Englishman in city restores Vespas to former grandeur
For nearly a decade, a British citizen in Ho Chi Minh City has been buying worn-out Vespas, refurbishing the motor scooters and exporting them to the UK, US, Germany, France, and even to their home country of Italy. Patrick Joynt told Thanh Nien at his showroom in Tan Binh district that he had a Vespa when he was just 13. Captivated by its beautiful design, he studied its construction from books, to the point that he could dismantle and assemble it at will.
In 1997, during a trip to Vietnam, he saw locals in the city burning around on their timeless Vespas, and his love for the motorbikes re-emerged.
Recognizing that he would have no competitors, he opened a shop specializing in refurbishing the scooters on Pham Ngu Lao Street, famous as the living quarter for foreign backpackers.
He was forced to wear multiple hats – as the buyer, mechanic and salesman. He started to travel to many provinces in the south to hunt for the rare bikes, buying spare parts from his home country, Germany, Italy and India and morphing them into brand new units.
He later hired several Vietnamese staff and has several foreign staff in his new showroom and workshop, aptly called Saigonscootercentre.com.
All told, his products have been shipped to 15 different countries around the world.
Painful experiences
He recalled a time when he had paid for three Vespas to be delivered the next day, only to find out he and 6 others had been duped. The seller had fled.
Another incident that left him nearly bankrupt was when he returned to his home country and asked a trusted friend to manage his store. The guy turned out to be a crook and sold everything before absconding.
Rather than abandoning the job, he started from scratch.
“Nobody can cheat me now that I am seasoned”.
It takes him 10-12 weeks to restore one Vespa, but many Vietnamese shops do it within a week, so it’s no surprise where the quality lies, he said.
However, his pride and joy now is not a Vespa but a Lambretta scooter. He replaced all its parts with imported ones, and even went through the pains of hand-carving the intricate detail.
“It’s one of a kind,” he said laughing “Only foreigners can drive it ’cause a Vietnamese at the wheel would only draw the police.”
In past years, his business exported several bikes a month, but the numbers are on the rise.
He now plans to open a café to introduce his scooter collection and organize city tours on the fashionable motorbikes.
Reported by Minh Duc, Trung Bao - Translated by A.N.O.N