I was talking to a fellow scooter collector from up north. Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, I don't know. All the same to me.

He said he has a small farm, about 30 acres, and there is a dirt path running around the perimeter. What would that be? A quarter mile maybe?

He said one day he was at home all by himself and got bored, so he cranked up a scooter and went out to ride around the path for a while. Halfway around, he realized that the throttle was stuck. Fortunately is wasn't wide open, but he couldn't slow it down. The scooter is a '46 Cushman and they only have a brake on the back wheel. It isn't even a very good brake, and the engine is stronger. Then he thought about the kill button down on the air shroud, but when he pushed it, it just popped inside the shroud and he could no longer reach it. Well, there was no sense burning out the brake, so he just kept riding. Around and around he went at about 15 miles per hour. There is a cutoff on the bottom of the gas tank, but you have to get off to reach it.

Cushman scooters like his have only one speed and an automatic clutch. There is no way to get it out of gear, except to stop. So he sat there going around and did a little calculation. The tank holds two gallons, and the scooter goes about 75 miles per gallon and the tank was at least 3/4 full. He would have to ride around for over a hundred miles before it ran out.

Well about that time, his wife drove into the yard and each time he went by, he explained a little more of the problem. Finally she yelled, "Why don't you choke it?"

There is a manual choke on the carburetor, and it's in easy reach, so he just reached down and flipped the lever to full choke and the engine flooded, sputtered a little, and quit.

I'll bet he never lives that down.
Howard