The Vespas Of Pakistan
As Chinese-made motorbikes flood Pakistan's roads, fans of vintage Vespa scooters are scrambling to find spare parts and preserve models that hark back to a bygone era.
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A Vespa rider weaves through traffic in a working class neighborhood of Karachi.
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Journalist Arif Balouch, 48, poses for a photograph with his 1980 Vespa in Karachi. "For me, a Vespa scooter is like a family tradition. My father used to ride this and I myself find this very good as it has two separate comfortable seats which is uncommon; it has a compartment to keep things, which is also uncommon; and for safety it guards your knees during accidents. I would say it's the BMW of scooters," Balouch told Reuters.
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The emblem from a Vespa in a restoration and repair shop in Islamabad.
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Journalist Nazeer Udding Siddiqui, 58, poses for a photograph with his 1979 Vespa in Karachi. "For me, people who own Vespas are very honorable people who still keep this tradition alive," he told Reuters.
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Vespa parts inside a restoration shop in Islamabad. Vespa means "wasp" in Italian, a name reportedly adopted thanks to the scooters' thin waist and antenna-like handlebars.
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Members of a Vespa riders' club gather at sunrise in Lahore. Piaggio's classic Italian two-wheeler was the ultimate status symbol for Pakistani bike aficionados in the 1960s and 70s when
only a handful of people could afford the elegant machines.
only a handful of people could afford the elegant machines.
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A restorer (center) chats with customers while applying an undercoat to a Vespa panel.
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Engine parts and tools cover the engine restoration table at a Vespa restoration and repair workshop in Islamabad.
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A vividly painted Vespa in a repair shop in Islamabad.
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A shopkeeper and Vespa enthusiast holds his collection of mini Vespas at his auto-parts shop in Karachi.
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A worker sprays a restored mudguard for a scooter at a Vespa restoration and repair workshop in Islamabad.
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A man poses with an old Vespa. A member of Lahore's Vespa fan club told Reuters "Vespas were the second-best gift Italy gave to the world -- first being pizza."