Goggo in San Francisco

I'm located in San Francisco, California and a long-time dream of mine was fulfilled last week when a Goggoroller came to live in my garage! My Goggo is a 1954 150 Standard, a nice unrestored example that came from Holland. If the story of this Goggo is true then it has not been run since the early 1960s, but I put some fuel in the tank and it fired right up! Seems to run pretty well, too!!

More info about my scooter: it is complete, original and unrestored. The color is medium/light blue. The paint could have been more well preserved, but the condition far too good to warrant a repaint in my opinion. Afterall, they're only original once! I will conserve the original finish as well as I can until it HAS to be repainted. This Goggo was imported from Holland to Long Beach, California by a good friend of mine. He has decided to move to Poland so he sold the scooter to me! There is an Amsterdam dealer's tag on the front fender of the Goggo between the Glas emblem and the license plate.

The story I was given on the history of this scoot: the original purchaser used the Goggo for a honeymoon trip from Holland to Vienna. There are still many decals plastered about the scooter from the various towns and villages they visited along the way. A schoolboy neighbor kid was a great admirer of the Goggo and would mooch rides whenever possible. The Goggo eventually fell into disuse by the original owner and when the neighbor kid was about 16 or 17 years of age the Goggo was given to him. Needless to say the kid was beside himself with excitement, but when he brought the Goggo home his father said: "What the hell is this? You need a scooter like you need another hole in your head!" And the Goggo was summarily chained and locked to a post in the barn. I don't know the exact year this occured, but either late 1950s or early '60s. Fast forward 40-some years and the father has died, the son inherits the farm and there is the Goggo still chained up in the barn! The son is now pushing 60 years of age, has never pursued scootering or motorcycling and feels that he does not need to begin now. The scooter is sold to my friend from Long Beach who imports it to the USA, but never even starts it before selling it to me.

Sadly, when the Goggo was being moved from the port to my friend's shop in the back of a pickup truck the seat flew off and was run over by a following vehicle. I was able to straighten the seat pan and I delivered the remains of the seat to a very talented local upholsterer who will be able to salvage the surviving original parts of the seat cover and will make a good match for the new panel he will need to make.

The Goggo came into my possession about 2 weeks ago, but I was not able to get it into my shop and inspect it until about a week ago. It showed a good, strong spark at the plug and I think the engine must have been freshly serviced before the scooter was laid up because there was no carbon on the piston crown, just polished alloy. I squirted a little fuel down the carb mouth, gave it a kick and much to my astonishment the engine immediatley fired up and ran until the small amount of fuel was cousumed! With this encouraging sign I gave the scooter a more thorough inspection and serviced a few items which I felt needed attention. Then I mixed up a batch of proper 2-stroke fuel, filled the tank and tried to start her for real. I was overjoyed when the engine started with little effort and would idle sweetly after a few tweeks to the mixture and speed screws. A little air for the tires and I was off on a triumphant victory lap around the block!

I have since taken the Goggo on the short journey from my shop to my house and back here in San Francisco, about 6 miles round trip. I am looking forward to getting the repaired seat back and putting some new tires on the rims, then I can begin to ride the Goggo in ernest!

Haley Welch


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