped. It needs some work, but I am very excited about it. It was last licensed in 1983, and has just been sitting in his storage garage for all these years. I had completely forgotten about it.

He dropped off the title with it, and it shows he paid $500 for it back in '79. This moped was my first set of wheels when I was in 8th grade. For my dad, it represented freedom, because now the kid could drive himself to school a couple of days per week. For me it also represented freedom: I couldn't drive in 1979. In 2007, it again represents my freedom!

The old moped gets 150 miles per gallon! This is great! With gas at about $6.50 per gallon right now, this will become my new commuting vehicle. Meanwhile, the Mercury Mountaineer (13 mpg) just sits in the driveway. How I wish I had sold that thing 2 years ago. Who would touch it now with gas so high.

Update: added some precious gas to the moped, and it fired right up! Just a few small mechanical adjustments and I'll be ready for a joy ride!!

2 comments:

YuckyMuck said...

Woohoo! That's great. I wish we saw more mopeds around, reminds me of Italy in the 70's If you didn't have a moped to ride with your girlfriend/boyfriend, you just weren't hip! Let us know how the ride goes!

Unknown said...

Wow, 150mpg! I have a motorcycle that gets 60mpg, but that is amazing.