Don’t know if the plaid pork pie hat and gray goatee were a give away or not, but this man is a scooterist. His name? Jeff “Swampy” Marsh. If you’ve watched The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Rocko’s Modern Life, Postman Pat, Bounty Hamster or Phineas and Ferb then you’ve probably seen his work. We’ve mentioned before that we suspected someone from the Phineas and Ferb camp to be a scooter lover because of the occasional appearance of scooters in the episodes… and not just generic mock-ups , but carefully crafted facsimiles of actual scooters. They looked close enough to the actual classics, we know and love, to raise a flag. So I contacted our prime suspect (and two time Emmy Award nominee for songwriting), Jeff “Swampy” Marsh, to see what he knew. Here’s what he had to say:
Hey Steve,
I’m the scooter guy (had a ’64 Vespa Sport years ago… Full Mod treatment). Doof got a scooter based on a Lambretta design and Perry’s is a bit more Vespa. I would love to build real versions of them one day. I don’t think it would be that hard. Glad someone noticed and glad someone enjoyed!
As far as makin’ the world smile, we’ll keep doin’ our best!
Cheers,
Swampy
Well, I hope that I’m half as cool and even a fraction as successful as Swampy is when I’m a grandfather. Glad to hear our suspicions were not unfounded and we hope to see a Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated Lammy in your garage soon, Swampy!
25. May 2010 at 4:14 pm
LOL it’s great to see the scooter riders coming out of the closet. Plastic or metal, geared or not – we all love to ride!
26. May 2010 at 6:14 pm
That’s right Wanda! And I’m finding more and more all the time. Here’s another… Billy Idol! According to Swampy, when he and Billy were running the Cali tour circuit (around 1982) Billy would show up on the nicest silver Vespa with coat upon coat of lacquer. It was much more polished than Swampy’s rattle-can Mod machine… But, to be fair he was also a lot better funded.
26. May 2010 at 5:51 am
My kids love those shows (the kids shows at least) and they always point out the scooters in P&F.
27. May 2010 at 1:03 pm
I am still holding out for a helmet mounted Awayanateor LOL
27. May 2010 at 1:30 pm
:D
I hear it’s in the works. ;)
27. May 2010 at 2:14 pm
When we get some down time, there may well be a helmet-mounted awayinator project getting underway! Steve, you have inspired me.
27. May 2010 at 2:33 pm
Swampy! Welcome aboard friend!
I’m glad to hear about my inadvertent inspiration… and by “inadvertent” I mean TOTALLY advertent!
I see some awayinating in my near future. ;)
Casey! I think it’s time to warm up the CSC machine.
27. May 2010 at 9:36 pm
Hey Steve and Swampy I know what we are going to do today ; ) : )
27. May 2010 at 10:57 pm
Hey! Where’s Perry?
Fred Perry, perhaps?
28. May 2010 at 5:26 pm
Hi guys,
I love what you publish – it is great! But – and there’s always a BUT. What about some news, etc., on maxis? My first scooter was a Laverda Mini Scooter 50cc 4-stroke in 1965 but now I ride a Suzuki Burgman 650. A bit bigger and a bit faster but man, how I loved that little Laverda. I was working in Singapore at the time and it was a wizz around the city where I lived. But life goes on and Burgmen (?) are a reality so how about it, eh?
Cheers,
Jay